Value, beauty, sonic near perfection. Minimalist sock grill that comes off easy and stores in a small space. Bi wirable. Quality in every component, brilliant attention to detail even in the back of the speakers.. They even printed the manual on really sweet paper. The quality is unmatched.

My wife won't give me back the sweet spot.

I just bought these after months of searching for my perfect speaker... I heard them yesterday, brought them home today. They are open, precise, and dynamic. I love them.

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Energy, PSB, Thiel 1.3 (these absolutely KILL the Thiels.)

Soundstage, neutral tone

Can't go low without subwoofer

Checking in after approximately a year of listening, with the following system: Kestrel Hot Rods Creek 5350SE Integrated amp Rotel 991AE CD player Sony CD/DVD/SACD player Tara Labs speaker cable Vandenhul CS122 Hybrid interconnects As I mentioned offline to several people who were posting here, it took quite some time for this system to settle down, almost 300 hours of burn-in. Additionally, these speakers are extremely sensitive regarding room placement. It took a lot of tweaking of my listening space to figure out what was going on. These speakers need more space around them to function properly that I originally thought. I have them 4' from the back and 3' from the side walls, and this is in a 12' x 18' room. Finally, the things that really makes 'em shine are the Vandenhul CS122 hybrid interconnects. Best $150 I ever spent on cables. On to the music. I never thought I would get there, but the speakers sound awesome. Trademark Meadowlark sound. Accurate, relatively neutral (still a teeny midrange bloom) and the best soundstage I have ever heard on a sub $5K system. I mean, everyone talks about the speakers disappearing, but these speakers really do. I listen to a lot of trio/quartet jazz and vocals, so I don't need big power. Beautiful stuff. If you can hack 6-9 months of waiting for the darn thing to kick and start delivering, these speakers may just be for you.

Similar Products Used:

See my previous post.

Open, natural sound; Excellent soundstage; non-fatiguing; affordable hi-end sound

Cumbersome grill cloth that is best left untouched

After a lengthy auditioning quest for great sound at the $2,000 and under price range, I went with the Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rods and couldn't be more pleased. My system consists of a Jolida 502-A Integrated Amp and a Rega Planet 2000 CD Player. Meadowlark claims these speakers simply "disappear" when the music starts and once you hear the Kestrels you'll know what they mean. This is due to a unique design of the speaker cabinet that is beyond my expertise to describe. The soundstage is as open as can be and bass is quite full (but never punchy) for a speaker of this size. "Natural" is the best term to describe the way these speakers reproduce sound. I noticed no coloration nor brightness, yet the speakers are lively and full of detail. I'm not much of a Beach Boys fan, but a friend suggested I listen to their harmonies on the Kestrels. My jaw just dropped as I heard their voices layered in. It was unreal! They were there in the room with me. It was 1964 again! If you audition these speakers, bring lots of music and you'll listen for hours because they have a zero fatigue factor. These speakers have been around awhile and you'll rarely see them for sale on Audiogon or Ebay. There's a reason for that.............nobody wants to part with them! Of the other auditioned speakers listed below, the B&W 7NT would rank second in my opinion. It was a more expensive speaker though and the soundstage wasn't as large. It all comes down to what sounds best to you, but do audition these speakers if you're on a limited budget because they're awfully tough to beat. The Kestrel soars.

Similar Products Used:

Similar Products Used: B&W, Kirksaeter, Totem, Vandersteen

They do everything right!

cheesy gril clothes that keep coming lose.

I noticed there were a couple of unfavorable reviews on this speaker. But to those people I say " You don't have a clue what a real speaker is " Most likely I would say the people that gave this speaker a poor rating are using something very bright such as a cheap JBL that is known to be " in your face " I also noticed that someone had the nerve to write that this speaker was " dull and lacked bass " Very untrue! This speaker is quite adequate if not GREAT with the right equipment. Perhaps Someone should bother to explain the difference between " real tonal bass " and the crap I hear coming out of these cars that rattle the whole neighborhood when they go down the road. I find these speakers to have accurate mids and highs as well as an excellent " tonal " bass for the dollar! In fact with my system these speakers produce more than enough bass.! Damn good speakers!

Similar Products Used:

Vandersteen 2ce, PSB Silver-i speakers Quicksilver Silver 60 Quciksilver V4' amps. Arcam, Sonic Frontiers, and CAL Audiolabs cdp. Rogue 66, BAT VK3i preamps

A profoundly musical, though certainly not a perfect speaker--it colors the midrange some, it is not as fast as you might want on some high speed classical passages. But they make the sound my ears were looking for. The bass is deep and rich. Any deficiencies in this area are compensated for by my rather junky Infiniti sub, which I can leave turned on low. I could certainly analyze my system for flaws in the sound, but the Kestrels just sound so good you can ignore most problems. The sound really fills the room; in my set up, the soundstage goes wall to wall. It is a forgiving speaker on poorly mastered recordings, which is key to me, as the Bryston B60 can be brutally accurate in its sound reproduction. I was really sold on the Hot Rods when I listened to the Augustus Pablo, "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" CD. It also did some real magic with the James Bond movie theme. It has given me some very moving musical experiences, and I guess that's the whole point of all this money I'm spending. I'd say that unlike many speakers in this price range, the Kestrels aren't a watered down version of a company's much more refined and expensive speaker that you really want. The company put all its initial efforts into creating a great sounding speaker at the $1000 point. I haven't heard the non Hot Rods. I liked the Hot Rods I demoed, so I went with it. I figure the extra dollars will pay off in assured musical enjoyment.

Wide image, Good price

Get the Hot Rod version!!!

Tne Krestral is an out standing speaker that seems to fade away leaving you front and center at the concert
of you choice.
I was surprized that such a small woofer could reproduce
such good base and sound so open.
I was listening to them on Acurus equipment and
I was very impressed. After around 20-30 min I noticed that I was not fatiged and wanted to listen to more tunes.
Anyone that is thinking about this speaker should go ahead and give them a try.

I would consider owning a pair. I have also recomended
a pair to a friend.

And by the way: regarding the previous guy that ragged on them, I can only assume the his electronics were defective or he had a head cold.

The Krestals were life like.

Note: I do not own a pair of Krestral speakers so you can
trust this as a none biased report as a non owner.

Natural, musical sound.

Tough call. Bass could be tighter.

I don’t have much to add to the comments that other reviewers have made. These are outstanding speakers. I compared the Meadowlark Kestrals (either directly or indirectly) to a large number of competing speakers in the same price range including speakers by Paradigm, B&W, Vandersteen, JMLabs, Acoustic Research, Sonus Faber, and Dynaudio. Each of these speakers had their own set of strengths (and weaknesses). I kept coming back to the sound of the Kestrals for one simple reason – they sounded more natural than the other speakers I auditioned. Some of the other speakers let me hear more detail than the Kestrals, others possessed a deeper, tighter bottom end, but none of them sounded as natural as the Kestrals. Granted this is a very subjective evaluation (it’s not like I compared any of the speakers directly to live acoustic sounds created in real space), but to me they sounded more natural than the competition. Perhaps this is attributable to the use of a high-quality first-order crossover network (as Meadowlark claims). In the end you will have to let your own ears be the judge.

For what these speakers cost you get a high level of fit and finish, quality drivers, and quality electronics and wiring, along with solid design. If you are shopping in this price range, I highly recommend auditioning the Kestrals. They have brought a new level of musical enjoyment to my life.

Associated equipment:
NAD 312 Integrated Amp
NAD C520 CD Player
Music Hall MMF-2 Turntable
Tributaries SCA 300 Interconnect
Carol Command Studio Grade 14 ga Speaker Wire

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Atom.

Superb soundstage and musicality. Truly dissapearing loudspeakers.

Is there any?

Sometimes in your lifetime you will buy something that will make you smile because you know that you got more quality compared with what you actually payed. When you realized the quality of the components used and the level of craftmanship in this speaker you know for sure what kind of bargain you got when you compared them with products costing two or three times more. But let's get to the sound. The other day I invited home two friends of mine, one of them a Martin Logan owner, and they just could not believe how my Kestrels dissapeared in front of them leaving just a wide and deep soundstage in which each instrument had its place and natural sound within. We went through a wide variety of cd's of jazz and classical music from well recognized artists and recording companies, and the Kestrels performed with great musicality and envolving sound. I think one of them visited the dealer the very next day to purchased a pair while the Logan's owner wondered why in the world he did not audition the Meadowlarks in the first place. I honestly think that there in nothing in this price range, and even nothing in the $2000 to $6000 range that can outperform this loudspeaker. Do yourself a great favor, find a Meadowlark dealer and let your ears judge by themselves. You will be amazed.

Similar Products Used:

Monitor Audio, B&W

for the FWIW department: my kestral HR’s have been gone for many months now. I have been playing around buying, listening, & selling stuff just for the fun of it. NHT’s, ProAc Tablettes, Totem Arros, I did the REL subwoofer thing, then went to Totem Sttafs, a pair of Martin Logan Aerius I’s were here, and now I’ve got a real nice pair of ProAc Response 1.5’s hooked up. My girlfriend just shakes her head every time the UPS guy comes down the drive way. While listening to my latest purchase, she wondered into the room, and I asked her, “what do think”? She sat down, listened for a bit, looked around, then replied: “whatever happened to those Meadowlands”? I figured she was just askin somethin about New Jersey, so I shrugged and turned the music up…

I spent six months listening to speakers to replace my 16 year old Mission 770S transducers. I listened carefully to speakers from Royd,B&W,Totem,PSB,Linn,Rogers and Paradigm ranging in price from $1000 to $3,500 Canadian. Then it happened. My friend and I were played "Fever" on a LP by Elvis Presley through Meadowlark Audio Kestrel Hot Rods. My search was over. Prior to my purchase I had a few questions which I submitted by e-mail to Meadowlark. Pat McGinty (founder and president) responded personally within 1 hour! Now I was completely smitten. My dealer (Mike at Alternative Audio in Dundas, Ontario) allowed me a home audition and I bought a pair the next day! I can't stop listening to music (LPs and CDs). I can't wipe the smile off my face. They are not cheap (they list at $2450 Canadian), but if you love music then you will pay this and
you will be happy. Sources are a Cambridge Audio CD-4 CD player and a Rega Planar 3 with SME Series IIIs arm and Benz Micro MC20E2 cartridge. Integrated amplifier is Audiolab 8000A MarkIII. Cardas Crosslink cabling throughout.