I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Brian, or too many AK members, yet.
However I've had the pleasure of purchasing gear he's worked on and had a number of conversations with him. Each email, conversation and the above article teaches me a little more about these magical boxes that put a smile on our face and gets my feet tapping
It is great to see him living his dream, and I love the idea of a quality speakers being designed and built in the New England area again
I'm fortunate enough to have just hooked up a pair. I bought a pair last summer. Unfortunately the shipping company destroyed one in delivery. The packaging design looked very good. You could tell that the box was dropped from a substantial height. Brian sent me another one. However in the interim I'd messed up my back and finally just set them up tonight. Incidentally the packaging has been redesigned and short of running one of these over, or into it with a fork lift it would be hard to damage them.
I need to clarify that I don't listen to music the way many of my peers do. I've been to friends houses and had them tell me I need to shift over 6 inches on the couch to be in the "sweet spot". Sorry, not my cup of tea. I'm usually walking around or working as I listen to music. Yes I enjoy a nice soundstage, more importantly I want my room (s), house filled with music.
I usually buy used gear and it's not uncommon for me to spend as much money on a used cartridge as I do on my speakers or any other piece of equipment.
These Cionnsaile speakers are the first new gear I've bought since 1985, I still have and use that Technics SL5, of course it sounds better with a Technics EPC 30 MC than it did originally.
A number of years ago I'd purchased a used pair of LSA .5's for my living room in a system that didn't intimidate my wife. She's a little apprehensive of the main stereo above the living room with 2 turntables, a pair of bi-amped Snell E III's etc
Tonight I took the LSA .5's out of rotation and installed the Cionnsaile, wow huge improvement. Bass response is better, the soundstage is larger and more defined. I love horns and sax. Last fall I had the pleasure of seeing Tajmo in concert. One of the best shows I've ever seen. So, I started out tonight's listening with lossless files from that lp from my Ipod. Wow, I sat back on the couch and felt like I was back in Gainesville, Florida at the concert. Nothing disappointed me, only impressed me. I've mixed in a little Jerry Jeff Walker "Riding High", an amazing copy of C.S.N.&Y Deja Vu, Paul Butterfield and now the Zac Brown Band harmonies sound incredible. Wow, the strings on the fiddle sound amazing.
A friend on this site asked me today if there was a 12 step program for collecting audio gear? I don't know. What I do know is that these Cionnsaile speakers are one of the purchases I have absolutely no "second thoughts" about.
Brian, Holt Hill Audio, and to everyone involved in your project
Stuart