I have run these speakers for a year off an Arcam10 Integrated Amp and Arcam10 Power Amp.

They are superb, if a little oversized for my room. The base is a noticeable step up from the smaller Castle Isis, being much tighter and more defined.

These cost me £85 for the pair from eBay in 2014.

bright colourful and clean

nowt

top notch for the price lovelly bloody speakers

Similar Products Used:

tannoy 613 broken,gutted

Clarity,beyond belief. Rich and detailed. The highs were warm and non aggresive. Bass was full and non muddy.

none

Tried quite a few speakers before i fell upon these "jems". The salesman told me that i'd feel like i was at a concert. And boy was he right!

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Studio 40, B&W dm 602s3, Cabasse Jonque 302

Everything except thumping bass

Medium sensitivity, limited availability

It is really a shame that this speaker isn't widely available in the United States. It puts some speakers costing twice its price to shame. I auditioned many models from the likes of B&W, Paradigm, and NHT, and none could match the shear cohesiveness and musicality of these speakers, not to mention the gorgeous finish. If you think high-end audio is only about special effects like "soundstaging" and the ability "place the musicians in the room with you" then this product is probably not for you. Sure, it will provide you with ample detail, transparency, soundstaging, and so on, but you'll soon forget about all these things and just start enjoying the music. It's all too easy to get caught up in the quantitative aspects of sound reproduction these days and forget that music is more than the sum of its parts. The good news is that these speakers are so well designed that they will probably mate comfortably with a wide range of electronics (both expensive and modestly-priced) as well as a wide range of musical tastes. I strongly recommend auditioning these speakers if the chance arises, in order to avoid spending vast amounts of time and money upgrading components in the future (unless this process of constantly upgrading and burning in new components is somehow exhilarating - I really get sick of it after a point). If you want a "professional" opinion on these speakers, see UHF (Ultra High Fidelity) Magazine's review in issue #53.

Other Equipment:
Cambridge Audio CD4
Bryston B-60
Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects
AudioQuest Slate speaker cable (bi-wire)
Panamax 1000+ surge protector/line conditioner

Sound quality, reproduction, and imaging

could use a bit more bass maybe

These speakers are a wonderful improvement from my centaurs, at an identical price I'm amazed. With about 1/2 an hour of placement work, these will open up to your liking. I would recommend using tubes with these speakers (if you can afford them!). E-mail me if you have any questions!

Similar Products Used:

Apogee centaur minors

I was quite baffled by Christian Chen's review of the Castle Eden. Whilst I own a pair of Castle Avons, I listened to the Eden as well before making my decision.
I found the Eden to be exactly the opposite of Christian's experience. I felt the Eden was very accurate and musical, not "overly warm". Moreover, the use of carbon fiber in the drive units is precisely the reason these speakers sound so musical.

The Edens are far more pitch-accurate and musical than the Castle Tay and Isis. It is possible that some feel the Tay and Isis sound better because those speakers are more forgiving of mediocre electronics as opposed to the Avon or Eden.

The only reason I chose the Avon as opposed to the Eden was mainly the result of aesthetics. The Eden is a rather large bookshelf speaker (mini-monitor) and it is difficult to find stands that accomodate such a large speaker and yet please the wife!

I bought the castle Edens as extension speakers for my lounge room. I use and Accuphase DP70V cd player and Accuphase E305V amplifier. With these electronics I was more than happy with the sound. Open, accurate with a wonderful tonal quality. Their size does not permit them to reach the deep bass notes of some of the bigger high class speakers but crank up the volume and they do deliver.

I recently moved 'up' from the Castle Isis to the Castle Eden speakers, having been lucky to get a pair from a local dealer at a great price... I run a Sony CDPX77ES cd player and Rotel amp/preamp, with a Boston subwoofer. I fell in love with the the Isis speakers over the last 2 years and was a little apprehensive on the move up to the Edens... However I was warned that Edens need to be 'broken in' over a 50 hour period or so, and that they are a little power hungry... Both very true. They sounded flat and somehat dull at first, but as the breakin period progressed the difference in sound was remarkable. (Note: the grills on the Eden's are NOT transparent... take them off immediately.) Their presence, detail and imaging, especially at easy listening levels, belie their size and cost entirely; Castle probably makes the best tweeters in the world, period. Voice and piano (difficult to duplicate at 'live' levels) are just plain wonderful, without the jarring sharpness that you usually get with 'efficient' speakers. A little quietude goes a long way. Sub-Woofer choice is quite critical - the Boston I use is probably not the best match. Enjoy!!

The Edens character really depends on what you drive them with. Their carbodn Fibre drive units are inherently very clean sounding, and maybe a little hard and bright on the lower mids. To really get the Edens singing, i'd recommend warm-sounding amplification and "fast" cd players. Something along the strains of the DENSEN DM10 will work a treat. You won't believe how "grown up" the rig will sound. I remember actually liking the Edens more than the Avons, cos unlike the latter the Eden does not have a detached bass. The low end (which is quite full in my opinion, if you drive with with plenty of watts) is coherent and is well integrated with the rest of the upper registers. The downside is of course you don't get an elegant floorstandding enclosure that is imminently wife-pleasing! Me? I run Harlechs so i'm spared from this ongoing debate of Edens vs Avons!

Given that the Eden and the Avon speakers are Castle's first attempt at creating and using a carbon-fiber driver, I don't think they've worked everything out yet. The sound was overly warm, and the soundstaging wasn't too good either (although I didn't play around enough with speaker placement to say for sure that the speaker itself was at fault). There was also some detail lost. The Isis and Tay are still probably the speakers to get from Castle. You can't get a better speaker for under $2,000 that those. But the carbon fiber stuff doesn't seem to have panned out yet. I'm waiting for their next generation, as it'd be great to get the sound of the Isis, but with more bass response.