Shahinian Arc Angel

Posted by: Name on 05 March 2002

Just spent a great weekend with an one of the most fun speakers I heard in a long time; the infamous Arc.
They handle vocals, orchestral tracks like nobody's business.
The dome midrange can be heard occassionally but otherwise there great, the bass I must admit takes a bit to get used to.
I didn't believe it, but boy do they time well, the tweeter is superbly open.
If you haven't listen to them go for it....you won't stop smiling unitl you have to pack them up to return back to the store.
And the really great thing is that I'm hopefully going to be able to source a pair second hand 5 years old so they have the latest metal dome mid range for about $4000 NZ which is about 1300 pounds; is life good or what!

Thanks Ebirah for all your comments!

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by redeye

They all seem to be ignoring this thread mate.
Just like to agree and say that the Arcs rock... where's Jason H when you need him confused

My advice.....buy 'em & be

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Uwe Supper

I don't want to leave Jason alone in his praise of Shahinian speakers; had I not come upon a used pair of Obelisks, I would have bought Arcs. A diffrent approach than SBLs for instance, but you never look back. To ME better than any other speaker I have heard. The only downside is their recent price rise.
Regards
Uwe

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by count.d

Shahinian are in a class of their own.

You can tweak a system to your hearts content, but when you hear the Shahinian range you'll realise what you've been missing in music all these years.

They are just so much better.

Jason,

My Obelisks still haven't arrived.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Lambros

I have been using Arcs for a a couple of years now and I have to admit that they are superb. I have yet to hear the Obelisks but the Arcs on the end of WT Classic/XX-1L/Prefix/HiCap/CDS1/52/135s on Base sound amazing and are the last thing I would want to change in my system.

As somebody else said in another thread I have reached a point where the system is so good that I am not thinking about upgrades at all!!! I know there may be better stuff out there (at a huge cost!) but at the moment I just concentrate on buying more LPs and CDs!!

Regards

Lambros

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Steve B

quote:
don't make the mistake I did and listen to the Obelisks if you can't afford them

I heard the Hawks last week and I can't get the sound out of my mind. So effortless.

One day....

Steve B

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Frank Abela

We had the obelisks in to try for a while. They had some very nice HiFi attributes, but to us they sounded broken. We tried moving them about, ensuring they were seated properly etc. to no avail. Sorry guys...just didn't do it for us.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by count.d

Steve,

quote:
I heard the Hawks last week and I can't get the sound out of my mind. So effortless.

You shouldn't have done that. I did. I shouldn't have done that. They're something else.

Frank,

quote:
We had the obelisks in to try for a while. They had some very nice HiFi attributes, but to us they sounded broken.

BROKEN!

Maybe they were.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Ron Toolsie

I remember ages ago after much eloquent waxing in the Stereophile about how great the top-of-the-line Diapsons sounded at every show, a pair was reviewed by J Gordon Holt, who wrote probably the most damning review I have ever read. IIRC he referred to them 'as pleasant as an infected hangnail'. Yet so many people have been totally beguiled by them and their lesser bretheren. They must be like Kans.. when they work.. the WORK; if they are less than perfectly functioning they then become truly horrendous. The trick must be to get them to WORK.

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Alex S.

Are you quite sure those Obelisks were fully run in? If yes, and you still thought they sounded broken, then I may have to reclassify you from 'Really Helpful Hi-Hi Expert' to something rather less flattering.

Alex

BTW

Nick,

You like sub-bass rather more than is strictly healthy for a human, are you sure you're not an anorexic whale?

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Frank Abela

I say I don't like something and dipsticks start questioning my sanity, integrity and professionalism. Honestly, Alex, what planet do you live on?

FWIW, the speakers were run in - by the Shahinian distributor if you please.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Alex S.

You should know by now that I'm hardly the most serious contributor.

If you have any hair please attempt to retain it.

oily dipstick from the planet tharg

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by count.d

Frank,

quote:
I say I don't like something and dipsticks start questioning my sanity, integrity and professionalism. Honestly, Alex, what planet do you live on?

It was the fact that you left your opinion on Obelisks as "sounded broken".

Hardly very constructive opinion.

How do they sound broken?

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Frank Abela

All the pieces were there, just not in the same order as they were recorded. Loads of space, depth and all the usual arty-farty HiFi attributes of a Krell system

but none of the PR&T I associate with working speakers. Of course, there's the weird imaging too, which I found interesting, if not entirely believable.

What really got me was the pace problem. They just felt like the bass was lagging behind the rest of the frequency range so bands sounded lethargic and classical sounded ... slow. Difficult to describe, but there you go.

We moved them around, trying to get them to work but we just couldn't get anything that sounded like a fast, cohesive, together presentation. SBLs were in a different league. Trust me when I say we really wanted to get them to work - we have a very good relationship with the distributor, so it would have been mutually beneficial to strengthen it with this brand, especially given the supposedly synergistic coupling with Naim equipment.

count.d - I fail to see how I could put it more constructively...

Alex, I still have some hair left, but not much, so mine is not the habit of hair pulling any more...

Jason, I really don't get where you're coming from with these speakers, but of course you went to Dynavecto amps and I found those to be powerful but slow and somewhat opaque (if memory serves). So I guess we're looking for different things. Shame I missed you at Bristol.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by P

Anyone seen the latest Hifi Plus?

There's no way I would pay good money for something that looks like that.

Never mind the sensurround sound effect (it aint music to my ears - and yes I've heard the silly things before - albeit not the latest ones)they look like something a shuttering joiner cobbled together out of marine plywood when someone asked him to build a box in his teabreak.

Bloody Horrible!

Still I suppose the fashion victims and those with a special interest in free hifi might rave about them.

Speakers with furniture castors? Wheel me out while I've got a life!

Honestly I sometimes wonder why certain people bother posting on this forum. They're obviously not hearing things the way the majority of us like to hear things. I find that kind of sad because I thought we were all singing from the same one?

Obviously NOT

Grrrrrrrrr

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by count.d

Is this P fella for real?

Christ,
There's always one in every Naim forum thread.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Name

My second hand ARC's have been confirmed 5 years old and mint condition, believe it or not owned by a FEMALE music lover, using tubes and an old Sony CD player. She's going to Obelisks.
ALRIGHT GUYS HIT ME WITH SET UP TIPS OR DO I NEED TO START ANOTHER THREAD.
ANYONE USED THE CLEARAUDIO RDC 1 CONES ON ARC'S WITH THE SUCCESS AS WRITTEN IN HI FI PLUS REVIEW BY ROY GREGORY.

Posted on: 06 March 2002 by Afzal

Name

Hate to pour cold water on your new pride and joy --- BUT you seriously have got to get the new passive radiator installed on your arcs.

I've owned arcs since the mid 90s and love them to bits. Last week, I convinced my cousin in London to get a pair (ex dem c.mid 2001)with the new radiators on and they sounded absolutely fantastic! I've been told that the new radiators are the reason for them sounding so good. The bottom end is even deeper with more control. The result is faster, cleaner bass with more extension. I was amazed and have ordered the new radiators from Shahinian for my 7 yr old arcs.
I encourage you to do the same -- the results will blow you away.

Afzal.

ps. If not mistaken, the "new" passive radiator design was introduced in 1999. An even "newer" version of the arcs (2002 update) has increased cabinet bracing, but I have yet to hear them.

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Alex S.

Frank,

First you rubbish Shahinians. Fine, its difficult to love SBLs and Obelisks and thank God we don't all agree about everything; good to have some passion about either speaker, but my Dynavectors 'slow' and 'opaque'? More transparent than the 82/SC/250 for sure, and for 'slow' I would substitute 'natural and realistic'. An 82 is one-dimensionally fast by comparison.

Alex

All opinions are probably someone else's and do not reflect the opinion of any sane individual, except where this is stated explicitly

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Alex S.

quote:
Still I suppose the fashion victims and those with a special interest in free hifi might rave about them.

My thesaurus come up with quite a few words beginning with 'P' to describe someone who makes such remarks.

Alex

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Steve B

quote:
More transparent than the 82/SC/250 for sure, and for 'slow' I would substitute 'natural and realistic'

Alex,

From what I've heard of the DV's, transparent, natural and realistic describes them perfectly.

Before upgrading my current 112/150 I will be taking a close look at these.

Steve B

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Bruce Woodhouse

Dear P

Could I respectfully suggest you might listen to Shahinian before slagging them off?

I had a long dem of them and decided they did not do it for me but it was one of the most interesting and challengingly 'different' products I have ever heard-I would recommend anyone who has an open mind should try them. Surely not to everybodies taste either musically or aesthetically but variety is the spice of life. Perhaps they are the Apple mac of loudspeakers?

Vive la difference

Bruce

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by P

Whoops

Sorry for rattling your cages.

You're right - diversity is truly the spice of life.

Those shahahaninnyones are about as diverse as you can get so....I'm going to flog all my Naim gear based on the recommendations of this forums advice and create a truly diverse system from disparate means.

I hear Dinaffector are bringing out a new pseudo surround mode amp. Maybe I should couple that with a Chord DIC to completely toast the signal.

Whatever I do though I'll make sure I get the new system in place before I get my mains supply and bad earthing arrangement sorted with a seperate spur.

Thanks for all your help and advice on choosing my new non Naim system

Cheers

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Afzal

Sorry, I've been off the forum for a while and am therefore probably out of date but:

ARE YOU BLZEBUB?

Afzal.

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Pete, Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know

Hi,

Looks like one person who didn't like the sound and one who didn't like the looks (its Birch ply btw) over all that must be a glowing recommendation. Some people you just have to ignore, I won't mention his initial.

A happy Arc user

Pete Mad Bad & Dangerous to Know

Posted on: 07 March 2002 by Frank Abela

I agree that some hifi is going down the leading edge path far too much. Sometimes, it seems that guitars are just strings with no body, that the decay on notes is tailed off, accentuating the leading edge and contributing to a faster, if less natural sound.

Tonally I had no problem with the Dynavector amps, which I thought had a very 'nice' sound, quite full and sonorous. However, I maintain that for similar money I could get better tonal ability and faster response with either Naim or Chord. Having said that, those are the only two examples I believe could better the DV amps, with the possible exception of Densen.

As to the Shahinians, they seemed very well put together to me. It may have been that the weird soundstaging coloured my view too much, or that it didn't work in our fairly wide rooms, such that the bounced signals caused it to sound slower (although that's precisely what they're meant to be so good at sorting).

As it happens I'm playing about with different speakers in my home at the moment. Perhaps I'll consider them for that application (not in a Naim system, but you can't have everything).

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.