Great little system. I previously owned Reference3a MM DeCapo's and that was a very fine speaker. They were paired with an ASL 1003 DT tube amp (currently being repaired) and upgraded Rotel CDP.

My current system is smaller, and with more generic components for Video as well as Audio (Blu-ray player and Receiver). Given that I'm using a $200 DVD player and $650 Consumer Receiver, the sounds is really quite fine. Nearly as transparent as the Reference 3a system.

My digital front-end needs an upgrade and my amp of course is not the finest, but I'm very impressed by what this little system can achieve in terms of resolution and frequency response. I used some decent speaker cable and soldered onto the speaker terminals on the driver and then routed them out through the rear of the speak through two drilled and filled holes.

Due to the relatively easy drive-ability of the single driver and direct connection, the bass response is truly special down to 42-45 hz. The speakers can be pressed against the walls due to the VTL transmission line enclosure and the bass is almost overpowering - from a 4 inch driver!

Pretty speakers - they don't go to 30 hz cleanly or up to 22khz (a supertweeter may be a decent upgrade idea), but the bass they provide has nearly made me a bass-head. Its tuneful, fast, and of course, perfectly integrated; it has slam, punch and its crisp. I can literally nearly forget about everything else and listen to just the bass. R&B music is astounding. It feels like I have a hidden subwoofer.

One reviewer of the Jordan driver in this enclosure recommended 250 watt mono-amps just to help the driver reach even deeper (sub-40hz I assume) to enjoy the gorgeous bass these things can do. They don't quite provide the dynamics of the ultra-sensitive Ref 3a's but they have a better W.A.F. and even perform very, very well in home theater duty, while not putting out the SPL's of larger designs. Detail is very, very well done and different recordings can contain recessed vocals or else in your face near-field sound indicating that the recording engineers touch is clearly being passed through the system.

All sides of the system could be improved by a better amp and source. I think re-wiring my tonearm and perhaps upgrading the amplification is the first step into a truly high-end system. I don't think the transparency and clarity of the speakers can be meaningfully improved without 10k+ of cash....

I'm very curious to see if better interconnects would meaningfully improve the sound. Better TT isolation may also help.