Airedale SG Acoustics 858

 

New member
Username: Nornironpete

Post Number: 7
Registered: Sep-11
Hi guys, I'm trying to find out any information I can about these speakers. I've had a pair for quite a while now after a friend passed them on to me. They've never really been put to the test and are currently running off an old Sony amp. As I'm dipping my toes into some better audio equipment I'm wondering will this breathe new life into them or should I be thinking about upgrading. I'm hoping to get my hands on a Naim Nait 5 amp with a Musical Fidelity phono stage; I have a Philips CD 713 and my tt is a Pro-ject Genie MK3.

I've found the Airedales to be a little boomy/bassy but I've always put this down to not having a decent enough amp to provide better detail.

The information I have is as follows-

Airedale
SG Acoustics 858
Nominal Impedence 8 ohms
Power Handling 120 Watts
Usable freq. Res. 45Hz-20Hz
Sensitivity 87dB
Serial No. 000113

There is also a foil sticker on the back on which, I've just noticed, is the faint outline of a figure holding a microphone and what looks like a serial number GDTP 006165.

I have searched the internet and the only thing that pops up are Wharfedale Airedale speakers - which are expensive - and a business address for SG Acoustics. I can't find any reviews for my model, by users or hifi e-zines. Any help appreciated.
 

Platinum Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 16847
Registered: May-04
.

What you will preceive after an equipment change is purely up to what qualities you are attentive to hearing. Everyone
"hears" and certainly preceives similar events in a disparate, completely personal, manner. Therefore, for anyone here to say you will gain "this" by changing your equipment to "that" would be rather fanciful. Beyond the condition that we cannot describe what you might and might not perceive, the variance in each recording makes for a very confused sense of auditory premonition. Should an electric guitar have been recorded through direct injection into the mixing board - sans any of the new "load boxes" common to studios, then the sense of a live instrument existing within a given space - the recording studio (even if it was an enclosed 8'x8' isolation booth) - would be non-existent in that recording. Contrast that to a full symphony orchestra recorded in either a large, but somewhat neutral to cool sounding recording studio vs a conventional "live" recording made in an occupied hall.

As you can see just "what" you are likely to perceive will change from recording to recording and, when it comes down to your presonal experience, from room to room in which your listen. Move the same speakers to the perpendicualr side wall and you'll have a different concept of what is on the recording should your preception be attuned to those qualites which change with equipment and speaker position.

While it might well be true the Sony amplifier has let down your speakers, my first guess would be you have let down your system and your music. It takes a bit of effort to coax the best performance out of any component and when they are assembled into a complete system, one weak link disrupts the entire chain.

https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/676769.html

https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/672623.html



Given the equipment change you are suggesting, I would say you will hear many new qualities in the music. Over the last three decades the concept of "front end first" system building has gained traction and is probably the manner used to construct most high end systems today. In this concept, the "garbage in = garbage out" principle is honored and what comes first in the signal chain initially determines what will finally exist in the last component. Therefore, an improvement in the source and then each succceeding component through to the speakers will result in an improved quality of reproduction. This logically assumes no component can put back what has been left out at the front of the singal chain nor can any component do any more than pass along what has been added (distortion, noise, phase incongruities, colorations, etc.) by each preceding component.

Improving the system from the old Sony to the more up to date Naim should be the sort of improvement most shops and magazines would approve. You might spend more time on finding gear which is complementary or synergistic to each other but often times - and most especially when buying used gear - this is not as much an option. In such cases it is normal for the buyer to not fully understand what they appreciate in music reproduction until after they have owned a system which is capable of more than the basic "bass, mid and treble" quality of reproduction.

While excellent gear, Naim is best suited to other Naim or Naim approved gear. That doesn't mean you won't be happy with your projected system, just that you might find after a few months that there are holes in what you expected vs what you got. Or possibly not. As I said, no one here can tell you what you can and cannot preceive. A genreal recommendation is to have a working familiarity with live music before you begin spending money on new equipment. If you can say you have satisfied that prerequisite, then move forward with an open mind and an attentive ear.




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