Bouchard A500 Has anyone

RBinDC

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Aug 21, 2020
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Has anyone auditioned the Bouchard A500 active standmounts? The reviews say they substantially outperform the KEF LS-50 Wireless IIs. However, they cost almost twice as much.

The A500 has more bass, going down to 25 Hz vs. 40Hz for the KEFs. If one adds a subwoofer (or two) to the KEF system the performance gap might close but then so will the price gap.

But one advantage to the A500 is that it has room correction and also allows you to tune the sound by changing crossover frequencies and altering the relative volumes of the bass, midrange, and tweeter outputs. The KEFs can’t do that.

From what I have read, the A500 looks like a real game changer for anyone who doesn’t get off bytrying to find the best match among separate components.

I was almost ready to buy the KEF Wireless IIs until I discovered this competing system.
 

adsk

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Oct 29, 2020
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Has anyone auditioned the Bouchard A500 active standmounts?

From what I have read, the A500 looks like a real game changer for anyone who doesn’t get off bytrying to find the best match among separate components.

I was almost ready to buy the KEF Wireless IIs until I discovered this competing system.
I've had the A500s for 2 months or so. Previously owned Tannoy 6.4 floorstanders, fed by Audiolab 8200CDQ and Wyred4Sound power amp. Had various setups over 30 years or so and every time had the nagging feeling that there was a better combination of components.

I was looking to upgrade my system and had been considering something with room correction e.g. NAD C658 but knew my existing amp/speaker combination was rather laid back. As you can audition the Buchards for 45 days and return for 50 Euros, I thought they were worth a try.

As soon as I played the first track on the A500s I could hear a significant improvement in clarity, imaging, dynamics compared to my previous system in the same room. Then when I applied the room correction, it made a huge difference to the bass - removed boom and made bass notes audible that my room had previously swallowed whole.

2 days into my A500 trial, I put my speakers/amp for sale on Ebay.

I know that for some people the joy of HiFi is endless tweaking, component/room matching etc but I'm a convert to DSP/Active speakers and the ease of use of the hub-based system.

There is another Danish firm called System Audio who do a Active speaker similar system - They won the EISA 2021 Best Product Award for Wireless Speakers this year. They use some of the same components/hub/room correction tools that are worth an audition too and there are a couple of dealers in the UK. Also a bit cheaper than the Buchards but still more expensive than the KEFs.
 
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Has anyone auditioned the Bouchard A500 active standmounts? The reviews say they substantially outperform the KEF LS-50 Wireless IIs. However, they cost almost twice as much.

The A500 has more bass, going down to 25 Hz vs. 40Hz for the KEFs. If one adds a subwoofer (or two) to the KEF system the performance gap might close but then so will the price gap.

But one advantage to the A500 is that it has room correction and also allows you to tune the sound by changing crossover frequencies and altering the relative volumes of the bass, midrange, and tweeter outputs. The KEFs can’t do that.

From what I have read, the A500 looks like a real game changer for anyone who doesn’t get off bytrying to find the best match among separate components.

I was almost ready to buy the KEF Wireless IIs until I discovered this competing system.

this video might be of use :-
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9hetVur4mw
 

daytona600

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3500euros is very expensive for bookshelf speaker made in china with no pedigree or dealer support
many european suppliers with decades of heritage for the same price with dealer support , spares back up & much higher resale value and will offerbetter sound , better build quality
Atc , Pmc , Hedd , Focal , Adams , Neumann , Genelec , Dynaudio etc
 
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3500euros is very expensive for bookshelf speaker made in china with no pedigree or dealer support
many european suppliers with decades of heritage for the same price with dealer support , spares back up & much higher resale value and will offerbetter sound , better build quality
Atc , Pmc , Hedd , Focal , Adams , Neumann , Genelec , Dynaudio etc

Think you need to research them a little more, they're all ex Dynaudio engineers I believe with a vast wealth of experience between them. You're making many assumptions about a brand that all unfounded and without fact.

Who cares if there made in china! What's your point all the capacitors, coils, wire, glue, MDF veneer, paint, circuit boards, DSP and so on probably all come from china. Many of the brands you listed above are full of Chinese products.

Let's face it any digital all in ones are going to tank in price and their resale value won't hold, they will all eventually go obsolete. And become somewhat worthless there only a few products that hold their value.

You don't buy hifi as an investment
 

gowiththeflow

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.......The reviews say they substantially outperform the KEF LS-50 Wireless IIs.
However, they cost almost twice as much.
Does not compute!

The do not currently cost twice the price.
The A500 cost 42% more than the LS50W-II
The LS50W-II price is 70.31% of that for the A500.

Most of KEF, B&W and some of Dynaudio's speakers are made in China, as are Hegel amps and many other well known audio manufacturers electronics.

z
 

gowiththeflow

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Buchardt are shortly introducing their A700 floor standing speakers, with 6 drivers and the same technology as the stand mount A500's.
It'll be interesting to see how these are received.
As I understand it, they're also developing an "in-house" wireless hub, to replace the version currently supplied with the wireless actives.

z
 

TotalVictim

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Sep 11, 2020
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3500euros is very expensive for bookshelf speaker made in china with no pedigree or dealer support
many european suppliers with decades of heritage for the same price with dealer support , spares back up & much higher resale value and will offerbetter sound , better build quality
Atc , Pmc , Hedd , Focal , Adams , Neumann , Genelec , Dynaudio etc

NOT PMC.
 

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