very coherent, excellent value

tuned to subtle music, not a blaster box

recently heard the 5.3 and the big bro' 5.6 at the NY audio show at the hilton. These speakers are incredibly good and coherent. The 5.6 is a lot more expensive but one of the best speakers i ever heard, and can be easily driven by a single ended amp. at the show a 5.6 was mated with an art audio single ended and played painfully loud without distortion and the sound was completely first class all the way.

Heard these speakers attached to some very exotic WE 300B tube gear and Cary preamp. From what I can tell, this is a Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk II clone...but at much less money. I liked what I heard, but felt the speaker was somewhat bass-shy. It could have been the tube gear, though. Imaging was great and the tonality was very neutral and smooth. Not sure if this is a 5-star speaker for the price. I'd need to hear the speaker with different gear before being convinced.

Imaging, soundstaging, openess, warmth, beauty

Needs right set up as with everything else

Wow what a beautiful speaker. It is very spacious and clean. And now thanks to MikeL Im getting the Sim Audio W3, cant wait. Build quality is outstanding, somethings wrong with the spikes on all other speakers. Ireally like the Genesis 500 speakers but the price is insane. It has excellent detail, imaging, and good enough bass for me although only a 5 1/4". And besides that if youre only looking for serious bass why look at a speaker this small. It can throw an enormous sound stage, wall to wall. I would say my favorite speaker for 2 grand or under, but it is my favorite speaker, period. Thanks Soliloquy. I will give another review on speaker after I get W3 amp, and a review on amp.

MUSICAL, I would like to back track on my last review and thank Matthew Eliot for taking my advice about the soliloquy 5.3. Theres just one thing we as audiophiles learn as we go on theres better products or better models that come out and we get to excited and give a five star rating to quickly I dont like to give and take away but the Soliloquy deserve a five star rating in value.

The only thing that makes me take away the one star is that It can be a bit to sensitive on the lower bass. I wish it had better control and some might say its the amp your using but Im talking about it can get to the extreme if your not carful. If you listen to low bass music like techno or dance music than just dont crank it like your in a club than this speaker can stay with a 5 star but I guess Im asking for to much, Theres speakers out there that cost much more and bottom out at certain levels also. You really dont have to put them to loud to begin with because they are very dynamic, Just dont swamp your room with sound treatment.

GREAT speaker wide open sound stage lean bass I just bought a new pair of speakers and have them now for 2 months which is the DYNAUDIO 1.8 great speaker too but cost more I will be reviewing them also they are a better speaker yes but they take a while to break in and should also be played at low levels for some time for break in periods. Purchase the soliloquys with the right system and you will be very happy.

exceelent soundstage- music feels totally uncorrupted- they are really gorgeous- mine are curly maple

They don't really "rock out" but I listen to about 99% acoustic music, so its not weakness for me.

I couldn't be happier. Picked them up used for $1300 and look forward to countless hours of great listening. After enjoying bipolar and planr speakers, I never thought I would go back to "conventional" box speakers, but these have certainly changed my tune (pun intended). I don't really put much stock in technical talk, because it really boils down to what you like, and I love these- they are small, run full range, sound incredible, and have good wife acceptance factor. They, like all speakers, benefit from careful placement, but they sound good anywhere, which is nice when you can't dedicate a room to one chair and a stereo.
Associated equipment:
Musical Fidelity e100 Integrated amp
Denon Dcm-420 cd player
Theta tlc anti-jitter device
Theta cobalt 307 DAc
Nad tuner
Straightwire Digital coaxial cable
Ixos gamma interconnects
Audioquest type 4 speaker wire
All plugged into panamax power conditioner/surge protector

Similar Products Used:

Magnepan, Definitive technology, Pinnalce

Superior Build Quality

A little lean on bass,if you listen to techno stuff,or boomy rock

This is the best speaker I have heard for under $2500.I use them with a tube amp that gives me 8 WONDERFUL WATTS.The soundstage,and low level detail is exceptional.You need to allow an AMPLE BREAK IN TIME for these speakers to strut their stuff.MORE THAN ONE MONTH...at least 300 hours before you post ads trying to define these wonderful speakers.I imagine if I had an amp with more power I might get more bass.. but for jazz,folk ,blues,and small ensemble classical music thse speakers are as good as it gets at its price point to my ears.

Similar Products Used:

joseph audio,monitor audio.psb

natural, uncolor, good soundstage

bass

my system consists of pass aleph 3, micromega stage 2, adcom 750. the sound is a level higher than my previous system which consists of McComack DNA 0.5, thiel 1.5, McComack ALD-1. I guess the pass 3 and adcom 750 is much better than the McComack combination. however the soliloquy 5.3 did have the ability to bring most out of the pass 3. the bass is not satisfied probably due to the nature of the pass 3 which have a high output impediance. rated it 4 out of 5 because I thought audio physics virgo should deserve 5+

Similar Products Used:

thiel 1.5

Soundstage, transparency, resolution, imaging, full midrange, deep bass, airy and extended highs without glare, looks, build quality, wife acceptance factor

Long break-in time. Placement sensitive.

This is a follow-up from my initial experience with these speakers(a 2-day in-home demo), as I now have owned them for about 4 months and can now confirm first impressions and add some new information.

As far as sound goes, please see my prior review as the basics are still the same. However, two factors should be emphasized:
1) The manual recommends 500 hours of break-in time, and this is for real. The first 100 hours I spent with these speakers were awful. In fact, I thought I made a mistake in my prior assessment of the speakers(similar to the Stereophile reviewer experience in 9/99 issue). After about 100 hours they really start to settle in and by 200 hours you're most of the way there but things continue to improve through the first 2 full months. The moral is to make sure you evaluate a fully broken-in pair in an audition and be patient if you buy a new pair.

2) Placement is absolutely critical to really hear what these speakers are capable of. I've seen these speakers demoed in 3 places and 2 of them had the speakers about 2 feet from the back wall--WRONG!!! These speakers need to be at least 3 feet from the back wall before they even start to show what they can do(the fronts of mine are about 4' from the back wall). If not, the soundstage gets congested, imaging is bloated and blurred, and tonality is off. Once they are given the chance to breathe the soundstage opens up, images become more clear and accurate, and voices and instruments start to appear in the room while the speakers themselves totally disappear.

A couple other considerations. These speakers provide deep bass for their size and can actually easily overload a small room, which happens to be my case(my room is about 11' by 13'). I've heard them in medium sized rooms and there is no problem as the bass can be moderated with speaker placement, but with smaller rooms some damping and room treatments may be necessary depending on the shape of your room.

At the other end of the spectrum, the tweeter is boosted on axis so the more you toe the speakers in the more high-frequency energy you will hear. This means that, depending on your room and personal taste, you can significantly adjust treble response by simply changing toe-in angle accordingly. My best results have come with the speakers angled roughly half way between pointing straight forward and pointing directly at the listener. The point is that in a demo situation don't be too quick to judge these speakers as either bright or polite if you have not adjusted the toe-in.

After four months I am absolutely thrilled with these speakers and would not give them up for anything anywhere near their price(and I've heard a lot as you can see by the brands listed above). Of course speakers are the most personal of all choices among audio equipment, but I would highly recommend anyone looking for speakers in the $1000 to $5000 price range to find a Soliloquy dealer and give these things a serious listen before buying. Good listening.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Hales, Thiel, Linn, Aerial, ProAc, JosephAudio, Meadowlark, Coincident Technology, NHT, Martin Logan, Sonus Faber, Magnepan, Dyneaudio

Detail, Detail, Detail.

None I know so far.

I just loved these speakers. They are so detail but not overly bright. I had a PSB 1000 before and thought I will never need to spend more money to buy new speakers for many years to come. How much better can they be? Voice is great and smooth. It is an excellent speaker for the money.

Detail, Good Soundstage, Musical, Transparency, Build Quality

Long burn-in time

I've bi-wired the Soliloguy to my tube amp using VDH speaker cables, and used a Cardas Golden Reference interconnect between my amp and sony scd-xb9 cd player. These speakers sound detail, transparency and very musical. In fact, you have to spend at least 300 hours to burn-in the speakers. I think it's excellent for the price range from $1000-$2000. Highly recommended!