I have been blessed with the opportunity recently to acquire two of my most coveted speakers from my oft misspent youth. As the L2030s were always too big/expensive/rare for me, the L1530 of Telarc fame were always a Holy Grail to me. Both of my L1530 and L1590/2 speakers have had Richard So rebuilds on the midranges and tweeters, and the L1530s have had major crossover rebuilds and have been rewired as well. Powering these is a freshened McIntosh Mc2205 (200wpc). I have had the L1590s for six months and I have been very pleased with them, especially with their detail in the mid and upper frequencies. The bass was always a weak link here, as it seemed to hit a barrier, lacking in range. To say they sounded thin, would be a big overstatement, but dynamic elements such as drum strikes lacked the full dynamics of a live performance. I used about 30% of the variable loudness on the preamp.
At times the 1590's highs were harsh, so I also engaged the built in high pass switch. These two adjustments had the speakers performing at a level where I was VERY happy with their performance. I thought I had a pair of long term keepers. My listening time had doubled since they arrived. That changed when a completely rebuilt pair of L1530s came up at a fair price about 4 hours away from me. I picked them up Saturday.
To be fair, the Mrs. (Lisa) & I listened to the L1590/2 for about 90 minutes with a mix of jazz, classical and vocals. I made sure most recordings were older digital masters (GRP and Telarc) to maximize dynamic range and clarity. As we were listening to the 1590s, I wondered how the 1530s would be able to best these. The definition and clarity was amazing, we could hear fingers gliding on guitar strings and saxophone valves being manipulated. I got goose bumps several times! The low end was just OK, with the drums sounding adequate, but a bit thin to my ear.
I was set up for a quick change over to the L1530s. Wow, what a difference! The fine detail was still remarkable, but the sound was more refined, the high end edge had been removed. Not too much, but more realistic and natural. An improvement for sure. Where the L1530s really separated themselves from the L1590 was in the mid and lower frequencies. More pronounced low bass was immediately apparent, which is nice, but the amazing difference was in the overall depth of the music. Lisa, who is an (enthusiastic) audio newb, described it as "more music everywhere", which describes it in layman's terms pretty damn well. The music was fuller, richer and deeper with a much more extensive sound field. The imaging was amazing, the 1530s just disappeared and instruments were distinct, with tremendous depth and lateral separation. The male and female vocals similarly impressive. So lifelike that Lisa made the old Memorex "Is it live" joke. It is tough to describe, but it seems that where the 1590s hit the wall sonically, the 1530s had an openness and presence that extended well beyond what we were used to. in both the reproduction of the bass notes and the depth of field. They are also very easy to listen to, and cause no listener fatigue. We had them on every moment that we were home Sunday.
So, in conclusion, the L1590/2 are an excellent loudspeaker system and almost anyone would be lucky to own a pair. In comparison though, TO OUR EARS, the rebuilt L1530 is a superior loudspeaker in almost every way. I can certainly understand why they so rarely come up for sale. Mine are not going anywhere.
At times the 1590's highs were harsh, so I also engaged the built in high pass switch. These two adjustments had the speakers performing at a level where I was VERY happy with their performance. I thought I had a pair of long term keepers. My listening time had doubled since they arrived. That changed when a completely rebuilt pair of L1530s came up at a fair price about 4 hours away from me. I picked them up Saturday.
To be fair, the Mrs. (Lisa) & I listened to the L1590/2 for about 90 minutes with a mix of jazz, classical and vocals. I made sure most recordings were older digital masters (GRP and Telarc) to maximize dynamic range and clarity. As we were listening to the 1590s, I wondered how the 1530s would be able to best these. The definition and clarity was amazing, we could hear fingers gliding on guitar strings and saxophone valves being manipulated. I got goose bumps several times! The low end was just OK, with the drums sounding adequate, but a bit thin to my ear.
I was set up for a quick change over to the L1530s. Wow, what a difference! The fine detail was still remarkable, but the sound was more refined, the high end edge had been removed. Not too much, but more realistic and natural. An improvement for sure. Where the L1530s really separated themselves from the L1590 was in the mid and lower frequencies. More pronounced low bass was immediately apparent, which is nice, but the amazing difference was in the overall depth of the music. Lisa, who is an (enthusiastic) audio newb, described it as "more music everywhere", which describes it in layman's terms pretty damn well. The music was fuller, richer and deeper with a much more extensive sound field. The imaging was amazing, the 1530s just disappeared and instruments were distinct, with tremendous depth and lateral separation. The male and female vocals similarly impressive. So lifelike that Lisa made the old Memorex "Is it live" joke. It is tough to describe, but it seems that where the 1590s hit the wall sonically, the 1530s had an openness and presence that extended well beyond what we were used to. in both the reproduction of the bass notes and the depth of field. They are also very easy to listen to, and cause no listener fatigue. We had them on every moment that we were home Sunday.
So, in conclusion, the L1590/2 are an excellent loudspeaker system and almost anyone would be lucky to own a pair. In comparison though, TO OUR EARS, the rebuilt L1530 is a superior loudspeaker in almost every way. I can certainly understand why they so rarely come up for sale. Mine are not going anywhere.