Alon model 1 speakers

[honestabe316]

Hi,
Last night I scored a mint technics SL-1600..everything works perfectly. ..it looks like nos...but while I was visiting this person, he showed and auditioned a mint pair of Alon model 1 speakers. ...they sounded fantastic...i have been having trouble finding tweeters for my new large advents so i was thinking about a decent replacement...hw is a fair guy and said i could have for $450.00....again, they look like they are new...he had a larger pair of alons that red the model 1's....has anyone had experience with these speakers? They sounded fab through his $35,000.00 dollar hifi system...plinthium? 100 watt amp...think thats how you spell it...i would be powering them with an adcom gfa-5400 125wpc amp and yamaha cx-2 preamp.....any thoughts???

Thanks

Scott

 

[captouch]

I have a pair of Alon II's, larger version of the Alon I's.

They're open baffle for the tweeter and midrange, and ideal set up is to have them well off the back wall - like 1/3 the length of room ideally. But that being said, my room doesn't allow that, so mine are only 12-18" off the back wall and they still sound good.

They're also supposed to be very revealing of your audio chain (not as forgiving as other speakers), but as long as you have good quality components, you should be okay.

I've found mine to be a bit bright at times, but that could be my preamp or the fact they're not ideally set up. They're almost universally loved though.

That price seems a bit on the high side though. I think that'd be a pretty decent price for II's, but on the high side for I's, but others can comment on that as well. If your room is larger, you might want to hold out for II's or IV's. But they're not common speakers for sure, so if you really like them and they fit your room size, maybe you don't mind paying a bit more.

Check the woofer surrounds - if foam, find out whether they've been refoamed or not. At least on my II's, the foam gave out a year or so ago, so factor that into the cost if they haven't been refoamed.

 

[honestabe316]

Yeah recently refoamed...he got instructions from the guy who designed them and specific instructions. ..I saw the emails between him and the designer...this guy is meticulous with his gear...kinda ocd'ish with his gear....everything has to be just right...im not kidding when I say they look and sound new...he told me ex.actly what you did about needing to be away from wall...my situation is like yours as they will be like a foot away and im happy that you said they still sound nice....I didnt think a speaker could sound better ghan my large advents but wow..these were nice...this guy is a legit audiophile..he was gonna bring me to meet the guys down at audio lab and q-audio, and another hifi shop in cambridge mass, as its right down the street from his house...but it got too late...were gonna go next week...thanks for the response..

Scott

 

[captouch]

Are you NLA's laid back/mellow speakers? Never heard a pair. But the Alons, as you heard, are very detailed speakers, so not what I'd call mellow or laid back. So they might have different enough sound signatures to justify having both.

Alons are fairly power hungry. Not sure about specs on the I's, but the II's recommend something like 250W SS at 8ohms and 350-400W at 4ohms. Those may not be the exact numbers, but high power is good. That being said, your 125W is not low power and the I's may ask for less than the II's since the woofer is a bit smaller.

 

[honestabe316]

I auditioned the Alon's on a plinius sa-100 power amp and it was fine....the advents are great on the low end...decent on mid and hi's....I love my advents but when I heard the alons they sounded special...cant explain it but very balanced maybe....the guy I auditioned them from had some serious gear...he told me to bring my amp and pre to try them on my own gear....every time I say " ill just stick with advents" within minutes im reconsidering.....maybe these Alons wont sing with my adcom/yamaha setup...the whole synergy thing.....


Scott

 

[captouch]

You should at least try them out with your gear if you're really interested. Condition is important, so you can benefit from this guy being meticulous about his gear and being willing to sell. It's always cool to get something in mint condition. :thmbsp:

 

[honestabe316]

It is awesome...the technics sl-1600 turntable I got last night works and looks new...its a nice deck....blows away my pioneer pl-100....I actually went out and bought good vinyl today for first time in years

 

[Mahadragon]

I have a pair of Alon II's, larger version of the Alon I's.

I've found mine to be a bit bright at times, but that could be my preamp or the fact they're not ideally set up.

The designer of the Alon is Carl Marchisotto. When designing his speakers he uses tube amps exclusively to test the sound. Because of this it's not advisable to use solid state amps with his speakers as they can sound a bit harsh at times (as I have found out with my own setup). Towards the end of development, Marchisotto will do a sound test on his speakers using all kinds of amps including solid state to make any last minute tweaks, but if you're wondering why your speakers sound a bit bright that's the reason.

I realize I'm responding to a thread that is 10 yrs old but there's always someone (like myself) who needs info on these speakers. The days of going into a stereo store and listening to high end speakers are all but gone and the only way to get info now is reading reviews making my comment all the more important.

 

[captouch]

The designer of the Alon is Carl Marchisotto. When designing his speakers he uses tube amps exclusively to test the sound. Because of this it's not advisable to use solid state amps with his speakers as they can sound a bit harsh at times (as I have found out with my own setup). Towards the end of development, Marchisotto will do a sound test on his speakers using all kinds of amps including solid state to make any last minute tweaks, but if you're wondering why your speakers sound a bit bright that's the reason.

I realize I'm responding to a thread that is 10 yrs old but there's always someone (like myself) who needs info on these speakers. The days of going into a stereo store and listening to high end speakers are all but gone and the only way to get info now is reading reviews making my comment all the more important.

The speakers are long gone, but initially I had them hooked up to a B&K EX442 Sonata, which is a pretty laid back amp. They seemed to do well with this amp.

When I hooked them up later, it was to a Forte Model 3, which is a more detailed, less warm amp. That may be why it was brighter the second time around. At one point, I had 120W tube monoblocks, but I don’t remember if I had them hooked up together

I think the Alons would have gone well with my McIntosh MC2120, which was a warmer and very musical amp.

 

[Mahadragon]

Alons are fairly power hungry. Not sure about specs on the I's, but the II's recommend something like 250W SS at 8ohms and 350-400W at 4ohms. Those may not be the exact numbers, but high power is good. That being said, your 125W is not low power and the I's may ask for less than the II's since the woofer is a bit smaller.

I had another audiophile come over to my house an listen to my Model 1's. I am using Parasound HCA 1000A to drive them (120 wpc). He said my amp was barely moving my speakers. I thought it sounded fine but I know I'm not getting the most out of my speakers. I'm guessing I need at least 250wpc to properly drive them and get the best out of them. On that tip, someone had made the comment that his Alon Model 1's did not sound full. That was my exact same experience using my parents Nakamichi A/V receiver. I had just purchased my Alon Model 1's and I had no clue how to hook up those 4 cables into each speaker. I took my parents speaker wire and tried my best to jimmy a bridge between the terminals so that I could drive the woofers and the tweeter. It did not sound great, it sounded thin but I knew my setup was not optimal. I got to my house and got a better amp (Parasound) and finally figured out how to plug all those wires into the speaker terminals and it sounds substantially better. I have read that the speaker cables going into the Alon Model 1's are very important. They have to be quality cables and apparently they do best with the kind that goes 4 into 2 which is not common, but it is what it is. Yea, Carl Marchisotto gets an 'F' for user interface.

 

[Mahadragon]

I have had my Alon Model 1's now for a bit (it has been over a year) and I've had a chance to experiment. I got rid of the Parasound 1000A amp and am currently rocking an Adcom 5400 amplifier along with Adcom GFP 710 preamp. The preamp is remarkably transparent, has some sort of direct mode that makes it sound better than the preamp it replaced which was a Parasound P/LD 1100. The Adcom 5400 amp sounds really good, puts the holographic properties back into play. It's not a normal Adcom 5400 amp. The original owner recapped everything and upgraded the internals. It sounds better than a regular 5400.

I used to think I needed 200+wpc amps to drive the Alons but I no longer feel this way. My 5400 Adcom only puts out 125wpc and it seems enough. Also, the tube amp Carl Marchisotto used to test his speakers was a Pilot EL-34 which put out like 30wpc or something. It's similar to the Dynaco ST70 in terms of power and performance. I had actually went out and purchased a Carver amplifier that put out over 200wpc. It was a modified amp but I didn't like the sound. There was little holography or character, it was just boring. Loud, yes, powerful, yes, but boring. Couldn't wait to sell that thing. If anyone tells you that you need 200wpc to drive any of these Alons I would ignore it. These speakers are fairly inefficient at 87dB but they aren't THAT inefficient.

 

[StimpyWan]

We used to have a local Alon dealer. Their whole line of speakers were epically good, even the little Alon Petites and Sub. The earlier Dahlquist DQ-20s weren't slouches either...!

I heard a custom set of Nola's at the 2004 CES. Carl was driving them with a pair of ASL Monsoon 100 tube mono amps. The best drum reproduction I've ever heard. All of Carl's designs were meant for tubes...!

The CES speakers were similar to these, but with dual stacked mids and tweeters. Plus, they sat on a bass box with 6 8" woofers around the sides, fronts, and backs. Again, epic.

 

[Isotonic]

I had a friend with some ALON speakers in the mid 2000s. He powered them with an EAR preamp and a couple of Fairchild KT 88 mono blocks. That was a great sounding system. What stood out for me was how real the drums sounded. You could hear the mechanicals of the bass drum beater on the drum kit on one recording. I always wondered why that company seemed to fade away. I used to see advertisement, but don't see anything lately.