I had Vandersteen speakers at first, I loved them and I said I would neve change them up. Well low and behold, the Vandy's are long gone, and the Audio Physic Sparks have appeared. I heard them and immediatly I knew that I wanted them. They have an incredible soundstage, and this amazing ability to dissapear into the room. The sound never comes from the speaker, it comes from the air. It's a beautiful little speaker, that is sesnitive, but not too much, to the placement in the room, but the beauty is, that they will just dissapear, they pratically sit in the middle of my living room, and they look great, I tried that with the vandy's and I couldn't walk around. For 2500, you ain't gonna beat these little guys. Give 'em a shot, they're well worth it!

deeeeep soundstage; ability to truly disappear; great bass in small footprint; handsome appearance

none glaring

[The basis of this review is an audition in a smallish listening room. The system included a Krell 300i integrated and a CAL CL15 cd player.] These speakers throw a marvelously deeeep(!) and wide soundstage, no doubt owing no small part to the narrow baffle. The bass on these puppies is staggeringly good considering this small 2-way only has a 4.5" woofer! The Sparks delivered deep, rich and satisfying bass with enough articulation to be able to follow the bass line in the jazz pieces I auditioned. No, they are not slammin' bass machines. But bass was never less than satisfying, and considering the svelte package I would characterize the bass as excellent. Truth-of-timbre was there across the entire spectrum. For example, Cassandra Wilson's voice was spot on. The treble was airy and and smooth. Most importantly, the entire presentation was well balanced. Note that the soundstage is clearly laid-back (i.e., the sound begins at the plane of the speakers and heads back).

At $2,500/pair, these are worth every penny. Compared to the other speakers referenced above, the Vandy's and the Meadowlark's don't measure up. The Josephs are excellent, as are the Maggies (which are a stone-cold STEAL for $1,500). So put all 3 on your audition "A" list and decide for yourself. Since Maggies are a clear 5-star performer on the value scale, the Sparks rate a 4. On an absolute scale for the under-$3k universe, they merit a 4.5 star rating (round up to 5).

Similar Products Used:

Joseph Audio RM22, Maggie 1.6, Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rod, Vandersteen 2CE Signature

soundstage, accuracy

none that i know of

Chose these over NHT 2.9and Meadowlark. System includes Bryston 60 and Rega cd, and Trans cable and I/C. Great system for a smaller room.

soundstage, clarity, craftsmanship, design, veneer quality

weak low bass, take some time to position correctly, long break-in time

beautiful AND beautifully made speakers for the true audiophile.

Great image, good bass & good precision

positioning in the room

I'm very surprized of my new "used" Spark becouse i've ever used a couple of Harbeth HL-P3 that was great for "image" but simple for "bass". Now i have a perfect image with a great Bass. Now i'm happy :-)))))

Similar Products Used:

A very good monitor (like Ls3/5a) perfect coupled with a very good Subwoofer

great soundstage

bass tuning is suspect

Need to be placed very far from the walls. In mine combination it sounded over the edge, too bright. Not really deep bass, a little bit muddled.

gear:
Bryston 3 BST power amp
Bryston BP 20 pre amp
Meridian 566-20 dac
Marantz CD 10 transport

Siltech interlinks and speakercable

Similar Products Used:

Audiostatic ES 100, Linn Keilidh