This review evaluates the Ollon M10 generation 4 speakers, which are presented as high-value alternatives to premium brands, offering exceptional sound quality, build, and modding potential for their price point.
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Hi guys. So, this one will be a very
weird video because these are huge and I
cannot find a good setup for my camera
to show them all at once and uh so we
will have some parts uh from the tripod
and some parts will be shaky uh taken
with my hand. So, was that a good
purchase? Uh, was it worth investing
almost $2.5,000
in the BMW look alikes? I got them in
May, as you may remember. Uh, so they
had been with me for a while and some of
you may have noticed them in my test
system uh, setup details in some
amplifier reviews during past three
months, past few months. Uh, so get
something to drink and seriously as this
is going to be a long one. Uh these are
a set of Ollon M10 generation 4. There
is a couple of versions uh named with G
and the number. The the most expensive
and the newest one is G5 and I'll tell
you later about the differences. Uh so
these are also known as uh EAV play
speakers. There is a version called the
export version sold by the brand AV play.
play.
Uh they come in a few different versions
with different quality components and
different crossovers. I got the G4
version because G4 uh diff differs from
G5 by the uh crossover internally and
that's the only difference. And uh since
I looked at the photos of the G5
versions, I've decided that I replace
the whole crossover anyway. So there was
no pain uh no point uh in uh buying the
most expensive version.
So I got the G4 and yes I will be
replacing the crossover. I got the
second best version as I'm planning to
replace anything uh that's connected to
the crossover anyway on my own. Uh these
are 60 kilograms each. They come in a large
large
140 kilograms, again 140 kilograms
wooden crate. Uh they are shipped by the
sea. Uh so you will need some help with
unpacking them. Some help and a crowbar.
Uh and that's not a joke. Uh they look
like BMW bars and Wilkins 84 series. It
seems that all good ideas like the shape
like the uh division for different parts
for the mid-range, bass and treble
um uh had been used here. Uh they're all
good ideas. Uh but they are not copies.
The drivers are different, the size is
different and you will not mistake them
for a real 8004
uh BMW nigu series speaker. So let's
talk some numbers. Uh these are coming
from the specification from the
manufacturer. Uh sensitivity is given as
91 dibels and they do sound louder than
my Martin Logan XTB 100 with the same
volume level. Uh impedance is given as 4
ohms. So they are not exactly an easy
load. The frequency response is anything
between 55 htz and 22 kilohz. And I
would say that this is a conservative uh
number here because I'm pretty sure that
they are going lower than 35 uh hertz
although uh yes there may be a um 3
decibel uh slope over there. Uh okay,
crossover crossover points uh uh as
specified by the manufacturer are 300 Hz
and 2.7 kilo herz. But that seems weird
because that would mean that those guys
are playing
uh up to 300 Hz and the mid-range driver
is playing up to 2.7 kilohz I think. I
think I'm not sure. I haven't measured
that but I think it may be playing a
little bit higher than that. Okay. And
the last thing that's specified by the
manufacturer is the recommended uh power
of the amplifier that will be driving
them. And that's anything between 100 W
and 300 W. And I can confirm that
anything below 100 watts uh will not get
the best of them. uh with the exception
of uh tube amplifiers because tube
amplifiers are current efficient uh
though still I heavily preferred them
with solid state amplifiers.
[clears throat] Now let's talk about the
build. Let's start with the external
build and then we'll go uh to the
internal build. And this is the place
when I have to switch to my shaky
handtaken video. So give me a second.
Okay. So, we have three types of drivers
here. The treble driver in the small
chamber at the top. Uh the mid-range
driver in the sphere mount over here.
Yeah, this is a completely separated
chamber by the way. And we have two
large uh 10-in drivers for the base. By
the way, this is 6.5 in. And the treble
driver is 2-in driver. Uh so this one is
as large as uh some of the larger
bookshelf speakers. And those guys are
pretty amazing. 10-in drivers, larger
than in some of the subwoofers.
Now the finish is natural wood winner
and we have a bottom plate and the
bottom plate has uh two bus reflex
ports. uh in a parallel uh in the uh
space over there. This is the same
solution that's used in some of the
world speakers and it works quite nice
because uh it um doesn't uh it does uh
make you um sorry you don't have to
worry about placing them near or far
from the wall because there is no bus
reflex on the back. Uh yeah. So let's
rotate them.
By the way, if you've seen my first look
video, you have seen that I've placed
some uh ball uh wheels on the bottom and
I had to remove that because because of
the weight of the speaker, the steel
balls in those wheels started to scratch
my floor.
So, like that. The top also have nice
wooden finish. And let's take a look at
the back. My version
hasn't got any kind of label here.
Although the speakers on the photos that
I've seen have some kind of label with a
small specification placed in the back.
Also um the speakers came with uh jumpers
jumpers
uh for low and high connectors and the
jumpers uh are just pieces of uh metal
that had been goldplated. But all in all
uh they are pretty low quality. So I
have immediately replaced them with
something better as you can see. Uh
yeah, that's it. And the other side
looks like that.
So very similar. Let's take a look at
the top.
Yeah. So this is piano black finish.
Yes, it does scratch even if you're just
looking at it. As you can see, the rebel
driver is angled as it was in Oakland
M3s. Uh, but I have to admit that in
case of those guys, that actually works
pretty well because uh, coincidentally
the angle uh, causes them to point right
at my uh, listening position.
Yes. Uh, [sighs]
this mid-range driver uh, has a solid
mount. It doesn't move when you try to
press that. Uh there is no moving
membrane. So it's stiff. And those guys,
as you can see, have a quite large
excursion range. This is, by the way,
Kevlar. And those guys are described as
also made from Kevlar.
I'm [clears throat] not sure if you'll
be able to see that these are woven with
a very fine braid here. And here we have
larger braid. And they are exactly the
same. None of them is uh bus passive
membrane. Both of them are active
speakers. Yeah. And uh yes, I forgot
about that. They do have uh covers.
Covers are mounted with pegs here. The
covers are just uh black clo. They look
nice, but I prefer them without the
covers. Okay. So, let's take a look inside.
inside.
Yeah, and that's the same problem as
previously. I had to lie one of them on
the back in order to open them. Uh
they've been with me for a couple of
months already, so don't mind the dust
here and there. Yeah. Here's the small
plate with old hi-fi speaker system.
Yeah. Yes, the dust. And here you can
see uh both bus reflex ports. So you can
open them quite easily. The bus drivers
are protected with [clears throat]
plastic wings that cover the mounts for
the screws, but they just pop out. And
then you can unscrew the drivers inside.
This is really thick. This is something
like 6 cm wide. The front plate. Uh the
sides are quite thick. They are also
lined with the acoustic foam inside. But
this is actually quite uh quite thin
acoustic foam. So one of one of the
things that I'm planning to do uh is to
uh replace that uh with dampening mats
and then I will apply the foam on top of
that. But I'll probably go with the
thicker one, not the thin one like that,
but something like that. Uh, other than
that, we have some nice braces. And the
side walls, as I mentioned in my first
look video, seem to be at least two cm
thick when I'm trying to measure them
using my fingers. That can be called
measuring. So, the drivers,
these are the base drivers. You can see
the type, model number, and the bus
drivers. And uh I have to be careful
here because they are really heavy and
it's easy to damage something. Yeah,
they have very good magnets over here.
Heavy solid magnets, but the baskets are
made of stamped steel. So what I will
do, I will uh dampen them uh with a
dampening mats. You've seen uh that
probably in my other uh videos for
modifying elac and uh and what what else
was that? Uh I think it was for my daddy
speakers. This [clears throat] actually
works wonders in case of uh stamped
steel baskets and it's very easy and
cheap to do. So this is the second bus
driver. Exactly the same as the first
one. And here we have a crossover. This
time I've dismounted it. Uh but I
haven't soldered wires. So [gasps]
let's take a look at that. Okay. So we
have bipolar bunny cup. This is 100
microfarads. We have three MKP
capacitors. Largest one is uh 22
microfarads. And we also have 4.7
microfarads and 6.8 eight microfarads,
although the smaller ones do not seem to
be marked with EVO and the largest one
is produced by Evox. Uh the coils, we
have one uh air core inductor here and
we have three uh iron core inductors
here. uh I will have to measure them
when I will desolder them and I'll give
the values in the video description but
do not expect them uh today uh today
Saturday and uh I won't probably have
the time to desolder any everything here
and to measure them but I'll try uh yeah
and we also have a couple of resistors
uh the 3.3
uh ohms one the two ohms one and one ohm
one uh that's on the uh far right uh
lower corner. Uh and that's basically
it. Uh I was thinking about replacing
the caps here, just the caps and those
ion core uh coils,
but I will probably end up uh rebuilding
the crossover. Um maybe not redesigning
it but rebuilding uh because of the
small amount of free space available for
the larger capacitors. I was thinking
about going for redens uh for MKPs
or maybe clavity cups uh because they
are just a little bit uh cheaper and
they also have excellent um opinion on
humble homemade hi-fi which I recommend
by the way. There was an excellent uh
capacitor test summary and all of the
CSS that I've heard so far uh I'm
hearing them the same way as author of
this competition does. Uh so I'm
trusting his opinions. So anyway,
that will be rebuilt on new PCB probably
pointto-point connections. I also got
silver wire as silver wire for the uh
connections to the mid-range and the
treble driver. The base drivers uh I'll
leave them with copper connections but
maybe not exactly those wires here as I
also bought some uh audio quest I think
type four or type six uh cables for
that. I don't remember exactly. Uh but I
got them. [clears throat] Okay, so let's
move here. Yes, that's me, by the way.
[clears throat] And we have a mid-range
uh driver chamber here. This is actually
a ball, a sphere. Uh yeah, like that.
And and we have some acoustic lining
inside. And the actual divor is here.
The actual driver is here. The type and
the model number are here. This is using
Oh, sorry about that. This is using
plastic basket. And before you start
doing ah about that. Uh many of the
speaker manufacturers are using uh
plastic baskets because they are uh more
resilient to vibrations than dumped
steel. Not exactly as good as uh cast
iron or cast aluminum. Uh but they are
better than n steel and cheaper to
manufacture. Still you may dampen them
with some kind of dampening material
and the driver and that was my problem.
Yeah, I've moved that and I've scratched
the speaker with this very nice
aluminum cone. Yeah, my bad.
Okay. So, let's be more careful next time.
time.
And the chamber. The chamber is lined up
with acoustic feeling. I may add some
more. Uh, this is Yes, as you can see,
this is piano black, so it gets
scratched easily, but that's not the
problem with the manufacturer. That's
just the way it is with anything that's
piano black. Uh, and here we have treble
driver. This is exactly the same driver
as you've seen uh in Alon M3 and Alon
the smallest ones. Uh so you should be
able to open that by unscrewing the top
over here. Uh but since it's mounted on
the top sphere, it's not moving. Uh but
the interesting idea about that and
that's the idea they got directly from
BMW is that this is actually a separate
speaker and this is separate speaker and
this is separate speaker. They are not
only separate drivers. Yes, they are
showing the go over but the idea is that
this box is completely separated.
uh they are just mounted one on top of
another and this one is also completely
separate and this guy is also completely
separate driver and the speaker and as
you can see uh they are not exactly in
the same plane uh yeah so having said
about the having told you about the
build quality
uh let's uh talk about the uh sound quality
quality
Uh yeah, that one one more thing to
notice here. Uh this is the uh 4G
U crossover. And give me a second. I
will show you the photos. Uh or maybe no
I won't. I would have to do that to with
the phone I'm recording the video. Uh
you can find uh in the description of
the offer, you will find also the photos
uh for the uh crossover in generation 5.
It's using uh red audio filer caps and
it's using uh a cur inductors only. So
yes, it is better than that one. But uh
I will probably actually reach to the
seller and ask him if I can order the
PCB boards uh for new crossover alone
because that would be cheaper and that
would be easier for me probably. Okay,
so let's pause for a second and let's
get back to the second speaker and let's
talk about the sound qualities.
Okay, so this is a time to uh relax and
grab something to drink. I've told you
this one will be long and we almost at
20 minutes mark already. Let's start
with the bass. Now looking at the bass
drivers, your first thought would be
probably something about cheap karaoke
tower speaker and that would be totally
wrong. These are using downfiring bus
reflex ports like world speakers making
the bass fill the room like it's
basically everywhere and that's a very
high quality bass. It goes really low to
the point uh where it's able to make my
coach vibrate. Uh but it's super clean
and precise. It's fast. It's powerful.
But I loved um to add some
uh Sorry, give me a second.
So that was somebody at the door. Uh
okay. So uh I love to add some tubes to
the mix uh to my listening chain to add
some warmth to the midbase region. But
make no mistake, it's excellent bass.
But make no mistake, this is excellent
bass, deep and clean. Uh you love the
bass guitars. Again, you'll track every
bus line in your songs again. Uh as I
told uh having those ports fing
downwards downwards uh makes the bass
fill the room and it's a very nice thing
because the bass stays uh powerful but
at the same time very clear. It works as
excellent foundation for both midrange
and the treble uh and uh it's
everywhere. It's everywhere. There were
some tracks when I was thinking that
maybe they are missing some of the bass
because um they do not cheat with adding
um midbase. They do not have any kind of
midbase hump. Uh so I was thinking that
maybe they are missing some of the bass
and then I realized that I'm thinking
about that and I'm sitting on my coach
and the coach is vibrating. I can
actually put my hand on it and it's
vibrating to the music. So, it goes
really really low and it's a very very
clean bass. Moving on to mid-range. [clears throat]
[clears throat]
A couple of things first. Uh I think it
was in the ' 70s uh I've read some white
paper uh I don't remember by who and I'm
sorry about that. Uh but there was a
white paper uh that was talking about
the buffalo reflections uh around the
divorce and the white paper was about
finding the best shape for the speaker
to minimize uh the buff uh problems and
uh the result of all the measurements
and all of the research was that the
sphere was the best shape because it
avoided all of the reflections. And here
we have a sphere. Yes, with this chamber
that should dampen the internal
vibrations. That's the general idea
behind that. But we have a sphere and
the sphere will in theory uh give us
excellent imaging. That's a theory.
Let's uh take a look at my notes. So
[clears throat] mid-range is super
detailed. It's super clean and it's also
very transparent. These Kevlar drivers
in sphere mounts are doing great job.
You'll hear every string vibrate. You'll
hear separate voices in coral tracks.
It's insane. And I mean that uh vocals
sound very natural with [clears throat]
excellent timber. Though the best
effects I had always when I added the
tube preamplifier to my listening chain
as it added some warmth and emotion to
the mid-range, some sweetness. Uh but
then again, mid-range is excellent even
with just pure solid state amplifiers.
Um and I'll get back uh to that at the
summary. Uh moving on to treble. Treble
is super airy and it's extended.
Basically, if you've seen my reviews of
others, the M3 and the small one 500 and
S1, uh they are using the same turbo
driver and there's the same quality, the
same a openness. uh [clears throat] to
this speaker as it was with the the
other ones. The table is so extended and
so area that it's actually on the level
with my electrostats and that's the
highest possible price here. I could
probably stop talking about uh treble
here. If you've heard uh the electrostat
speakers, uh that should be just enough.
But [clears throat]
let's talk some more. Uh there is a
grain of salt here. Uh the treble is
also a little bit dry, a little bit
analytical. It's very very good, clear
and detailed top end. But I would like
some smoothness here for total bliss.
The good news is that uh the same divers
in M3 and M and 501, those divers I'm
giving my hand here, but I'm talking
about those guys. Uh the same divers in
M3 and 501 do not have that quality that
dryness, the slight dryness, meaning
that it's not the drivers, but it's just
those Evox capacitors, which you would
expect if you've seen those cups in
other equipment in other speakers, if
you've heard them. Uh they are quite
detailed. They are quite nice,
especially for the price because
basically these are one of the cheapest
MKP capacitors you can get. But at the
same time, they do sound a little dry at
the top. And this is a good news for me
because as I've said I'm going to
replace the crossover anyway and I know
those drivers to be excellent. They are
the stars of the show in M3 and 51s.
Uh but again treble is very very good as
it is especially uh if you will have
tubes in your train. Now before I'll get
to some technical technicalities uh one
thing that I have to mention here
because it always comes up in the
comments uh it's not like you have to
modify them to make them sound good.
They sound excellent right out of the
box. And by excellent I mean that if you
take a look at the comments on Ali, if
you look for reviews uh in the web uh
you'll see that people describe them as
the best thing that happened in their
life. The speakers that they are
worshiing uh right now after they got
them that uh let's say all of my friends
got to my place and right now they are
replacing the speakers with those ones.
So these are really really really good
uh and you do not have to replace
anything. I am replacing uh things uh
parts in my speakers because I can
because I can and being very very cheap
I always love to push my gear to the
limits and I've done that with my daily
speakers. I've done that with my border
speakers and believe it or not, but I
also done that with my Martin Logan
Electto speakers. If you do not believe
me, take a look at one of my videos from
about two years ago or maybe even
earlier about modifying the crossover in
Martin Logan Electrostats.
By all means, it doesn't mean that
Martin Logan Electrostat speakers sound
bad. It just means that I can push them
even further with some small
modifications. Now getting back to the
technicalities here, the detail. First
thing, James Blland 1973 acoustic
version. Can you hear click in the first
second of the track on the left? Now,
can you hear the click is deep is deeper
than piano that you'll hear. And the
third thing, can you hear slight echo?
Like there would be some kind of hard
surface nearby behind the thing that
makes this clicking sound because this
is the level of the speakers. This is
the level of the detail that you'll get
from them. [clears throat]
This is the detail level we're talking
about here. Uh these have it all and
then some. And that was the biggest
surprise for me as I can't hear my
Martin Logans uh being any more
detailed. Again, I could easily stop the
video here to my ear with my chain. And
yes, that really good chain. These are
on the same level. These are on the on
par as my electrostats. the electro
stats are a little bit more airy, but
when it comes to the detail, there is
nothing that I could hear with my log
guns and I couldn't hear uh with those
guys. I'm pointing my finger to the
camera because my orans are happen to be
right behind the camera at the moment.
So, it's not like I'm pointing at you. [clears throat]
[clears throat]
Okay. So, uh they should be more
detailed than electrostats. That's what
my brain says. And that's what my wallet
says. Uh because you know machine logs
have electto stats but my ears tell me
that everything is here. Uh I have a set
of listening tracks that I'm using for
tests. The tracks that I know by heart,
the tracks that I know that uh they
should have some uh sound, some uh I
don't know echo, some some small detail
here and there. So I'm checking uh the
detail of the speaker uh with those
tracks and all of them sound exactly the
same on both Martin that's Astent one
speakers and those guys this set of
mid-range and the treble driver now
let's move to imaging the imaging the
prices will continue with imaging the
center image is rock solid and it's very
large uh every other sound source has
its precise location, a very precise
boundary, but it's not sharp. It's not
like it was lined with pencil. It's
precise, but it's natural. There is a
lot of space between everything. And we
have excellent 3D spatial info. The
scene is super wide, deep, and tall with
clearly defined layers that have a room
between them. And you can have this
feeling, you can hear this uh things
that previously were obscured. What I
mean by that [clears throat] when you
have a good layering information
suddenly if the layers are far away far
enough far away one from another you
will hear things uh that will sound like
additional detail uh because in a way
with speakers that couldn't give you
those planes would be obscured would be
masked I don't know how to explain that
uh in any better way in any better way
But [clears throat]
I'm betting that uh some of you or most
of you know exactly what I'm talking
about because this is one of the eye
openeners. If you'll hear the speakers
that can convey properly depth
information, uh you'll immediately hear
the things that were in the back and
you'll know what I'm talking about. Now [clears throat]
[clears throat]
you remember I've told you about the
sphere. This is one of the benefits of
using a sphere for the mid-range. Um,
also the ambience is excellent. You can
hear ch charge live venues like it's
here with you. Uh, I absolutely loved
all call recordings. I absolutely loved
all concert recordings. everything that
was recorded live with audience with the
sounds from the audience with ambience
with echoes uh all of those sound accent
with those speakers now let's talk about
some pairings
uh yes these like power that's the first
thing I wrote here the best results I
got with powerful solid state amplifiers
paired with P2 preamplifiers solid state
was providing uh large amount of power
and the tubes Oops. We're adding this
smoothness, this uh sweet coloring to
the mid-range and to the treble. So
those pings would be like T9.4, D9 Pro
and A75 with Car Vampires. Also pass LF5
was excellent for them because it had
current spades and it was warm and
smooth like class A amplifiers are. But
past 5 is a small oven. That's yes,
that's the class I trade. Uh two
amplifiers were also fine. I've tested
that guy uh with uh my K. I've tested
those guys uh with new line magnetic
amplifier that I will be uh reviewing uh
in a short time I hope. Uh so they were
also fine. uh but they didn't have that
grip uh that lock on the base drivers
and for the
uh directionality uh as for the setting
those guys up I got the best results
with slight toe in towards my listening
position about 15 maybe 20° to the
center but not more uh if you will point
them directly at you the image will
shrink in size. If you will point them
in parallel uh and they will they will
not be throw in towards your position uh
the image won't be as precise. It will
be large but it will be blurry. If
you'll towing if you will to throw in uh
for something like 15° you'll get the
best of both worlds because you you'll
have the large image that's also very
precise. [clears throat] Now moving on
to summary. A few more things that do
not fit my usual review sections. The
first one, they have superb authority
and scale. And I was talking about that
a couple of times already in the
comments when you were asking me about
the first impressions uh with them.
Everything sounds big and bold.
Orchestral pieces, live recordings with
audience, everything like that will grab
your attention. The image they produce
is very large and this is important. It
easily extends beyond my room walls.
Beyond those walls that one of them you
can see in the back and that's a trick
that no other speaker I had here managed
to achieve, including logans. The loans
do not image behind the walls. These
guys are producing image so large that
it's easily extending beyond the walls
and beyond my ceiling. uh as I've said
live venues uh live concerts you feel
like like you'd be there because one of
the reasons is uh because the image is
so large that you can actually feel and
hear feel and hear the size of the
concept hall. Okay. Uh another
interesting and important thing uh all
of this comes effortless like they
wouldn't even care. They never struggle
and they want you to set the volume
higher and higher and higher. But
interestingly, they are also excellent
for the low volume listening as they do
not lose detail when playing quietly.
Those drivers again uh I very often
listen quietly when I'm doing other
things around the house uh or when I'm
working from home. And uh when listening
quietly to those guys, they do not le
lose detail. They do not lose imaging
qualities and that's a rare thing in my
experience because the speakers either
like to play loud and dynamic and I love
that too uh or they are very good at
quiet listenings uh these are excellent
in both extremes. [clears throat]
Okay. Uh but uh as I've told you they
sound very good also when played quietly
but you have to hear them play loud as
coendos in Babayto just raise the hair
on my neck and the size of the core is
projected in an extraordinary way I mean
it's large group of people and you can
hear that there is a choir in that track
this is Babayetto by Christopher Tin
this is one my test tracks and the thing
is that if with other speakers I do have
an excellent imaging with my Martin
Logan electrostat speakers with my
Martinix TB 100s which are also
excellent by the way uh you get a very
precise very natural imaging but thing
is that uh my room is uh let's say 6 m
wide something like that so the cyer is
actually between my walls yeah it's a
very nice uh experience and I really
love all my other speakers. Uh but the
actual coro has something like I don't
know 20 people 15 20 maybe 30 people. I
haven't seen I haven't checked the
photos uh of the recording of that part
of that particular track. And with those
speakers you can hear that those guys
and girls they do not fit in those six
mters. They take more space. So that's
excellent imaging, excellent scale uh
with those guys. [clears throat and cough]
[clears throat and cough]
Uh and on top of that, uh on top of all
of those places, uh remember that I'm
talking about them in the stock configuration.
configuration.
I've told you about that earlier. So
they have a very high modding potential.
You can easily push them even farther
with better crossover parts. because I
always look at it over there. Uh and uh
some additional dampening for the sides.
No, sorry, that was my wing. That's the
actual uh knocking sound, knocking test.
Uh I also saw that there is a even
larger version with even bigger bus
drivers. These are 10-in drivers and
there is a version with 12in drivers
that's uh wider and slightly taller and
it's way heavier than that. [clears throat]
[clears throat]
Okay. And it also the the larger version
also does have those better quality
parts in the crossover, but it's also
more expensive. By better qual parts in
the crossover, I mean the same ones as
in generation five of those speakers.
Uh, so [clears throat] as you probably
know by now, I can happily recommend
them, but I'm also recommending to get
them during sales and with coupons to
lower the price because yes, they are
expensive. They were shipped by the sea.
The shipping took exactly two months.
They were protected perfectly. As I've
told you in my first look video, the
usual uh speaker protection contains has
some kind of foam on top, some kind of
foam on the bottom, and maybe some kind
of foam somewhere in the middle. Those
guys had foam rings all around them,
precisely cut to the shape of the
speakers through all the heat of the
speaker. And uh they were also included
in protective bags. And then you had two
layers of the cardboard boxes, but not
the regular cardboard, but something
like thickness uh of that size. That
would be at least 1 cm. And on top of
the top of that, you have a wooden
crate. So uh it takes time. They are not
uh cheap. They are quite expensive. They
are the most I I think at this point in
time, these are the single most
expensive thing that I got from
AliExpress. So you have to lower the
price in every way. You can get the
coupons, get daily coupons, uh wait for
the sale price because you can
significantly lower the price. And for
us Europeans, there will be also um VAT
uh reduction uh because they are the
price is above €150.
And uh interestingly and this may be
important to us in Europe uh since they
came uh by the sea since they were
shipped to Frankfurt the last mile the
last mile uh transport was I think by
DHL and I haven't paid any tax at all.
It's just like that like they would be
stalled and shipped from within the Europe.
Europe.
Okay [clears throat] so that was a
digression. Uh let's get back to the review.
review.
Uh yes, there is also one thing that I
have to mention here. I don't think they
have a lot competition when comparing
prices of the new speakers even with the
high price tag. Uh but that changes when
you will look at the secondhand stuff.
It's not like you can get something
significantly better. Uh as I've said,
my electctor stats are not better. Uh
but there is also a resale value and if
you change speakers very often then that
will matter. uh the branded speakers,
the well-known speakers uh will retain
the resale value probably better.
Although better uh is a very uh fluid
thing because uh if you are buying uh
speakers secondhand then you will know
that well-known band speakers are losing
something like 50% of the value over
first year. And if you are buying some
uh speakers made to the order or some
speakers with uh very good quality but
from lesser known brands, the value drop
is even higher. I mean uh the new
speakers can be something like $3,000
and after one year you can easily get
them for $1,000 or even less. Uh so yes,
the the value drop uh does affect all
the speakers. Still, when comparing new
speakers and prices of the new speakers,
uh there's nothing that would be popping
uh into my mind that would be uh playing
as good as those guys. But but do not
take my word for it. Just take a look at
the other reviews at the Ali. I link the
offer in the description. just read what
other guys are saying and take a look at
their systems in the photos because
again one of the arguments that I've
heard over and over uh in the comments
is that uh those things that I'm
reviewing here may be sounding good to
someone who came from very cheap very
bad audio system well I'm not that kind
of a guy uh I my reference system is
very good and I've been doing this for
20 years I think by now and they do
sound good for to me. Okay, so getting
back to my notes. Um, okay, I've told
you about the resell value because
that's quite important. Uh, so all in
all, these are so good that I'm
seriously thinking about selling my
electrostats and again I've told that a
couple of times in the comments.
Actually, I would sell them by now. But
the irony here is that I've started my
journey looking for the best amplifier
for my logans. So I guess I should keep
them to have consistent amplifier
amplifier sorry amplifier reviews. Uh I
think I will keep my logans until I will
finish my uh power amplifier reviews. Uh
because that would be the general idea
to find the best amplifier for the
logans and also to have a consistent
baseline uh in the reviews. But then
again, I will sell them. Uh, if you'd
like to buy a pair of M Martin Logan
ascent one speakers that were always
held uh in the dust covers that were
always disconnected between listening
sessions. So, the panel was not
energized and was not attracting dust.
Uh, and they also have crossover
modified with silver and mander silver
in oil capacitors. Uh then when I'm uh
finished with my reviews, I'm open to
any positions.
Seriously. Uh okay. So once my reviews
are done, I will sell electrostats. Uh
the M10s are way way more practical and
they do not sound any worse. And if
anything, M10 uh are better when it
comes to scale and authority. So they
are not only on par with electrostats
with my electrostats but they are also
better in some areas. So finishing this
because I don't know was it half an hour
40 minutes. Uh I hope you like this uh
rather long uh video and that it helped
you in some way. Uh if you did like it,
you're more than welcome to support my
channel by buying me a beer via PayPal
link that's in the video description or
via YouTube super thanks that are also
below the video. Uh thanks for watching
and have a great day guys. And uh one
more thing before we'll part our ways.
Uh, [sighs and gasps] one more thing. Uh,
Uh,
by the time I'll be publishing this
video, uh, my channel will probably
cross, uh, 15,000s of subscribers. Thank
you guys. It's been an amazing journey.
When I started doing those videos, those
quick dirty shaky videos, I've never
thought that it will end up like that.
Uh, I thought these videos will be
mostly used as my notes, uh, videos for
me, for myself, and for some other weird
guys that, uh, will find them useful.
But I've never thought that, uh, after a
year and a half, less than a year and a
half, uh, we'll be having uh, 15,000
people uh, watching those, discussing
the videos and, uh, asking about
different things and helping each other
in the comments. So this is an amazing
journey. Amazing thing is also amazing
and frightening thing is when I'm
finding myself quoted on some uh audio
forums. Why? Because I'm also present at
most of those. Yeah, I'm there. I'm
looking but I'm I don't have a nickname
that's connecting me with the channel
because I've started looking and using
those uh forums way back. So thank you
guys. It's been an amazing time. I
really hope you like my videos. I really
hope you find them useful and I really
hope that uh it will be like that in
future. Uh I'm always trying to find
equipment that's uh raising above the
price level. Why? Because I'm cheap.
Yes, I'm cheap. I do not believe that
audio equipment should be costing arm
and leg. Why? because I'm also electric
electronic engineer and I know exactly
how much the elements the parts inside
especially amplifiers are actually
costing. So uh I'm always looking for
the best value equipment and I will
share that with you guys. So yes uh I
just made the long video even longer.
Well, thank you. Thank you guys and see
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