Soft highs, clean and clear midrange, bass is not muddy but accurate.

Some of my music (not much) has a tendency to sound hollow. Although, I think this is due to poor recording and I have not set up the speakers properly yet. I also have very medium equipment.

I recently purchased these speakers without even listening to them. I was intrigued by the previous reviews and found this pair on sale in Ottawa via the internet. They were sent to paul Schumann of soundstage magazine to review two years ago. His review was extremely good as well. So I took a chance. This is the best chance I have ever taken. I am extremely impressed with these speakers. The highs are clear, accurate and not overstated. The mid are crisp and the lows are fast and solid. The overall presence is great. I listen mainly to folk, roots blues, female vocals and the vocals are absolutely fabulous.

Similar Products Used:

Totem accoustic, Sililoquy, Accoustic research, Dynaudio

Accurate reproduction of the music; clarity, detail, impeccable highs and mids, soul stirring lows. I love the rosewood finish.

None that my present electronics can reveal.

I usually don''t rush to write a review for new products, especially since these loudspeakers have yet to surpass their prescribed "break in" period, but why defer accolades when they are clearly due? The Panatella MK IIs are phenomenal in every respect, doing just about everything well, all in an eye catching rosewood box that accentuates any environs. I am particularly impresed with the soundstage of these speakers. One need not be confined to a particular "sweet spot" in order to appreciate the Panatella''s warmth. I am using a Rotel amp at the moment, but I''m anxious to feel these speakers accentuated by tubes (as is widely suggested). The tubes would be a luxury, however, and not essential to my overall appreciation here. Sade, Herb Alpert, Fourplay and Grover Washington have never sounded so sweet.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing in this class.

Transport: cambridge audio discMagic
Digital cable: Wire World Star Light
DAC: monarchy 22b with stan warren mod
Interconnect: 89259+89248
Preamp: none
Amp: Sun SV2A3, Jeff Korneff 76/45 integrated
Speaker cable: stan warren version CAT
Room: 16 x 16 x 14
Music: female vocal, violin, piano, mostly classical
and folk

I got a pair not long after its release. The pair I
demoed with had 1-2 hours on them. But base on Silverline's
track record I was pretty confident that the Panatella II
would *sing* after broken in. Its very SET friendly
characteristics also played a big part in my purchase.
They also looked pretty by the way.

The tweeter and the mid-woofer are in a separate
department. The woofer is in another department with
a saxophone-like transmission line. Knocking the
cabinet from top to bottom, the top portion and the back
are more inert. This is also true for the bigger Sonata.
I guess this is designed deliberately.

Out of the box, they sounded quite rough and uninvolving.
After about 35 hours things changed QUITE a bit, and
after 250 hours, things were getting stable.

With the 3.5W Sun amp and the 2W Korneff amp, the
midrange is absolutely astounding. The presentation
is very detail (Sun) and very relax (Korneff).
The soundstage is as deep as my previous system, but
definitely wider, it's wall-to-wall rather than
speaker-to-speaker. With the 2A3, the dynamic is
surprisingly good, and the bass is tight and fast.
With the 45, the dynamic and bass is a tad weaker,
but in exchange is the even more incredible midrange,
presentation is more emotional and musical.

Grab them while they are still at the introductory price.

Full range capability on flea powered amps, Air, depth and openness. Great sound stage

Tend to bass load a small room, roll off a bit too high for the last octave of bass.

I've had the Panatella II's now for about 7 months. I have a small listening room (10 x 12'), so I had to tinker a bit to get them right. Even with placement there is some bass coupling in my room. Having had Solilqys and Josephs in the same room I was able to determine that these are the more neutral of the three speaker systems. Since I did not have to break them in, I could start to enjoy the music right away. Openness, Air, Depth and full musical sound. An occassional goose bump was also noted. For the record, I listen primarily to classical music with some new found appreciation for Blues .....Keb' Mo', Terry Evans, solo female vocals like Partrica Barber and Diane Krall. On Keb Mo's Album, "Tell evrybody I know" the vocals, guitar and accompaniment are all set in space with wide soundstage and about a 10-12 ft deep stage. Similar effect with Manhattan Transfer's "Tonin' Album...(goose bumps here).

A favorite classical CD I use is London's release of Rossini's 8 Overtures with C. Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony. For its air and depth, as well as its music and rhythm. great musical feeling here.

I could go on, but these speakers made small work of the Joseph's and bested the Soliloquy's (although these are formidable speakers in their own right). They are not perfect, as there is a slight lack of lower octave bass In a larger room, but for this price you cannot go wrong.

This speakers are an easy load (92 dB @ 8 ohms) and I have driven them with 20 WPC Antique Sound Labs SE Parallel KT88 monoblocks (SPMT25's), and the new flea powered Antique Sound Labs WAVE 8 DT monoblocks at 7 WPC. No lack of power or music with either. They would probably be a great match for 300b or 2A3 based amps as well. My preamp is the AES (CARY) AE-3 preamp and well tempered record player/ black cube phono, Rotel RCD 971, Goertz MI 2 biwire cables and Goertz interconnects, Sansui TU 717 tuner. As you can see, I am really impressed with these speakers.

I don't know why people are not buying all the speakers that this little company can make, they are giant killers.

Similar Products Used:

Joseph Audio RM22si, Soliloqy 5.3

To Many to list

Spikes are to short and the wood veneers Don't match.

I took a chance on a used pair. And it's the best chance I ever took. These 2000.00 list speakers. For the price I payed a just great. Smooth clear highs. Great bass for small floor speakers. Veneers are great looking. But they don't match. Not a big deal for 850.00 .Might bother you if you payed 2000.00.I can't see ever upgrading them. They are that good. Bass if fantastic in my medium sized romm. 15x12. 9 ft. ceilings.If you see one used don't think! just grab it! My system is: Anthem-Pre1 w/ phono stage. Muse Model 100 amp. and Ah! 4000 CD player.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour 1.8's,Aud. 82's

Open and airy, full bass, smooth, dynamic, detailed, cabinetry

spike system

These thins are unbelievable!!! They are very easy to listen to wtih jazz and blues. The top end is very smooth and the bottom end is full enough for me with out a sub. The highs are not etched and the mids are wonderful. I can listen to these for hours. I got these on a lark to replace Soliloquy 5.3's, which are good in their own right. These are much more dynamic, open, and full sounding. I'll be keeping these for a long time. Althoug they are said to bre tube friendly, I use a solid state amp(Odyssey Stratos, 150wpc) with a tube preamp(ARC SP 9MkIII)and it's wonderful. Get a pair of these if you get a chance, I don't think you'll be dissapointed for the money. These babies are a sleeper.

Similar Products Used:

Thiel 03A, Sound Dynamics RTS3, Soliloquy 5.3

wonderful all aound performance,solid accurate base,clear midrange,smooth treble and lovely cabinetry.

carpet spikes are too short to penetrate deep padding.

I"ve had these panatellas for nearly a year now and have been upgrading my system around them.These have a lovely neutral sound with excellent definition.I play a mixture of classical,classic rock and jazz/new world music.After having spent 6 months auditioning i went with the silverlines due to their superb all around sound.They are a step above the psb/paradigm sound and have better base extension than the totems.I"m driving them with a nad c340 and a rotel 971 cd player.
These are wonderful speakers and i"m somewhat suprised that this is only the third review posted for them.Give them a try and,you won"t regret it.You can find these speakers selling for under 1k used on audiogon or audioweb.There"s also a review on ecoustics.com.
Happy listening!

Similar Products Used:

psb stratus silver,paradigm studio 80,dynaudio audience 72,totem staaf,tannoy saturn s10 and meadowlark kestrel.