oops, already listed them....

You get tired of hearing the "for this price range" disclaimer,...But, truly a huge bargain under $5K

Great tight and accurate bass throghout the entire spectrum. Quality, seamless mids,relatively wonderful highend as well. Cabinetry is second to NONE under $5K. Great customer support as well. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to be able to move up to the Sig III's when time is right.

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Paradigm Ref. Studio 100 V2, Dahlquist DQ10,ESS AMT 1B,Various others in 30+ years of audio bliss...

Superb build quality. Excellent customer service. 10 year warranty. Crystal clear highs. Deep, deep bass that's not boomy. These babies can roar thanks to their efficiency!

Binding post being too tight for bannanas. That is IT!

I've waited almost 4 years to write this review! These have been some kick-butt speakers. I've done many changes around them, and each time, they sound better and better. I'm feeding them with Kimber Kable 8TC currently, and they have opened up quite a bit since that change. Highs are superb, bass is taught and deep, and mids are very live. Midrange probably being this speaker's biggest weak point - but I'd not call it a "weakness". It took me almost 4 years to figure out these speakers sound better with that damn rear-firing titanium tweeter defeated! In my last home, I could never get them dialed in. In my new home, the room is much larger (16x28), so I've been experimenting with cables and configurations. They can fill this size room with ease. My latest venture into DSD Technology has led me to believe these speakers couldn't be beat for anywhere near their price range. They can handle the full range audio that 2-channel SACD delivers, with ease. Of course, with (2)10" drivers each, it's no wonder how they handle the deepest bass notes. Home theater with these is purely breath-taking. Only negative I have, is with the binding posts. Anyone who's tried to hook up bannans to the posts can attest that the negative terminal is machined too tight. I thought my WBTs were bad, but I switched my negative out with another positive post, and it slides right in. I just have to remember that the "real" positive terminal is always on the RIGHT side!

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Infinity. Yamaha.

very flexible, turlly full range (no gaps), a great bargain!

the rear tweeters, the jumpers, and the spikes, all of which are easily corractable.

I have spent some time with these speakers, and can say without hesitation that they are a great buy (especially if you can find a good pair used – in decent shape they are worth at least $1600) I’ve listened to many speakers within the $3,000 range, and I must say that for dynamic music I could not find anything that came close to these speakers. If I had no space for floor standers or didn’t care too much about bass, the only other set of speakers that I would replace these with would be the older Legacy Monitors with Cevlar drivers (the new ones for some reason sound horrible). Yes these speakers are sensitive to placement if your goal is to reproduce the soundstage, but this is true with any speaker. However, unlike other speakers they sound good regardless of placement. Yes they do sound better without the spikes (unless you just get some huge spikes and get rid of the plastic rails – this might improve the sound a bit). With good gear these speakers become quite revealing but the switches in the back could save you from hunting for the weakest links. The rear tweeters do sound a bit metallic. Instead of simply turning them off or spending money on new tweeters try covering them with a couple of layers of grille cloth – remember, they are there simply for ambiance. BI-WIRE!!! … unless your hearing is not that good… in which case you should buy cheaper speakers. After reading all of the reviews I decided to open my speakers to take a look at the wiring myself and found it to be satisfactory. The wires are very basic but since the runs are short I don’t think that good wires will make that much of a difference. The Classics are very flexible speakers: I’ve listened to them in room that was not much bigger than a walk in closet and in mid size room set up just for sound – the Classics sounded great in both, which is quite unexpected for their size and the number of drivers. They have surpassed my expectations in how they maintain their wonderful at all volume levels – I’ve heard some VERY expensive speakers completely fail at this. Also, a good strong amp with much control will make the speakers sound great, but even with a cheap 20W receiver they sound pretty good. Conclusion: If you like dynamic music these speakers cannot be beat for the price.

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Sony ES (powerhungry), various Legacy Monitors, Mirage, Yamaha, Bostons, DCM, Dynaudio, etc

Fit and Finish. Excellent all around sound quality. Very acurate

None yet.

These Speakers are awesome. I have listened to a ton of speakers and nothing comes close to these, except other legacy speakers. I drive the speakers with Legacy monoblocks and a Legacy preamp. I use a Denon Audiophile CD player as well. The speakers finish is perfect, I got the rosewood. It took a very short time to get the placement right but when I did the speakers had great lows, mids, and highs. I strongly recomend a pair.

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B&W, Paradighm, Klispch, Tannoy, M&L and various others.

great soundstage.good bass and midrange

pricey and heavy. 110 pounds each but that a mark of a very well built speaker.

these are very well build speaker. period bi-wire,bi-wireable,bi polar.the soundstage is great when place right.i like the fact that they are a full range speaker that can handle power. right now i'm using parasound 220at to power them. highly reccommand them to anyone. but keep in mind they are not bright speakers.

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cambridge tower I

Sound wonderful!

Bass Control

This is a follow up to my earlier review. After having owned them for about 9 months and having had a chance to upgrade the entire system around them I''m still in love with them. Originally I was using them with a Denon integrated and a Pioneer 525 DVD player. I have since upgraded to a Sunfire Theater Grand II preamp with a Sunfire Cinema Grand power amp and a fully modfied ModWright Pioneer 38A. Sound is excellant and just continued to improve as I upgraded components. The main weakness I have seen with this speaker is the bottom end needs a muscle amp to keep it totally under control. I went to vertically bi-amping the speakers since one amplifier channel of my Sunfire per speaker did not have enough damping to keep the woofers fully controlled. With this change the sound has improved even more and is very, very nice throughout the full frequency range. To me this is no big deal since I am mostly concerned with the results, and the results are spectacular, but I could see people feeling differently. I would make sure if you are going to pick up a set of these speakers that you should either have a real muscle amplifier or be ready to bi-amp them to get the most out of them.

Accurate reproduction of sources
build quality is furniture grade
price
customer service

none

I’ve owned the CLASSICS for nearly one year. Although I’m not an expert, I knew the sound I was searching for when auditioning speakers. I am fortunate to live near to an audition center and therefore was able to listen to the CLASSICS, STUDIO, SIGNATURE III, and the WHISPERS. Sound staging was excellent with all of them, although they were more profound as you listened to the CLASSICS, SIG III and WHISPERS. (I’d rather spend the 12k on the WHISERS than a car if I had the money.)
I spent 2 visits and listened for approx.2 hrs each time before I made the decision for the CLASSICS. I figured I could trade up to the SIG III later.
I am totally satisfied with the CLASSICS. I am a very picky/finicky son-of- a-gun but these things have performed everything well.
The six drivers sound seamless. Nothing ever jumps out at you, even in the treble (up to 30KHZ). Bass is powerful, defined and controlled (22HZ). Vocals are clear and, depending on the recording, sound startling real and live.
They are built like a TOUGH PIECE OF BEAUTIFUL FURNITURE! I brought my wife with me the second visit to SEE these things. She didn’t mind the thought of their fairly large presence in our family room.
Two months ago, my 6-year-old daughter and 3 year old did the unthinkable; Wrestling behind the speaker, they knocked it over; 110 lbs. face down. Apart from a small cosmetic injury, (soon to be restored at LEGACY) there is nothing wrong at all.
LEGACY’S customer service is outstanding. The delivery men spent over an hour setting them up; positioning, installing the brass spiked feet, and soldering the wires to the back terminals. They also put back grills on for protection of the back two drivers from little fingers. They’ll customize just about anything you can want.
PRICE? Go and compare the similarly priced Thiel speaker as I did. As good as the Thiels are, you would need to spend twice to get a similar build and sound in a Thiel to equal the CLASSICS; $2700.00 base. I’m not saying that the Thiels are overpriced, but they don’t skip the middleman. Go and see what $ 2700.00 buys you at a high-end store. Wrap the side with your knuckles.
5 stars all the way. I can’t understand any less of a rating for these works of art.

frequency response balance, dynamics, bass extension, detail, cosmetic appearance of cabinets

coherence, room placement sensitivity, soundstage width

I have extremely high standards for music reproduction and have had these speakers for 2 years. I listened to 100+ different speaker brands ($1500.00 - $15000.00) over a period of a year before purchasing these new. There are other speakers available currently that sound as good or even better but they all cost over $5,000.00. Customer service in my experience was exemplary. My impressions are that the overall quality is high with one caveat, the bass drivers our of substandard workmanship in a product of this class (I never felt compelled and thus have not examined the interior of the speaker, so cannot comment on wiring practices utilized in constructing the speaker). I have experienced no problems using the following system:
VPI HW19 MK IV turntable
Graham 1.5 T tonearm
Various cartridges from Dynavector, Benz Micro, and Lyra
Sony ES779 CD player
MSB DAC
Magnum Dynalab FT101A tuner
Audio Research SP9 MK III preamplifier
Bryston 4B power amplifier
Kimber Silver Streak interconnects
Tara Labs RSC Prime biwire speaker cable

These speakers need room to give the best imaging and bass performance. My room dimension our 17.5' wide X 23' long. The speakers are 43" from the rear wall and 51" from each side wall.

Their greatest strength is their overall tonal balance and neutrality.

Their greatest weakness is the difficult with placement. The level of coherence between drivers is greatly affected by room placement and listener position (with the 6 drivers it is easy to determine which driver is responsible for a given sound if proper time is not spent optimizing room placement).

They also seem somewhat less sensitive than the rating would indicate. This may be due to the fact that most of the speakers I have owned were 6-8 ohm nominal impedance.

The speaker is a must audition at this price point for anyone intested in dynamic music of scale (rock, symphonic, some jazz recordings). It is also very good with vocal reproduction in general. It may not be the best choice for someone into intimate small scale works such as solo piano.

Other speakers that I felt were impressive but did not offer as good of value:

PSB Stratus Gold
Proac Response Two
Magnepan MG1.6
Vandersteen 2CE
B&W 801
Snell C V
Martin Logan ReQuest
Legacy Focus (I did not like the Signature III or the Whisper)
Dynaudio entire range

Similar Products Used:

Thiel, Vandersteen

Great presence, handles all types of music well.

Sometimes bass can be overwhelming.

I have now owned the Classics for 2 years buying them used. I have since moved into a house from an apartment and the bass has stop being boomy. These speakers do not belong in a small room they need air to breath. I still have not found anything that I can afford to replaced them with. They are still the best speakers I have owned and will still rate them among the best out there.

I keeping mine.

Peace.

Tight, deep bass. Accurate midrange. Clean highs. Adjustability of sound.

Rear tweeter (see below). Errors in wiring.

I have had my Classics for about a year now, and after some recent tweaks to the rest of my system, the magic has begun. I listen mostly to classical music and find these speakers really allow me to experience the acoustic instruments that make classical music what it is. Whether it's a small chamber orchestra or a full symphony, the ability to project a realistic view of each instrument, in it's proper place and with it's proper tone, makes these speakers addictive to listen to. Bows on strings, hammers on drums, the blat of the horns--it all comes together to make the listening experience wonderful and involving. Put on some organ music and feel it through your feet and butt. Having said that, I must point out that I have found a couple of areas that needed improvement. First, in nosing around inside each speaker (where I was impressed with the apparent quality and complexity of the crossovers and wiring), I found that in one speaker there was a wire leading to one of the contour adjusting toggle switches that had never been stripped and therefore never soldered to it's solder lug. I asked Legacy about this and they said that channel had therefore been down 3 db from 4 khz to 10 khz--I think this is why the imaging seemed to jump around a bit up to the point I fixed the problem. Imaging is now solid and stable. Second, I found that one of the leads going to the rear firing tweeter of both speakers was not soldered in place. The lead was touching the solder lug but was not soldered. There was no improvement in sound after soldering the lead, but it was another indication that maybe my speakers were Monday or Friday units. Third, after hoping for a year that the titanium dome rear tweeters would smooth out, I pulled them out and found they had not completely scraped off the "Made in Tawain" stickers. A call to a knowledgable driver merchant indicated these were very cheap drivers indeed. I replaced them with mid quality Audax soft domes, and now the sound is smooth, without any loss of detail. At this point I can rate the sound and value 5 with no qualms. I would recommend, though, that if you own Classics, get out your screwdriver and start nosing around inside. Hopefully you will find nothing amiss, but it wouldn't hurt to look. Be careful you don't push your fingers through the cones or domes if you do this though.
I'm using a Bryston 4 BST power amp, an AMC 1030 tubed preamp, and in my living room, which has a wood floor and is carpeted, I've found the bass is tighter when I don't use spikes.

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Vortex Screens