Aaaah nauna ka na nagpost!
Auditioned (rather, I should say I started the break-in) of the 10.5's yesterday. Brought my own gear to test it with,* and almopst fresh out of the box, the improvements over the previous models was immediately noticeable. I had an 8.4 and before I bought the Pi10 auditioned a a 9.5, and both previous floorstanders in stock form always had time alignment issues, where notes at certain frequencies were dragged up or down by the driver playing them. Now the 3-way used a specialized driver for each freq range (from a midwoofer used for midrange to a dome midrange), and the second thing I noticed was that the t/a issues were almost non-existent, despite sitting 3.5ft from the speakers. Despite the LCD TV between them, the 10.5's also had considerable depth, and cymbals weren't dragged to the edges of the soundstage.
Tonal quality was a bit dark overall, but vocals and strings playing at those mid-hi freqs didn't sound nasal, something I noted when I tried the 9.3 in 2007. Comparing these 17k speakers to the 70k B&W 683, I of course liked the forward but not in-your-face presentation of the 683, BUT the mid-bass had one thing to gripe about. Maybe it's the dual bass drivers, but almost all drums sounded like the bass drum on the B&W. On the 10.5, everything that was hit by the sticks had a fair amount of tonal distinction between them, even on drum rolls. Just don't expect the same grab-your-attention style of Focals and Dyns, but definitely more natural than the 683.
For movies, we used Denon 1910 and HK 255. I liked the latter better: the big fight scene at the college campus in Hulk (BluRay) had moresparkling details, more explosion impact, and a more audible and up-front soundtrack (some may not like that last part though). On music, despite my usual preference for HK AVR's because of i like hwo they perform on audio/concert dvds, the Denon sounded better. The dark sound of the Diamond 10 was darker and nearly flat dynamically on the 255, with some bass notes bloated and lacking detail.
For the tweakers, I'm not sure how easy it will be to yank the crossover out, as the terminal panel at the back is even smaller than in the Diamond 9. I do expect good caps to be a good way to spend whatever you save on these babies.
And BTW...did I mention that they just looked stunning in person? If I didn't know the B&W's there were B&W's, and had they been of comparable size, I'd easily mistake the 10.5 to be the more expensive set, though I admit it won't be an easy choice as I like the matte gray front panels on the 600s too. I tell you now, the photos do not do them justice. I mean, for budget speakers I thought those Insignia with coax drivers were pretty, but the Diamond 10 trumps that. Instead of just piano black all over there's nice vinyl at the sides, plus the aluminum trim on the drivers is just...well...wow.
Can't wait to hear them once they're broken in
*Transport: avshop's PS3
DAC: Lite DAC-AH, with Coem Audio mods by Ferds
Amp: NAD304 modded with IEC male socket, using Mr.H's power cable
