Soundstage, warmth, expressiveness, Female vocals. ability to play most musical styles with ease. Easy to set up. Easy to pair with both SS and Tube amps, but they do like a lot of power to sound thier best

Need to feed them power to get them to really sing.

I am posting this review as I listen to the speakers I just purchased to replace my JMR Offrandes. I had the bug for something different, even though I have never heard speakers I enjoyed more than the Offrandes. Afar three weeks the new speakers are up for sale and I am looking for another pair of Offrandes.

The Offrandes make music. It is as simple as that, but it took a change in the system for me to appreciate what I had. They are excellent at pouring forth the emotion of the musician. The soundstage is deep and wide the speakers completely disappear on most music. There are no harsh edges and the drivers integrate perfectly.

I listen to jazz, blues, and still like some hard rock occasionally. The Offrandes play them all with aplomb. Bass is completely adequate. Kick drums, snare drums are hard and taught as they should be. In my room I get 30hz with only a 3db loss and 25 hz down 10db which I think is amazing for a 7" bass driver. I had a Totem subwoofer and I moved it to another system because I feel no need for a subwoofer with the Offrandes.

Vocals are simply incredible. You actually feel the singer is right in front of you.

Amps I have owned and used with the Offrandes include CJ, 2250a, Krell fpb300cx, Manley snapper mono blocks, some other tube amps and now with a Jeff Rowland Concerto integrated.
They sounded good with all of them, with each amp adding it's own coloration but the Offrandes basic character was never lost.

With a 4ohm load my big Krell pumped out an incredible 600 watts a channel, and the Offrandes sounded clean and absolutely fabulous even at very loud levels with that amp. Crisp and clean with no fatigue at all. With the Snappers in triode they were lush and warm, I felt a little too soft but it was still a great match. The Rowland fits my taste best. Power to spare at 500 watts into 4 ohms. delicate highs, incredibly coherent midrange, wonderful soundstage and deep thunderous controlled low bass. Yes all from a monitor.

This is a speaker for music lovers, not neccesarily for audiophiles. They are not the last word in resolution or hyper detailed.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, 805, Custom built studio monitors, Totem Arro, Totem Sttaf, Salk HT3, Vienna Acoustics Hayden, Beethoven

Live tangible music, incredible soundstage consisting of proper height, width and depth. Music so real and raw, but without, I repeat without any listening fatigue - you can listen to these for hours on end and then some.

Really none, but to be picky they do not have the fit, finish and attention to detail of some other speaker's that I have seen, but then again other companies have speakers costing twice as much and more but to me can't provide the sound quaility that the Offrandes do.

I recently purchased a new pair of S.F. Guarnari's 10 months ago that I scrimped and saved to buy. Prior to that, I listened to a lot of different speakers before buying the Guarnari's. Please keep in mind, that I am not a buyer and seller of equipment and typically keep my equipment for a long time, in fact, I kept my old system for 6 years and enjoyed every minute of that system. However, by sheer accident I heard a pair JMR Offrandes, which, quite frankly blew me away to a point that I came back equipped with CD's in hand to give them careful scrutiny. Upon listening to them for several hours, I came to the conclusion that FOR ME the Offrandes provided a better connection to the music in the most realistic kind way and more importantly out did the Guarnari's in every way - I only wish that I heard this speaker before I purchased the Guarnari’s. Anyway, I took my financial licks “ouch” and sold the Guarnari’s for a $3,700 loss and now have a new pair of new Offrandes, which have provided me with music so wonderful and “REAL” that I feel that I can almost reach out and touch it, (a rare attribute for most speakers). In conclusion, for any of you looking for speakers, you owe it to yourself to give these a listen. They may not be ultimately for you, and you may wind up buying something else, however, I can guarantee you that you will certainly be impressed.

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber Cremona's and Guarnari's, Merlins, Revel, Magnapans, Monitor Audio, Vienna Acoustic

true music.

Non

It is been long, long time to find a right speaker I know that Searching right speaker is impossible. but Offrande was so closer. I have been trying many speaker.(B&w(didn't like it), sonus faber, dynaudio, Linn(regreted), Apogee(closer), inifinity, polk audio, energy, ceratec, Jbl, Klipse and wilson audio. Those speaker may give people satisfaction. but It was not to me. I have been changing speaker for over 8 year. But now I finally set up with offrande. This speaker sounds so good that I don't want to turn it off. My room is fill with joyness of true music. Playing Classic guitar music, I feel like there is nothing but guitar sound and a brething of player. It may not give really low bass but who care. It gives enough bass(30HZ). I almost end up with souns faber gueri... But I am so grad that I purchased offrande. I made a great dicision. If anyone looking for a great speaker with affordable price. Get offrande. You will never regret. The company gives a great service their custmers.

Similar Products Used:

sonus faber guarneri, Dynaudio C5, apogee diva, B&w 801, wilson audio sophia, avant garde, wilson beneach arc....

seductive midrange (esp on female vocals), powerful and extended bass, smooth treble and upper midrange tremendous level of microdetails

coloured lower midrange, bass can be overwhelming, lack of air in treble and upper midrange

This speaker is euphonic in both positive and negative senses of this word. Why would you buy it? It can make you cry, that's why. Its sound is unique in its ability to captivate you and emotionally involve with music. There is something engineered in this speaker that creates a certain 'halo effect' around instruments that makes female vocals especially soulful and violins weep like they are alive. At the same time it allows you to hear even slightest microdetails and nuances of the recording. For many audiophiles the above qualities are enough to buy this speaker and pay its rather highish price (as well as even higher price!). I don't think I can add anything to that. Why would not you buy it? You have to pay a price for the euphonia. This price is a sound which deviates too much from being truthful and accurate. That same 'aura' can become overbearing at times when it is felt as inappropriate and as an add on to the speaker's 'level of noise'. Instruments lower in pitch than violins and female vocals sound tonally inaccurate: a cello sometimes sounds like it is not one but many cellos playing (more the 'aura' than a cello itself), male voices lose their fundamental chestiness. Lower in the range - lower cello strings sometimes sound like basses. Moreover, the speaker feels like it has somewhat high 'noise floor' and opaqueness if you know what I mean. On complex orchestral pieces this feels like a slight loss of 'air', which is not helped by a their rolled off and smoothened treble. Comparing Offrande with other best representatives of the genre of mini-monitiors - it's more similar to the likes of Sonus Faber Electra Amator 2 than to the likes of Dynaudio and B&W N805. Speaking about price and value ... It's hard to pigeonhole this speaker. It has a bass extension of a floorstander (even beats many), but it does not have an 'easy-going' nature of a good floorstander's bass (there's no magic here - you need a big woofer to achieve this). At the same time it does not work in small rooms which is a typical realm of a mini-monitor (Offrandes need space to breath), and it costs like a good floorstander. It's only the uniqueness of its voicing that buys it, but pragmatically speaking this speaker is overpriced, hence I give it 3 for 'value-for-money'.

Similar Products Used:

B&W N805, Dynaudio 1.3SE, Merlin TSM-M, JM Lab 906, Cabasse Goelette 500, PMC LB1, Proac Response 1.5, Sonus Faber Signum and EA2(to name a few)

Musicality, for want of a better word: add all the qualities about transparency, timbral accuracy, dispersion, soundstaging, etc., but you always come back to theh notion that they sound like real music is happening in your venue.

Doesn't have the lowest half octave of bass

I very much liked the sound of the Signature IIIs but space considerations prompted me to look for a phyiscally and visually smaller speaker. After reading Bruce Kennett's somewhat offhand comments on the Offrandes in a recent issue of Listener, looking at J-M Reynuad's website and talking to Randy Bankert at OS Services, I decided to give the Offrandes a try. Visually, after setting up, they achieved the highest SAF any piece of gear has ever gotten in the household. Sonically they sounded good right away, but I missed the apparent fullness of the Sig IIIs. otherwise, they sounded less hi fi-ish and more like there were musicians in the room. I'm sorry I can't be more specific but I don't ahve test gear and I couldn't really do a double blind test of any kind. My impression, and it must be that that I report, is that they covered the spectrum seamlessly. there was a clarity and palpablity to instruments - especially in chamber works or small group jazz ensembles, but also even in Mahler and Bruckner - I had not heard before. And yes, they did seem to "break in" after about 200 hours ('pace' all you anti-break in people, such as I once was). after three months I find I can drive them louder than I first thought safe and they bloom accordingly. They can idneed fill a 3200 cuft room without strain and they do not seem overly placement sensitive.

Conclusion: I will not give them up and I suspect I am about to get into upgrading the rest of my system to see just how much these wonders can do. I believe some reviews are forthcoming but there is a consumer-friendly trial policy and I urge you to give them a try. I go to over a dozen concerts at Symphony hall in Boston, an equal number of chamber concerts, plus five or six jazz concerts each year. These speakers sound more like the real thing than anything else I've heard. I've given up on hi fi and now have music.

Similar Products Used:

Legacy Signature III, Snell CIV, Shahinian Obelisks for long in-home periods and B&W, Spendor, Hales and VonSchweikert gfor shorter in-store sessions.

Image, Natural Sound,tonal balance

Will not go low as the Grand Opera or the Avantgarde Duo...

Setting a true Hi End system is a very difficult thing to do. You have
to find the right components that you like, making sure that they work
well together, and the most difficult thing is (in my opinion) to find
the right speakers. The reason for that is that the speakers are the
most sensitive item to go with your listening room. A $10,000
floor-standing full range speaker may sound excellent in a big room but
they can sound bad in a small room, and can give you an annoying bass.
It is not getting the most expensive speakers as much as to find the
best speaker that can go in your room.

I had the Vandersteen 2ce Signature running with the Musical Fidelity
A3cr combo and the Roksan Caspian MK2 CD, with the Kimber Silver Streak
and the Oval 9, and I was ready to move on to my next set of speakers.
The measurements of my living room are 23' x12' x 8' , and the
listening area is in one half of the room. Speakers can be 2' at the
most from the front wall, and my listening area is a 9' triangle.
obviously with those measurements. I could not pick the B&W 801, nor
other big floor-standing speakers. I have listened during my life as an
audiophile to many speakers and components, at any price almost, and one
thing I found out is that you can not have it all! (especially if you
don't have the right room). Some monitors can give you image and
soundstage to die for, but the tonal balance and the truth of timbre is
missing.

Some full range expensive speakers (at almost any price) can fill your
heart and soul with life-like sound but the image will be "so so". With
these speakers the "sweet spot" is usually narrow, and if you are not
exactly at the right spot you will feel that the sound comes from the
speakers (poor image). Some speakers can give you almost all but they
are very difficult to set up and if you don't take them at least 4-5'
from the front wall the magic will disappear. I look at it like cars,
you can get a very fast roadster with razor sharp handling but noisy and
not comfortable, or get a big Cadillac with a lot of comfort and
quietness but it will not have the manners and performance of the sport
car. ( even a car like the Mercedes S600 does not behave as a sportscar)

My Vandersteens were very comfortable, for the money I paid they were
good value. I could listen to them without fatigue, timbre was very good
and they had tight bass Sometimes the sound was "mushy" and sometimes
there was compression when I listened at high volume. The image was not
nearly as good as some monitors that I had listened to, but as I said
before, I knew that I have to compromise.

I stayed with them because I could not find any other speakers that will
be as good for my listening room. Some ( like the Virgos ) need to be
far away from the front wall, and some ( Proac Response 2.5) were too
big for my room ( problems with some frequencies). Until I found my
Jean Marie Reynaud Offrandes.

I have had them for almost 2 months and they are broken in already (250
hours). I found everything that I was looking in speakers with these
marvels. The image is so sharp that you can sit almost anywhere, and
still, the sound will not come from the speaker. Some other monitors
may know how to do that but I have never found speakers with such image
plus this kind of tonal balance and natural timbre.

One of my beloved CD's is Art Pepper's "Living Legend" (ojccd-408-2) ,
track number 6 has some percussion that I always heard only from the
right speaker, when I say always I mean that I took this CD to every
audition because this CD was recorded very well (fantasy studios). With
the Offrandes this sound doesn't come from the speaker, it comes just
near the speaker. ( I was shocked when I first listened to this
CD with the Offrandes and when I listened to some classical music
recordings ( Witold Lutoslawskys Symphony No. 3 .( Erato 4509-9711-2))

I can even feel the presence of each and every one of the players. The
timbre of the instruments on some recordings is so real that it is
almost "scary". They go quite low ( 30 hz) and because of the
non-resonant cabinet design this sector also very convincing. I could
find speakers that can go lower but they would have sounded bad in my
room.(bigger woofer doesn't mean always better ).

It is almost impossible to find the "musical nirvana" for people like us
(audiophiles), but I did find my nirvana and I call them "Offrande"...
One day , when I will have bigger room I will audition the Reynaud Grand
Opera and other speakers, but for now I am in heaven.

Makes you speechless

I'm still searching. I'll be back in one or two centuries.

At last, JM Reynaud's speaker have been introduced in this great site! I was really impatient to write about them.

I have owned a pair of Totem Mani2 for two years. During this time, I've heard a lot of speakers, but none performed better, overall, than the Mani2 (for my 25m2 listening room). I was persuaded I had found the ultimate speaker, even though I had reservations about their timbral qualities.

Then, by chance, I got a pair of Trenté (see my review), that cost half the price of the Mani2. The result was so astounding I immediately sold the Totem, kept the Trenté for my second system and bought JM Reynaud's flagship speaker, the Offrande.

Wow... I've never, and I say *never*, heard that in my life. I thought the Totem were invicible image-wise, but they are buried alive by the Offrande. The timbres and realism of instruments make my hair raise on my arms. This is, to put it simply, the closest thing to reality, to live music. I had the impression I had changed not only my speakers, but also my amplifier, sources and cable!!! Transparency is also startling. You are suddenly transported to the recording place.

I cannot define the sound of the Offrande. They have no other sound that what is engraved on your CD. Regarding the size of the speaker, and the humility of their designer, the sonic results are really disturbing. Your first reaction will probably be: "Man, what is happening?" Go take a cold shower, come back and prepare yourself for the take-off...

The only drawback: they need an intensive break-in time. Be sure the pair you listen to has been playing for at least 200 hours.

You think your system is good? Even excellent? Yeah, I thought so, too... :-) Regarding the Offrande, the Totem Mani2 become a three-stars speaker.

Unbelievable. Run!!!! Check out www.jm-reynaud.com

Similar Products Used:

Totem Mani2, Apertura Super Tanagra, ML Request, Thiel, etc...