Kirksaeter Silverline 60's and Polk SRT

Aaron
Aaron Posts: 1,853
edited February 28 in Clubhouse Archives
I stopped in to WeeBee Audio today to see what was kicking. I told the salesman I was looking for bookshelf speakers in the $2000 price range. He tells me I should listen to a pair of Kirksaeter Silverline 60 bookshelfs for $800/pair (these are the ones Juice talked about a little while back). They are a 2-way speaker with what looks like a 5.25" woofer. See link.

I throw in my first test CD and hit play, but the stupid sales guy is standing in middle of the two speakers. He finally moves out of the way, and I restart the track. Just as I'm starting to concentrate on the music he starts talking again! Geez. I couldn't even tell you how many times he said "they're hand made." He finally shut up and left me alone.

I was immediately blown away by their soundstage and excellent center image. Pretty amazing for an $800 speaker. They have pretty good detail, too. The bass was surprisingly strong, but I think that was because they were too close to the wall. The bass wasn't very tight, though. After listening to them for awhile I found them to be a bit fatiguing and bright. They weren't bright as the sun like Klipsch, but it was definitely there. Unfortunately this is the kiss of death for me. If I can't listen to them comfortably for any length of time, what's the point. If the highs could be tamed using different equipment and/or cables, I might be more interested. Still, it's a great speaker for $800, especially if your tastes are towards a brighter speaker.

WeeBee also happened to have an SRT system. I just had to have a listen. Unfortunately they weren't set up anywhere close to properly. They were in a small room and stuck in the corners. The subs were set too high, and I think they were being powered by a receiver! There might have been power amps in the A/V cabinet, but I didn't see them. I only listened briefly and was thoroughly annoyed at the setup, so I didn't waste much time with them. :mad: I was quite disappointed. They are selling the whole SRT surround system for $6200! That's quite a steal if you have the money.

Aaron
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on

Comments

  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited April 2002
    the SRT system. they have the fronts in one room, the rears in another. and the center was no where to be found. i found them this way this past friday when i was there, as well as 3 weeks ago or so. i don't think they have any plans on getting them set up properly for a sale, even though they are priced nicely...

    i listened to the kirksaeter's again as well while there. luckily, i had the listening room to myself. i brought my own demo material this time(last time, i was just stopping bye over lunch). there was a noticible 'hiss' on quiet material, and the left tweeter seemed to be straining on higher octaves. i wasn't as impressed as i was with my initial listen of these speakers. still very impressive for their size and cost. also, these drawbacks i was noticing this time around may have been due to cabling/equipment problems, i'd like to take them home sometime and give them a listen. definitely a contender in the $800/pr. market.
  • juice21
    juice21 Posts: 1,866
    edited April 2002
    BTW aaron, i went to tweeter as well on friday and i had my gf along with me to give the sonus faber's a listen. she patiently had listened to the silverline60's with me for 40 minutes or so at wee-bee, but the room with the sonus' was occupied with other listener's at the time and we didn't wait around until we would have the chance to give 'em a listen (gf's prompting :)) but, just seeing them, she was like 'you're going to put those ugly thing's in the HT?, the kirksaeter's look waaay better, why are you even going to listen to these?' i had to laugh, i tried to explain it's about the sound, but she just kept going on about how the wood side panels bulged out, and the 'screws' were visible on the sides, the leather was 'alright'...:D guess i'll have to venture back by myself to give those a listen...