Hi guys. Some of you may have read my other thread where i was searching for a bookshelf speaker, but now i have finally found exactly what I have been after, the Osborn Interludes!!

Thanks heaps for all the help guys... (for those that have contributed in my other thread.)

EDIT: Heres a pic of the Interludes in Bubinga (Mine are Jarrah though) -> http://www.osbornloudspeakers.com.au/files...erludespec.html


I will write up a more detailed review with pictures when i recieve my new speakers and have enough time to really get acquainted with them....


Today I went and listened to the Equinox Perphalions and the Osborn Interludes.

I hope i dont offend anyone here but i felt the Interludes were far better suited to my listening requirements. The Interludes sounded good at all SPL's whereas i felt the Equinox speakers needed quite a bit of volume for them to really impress me (the soundstage opened up quite a lot when the volume increased). But they clearly sounded better to me at all volumes. The Osborn Interludes made me really sit up and enjoy the music, made me get excited.


Now, the Interludes are just magnificant. They have luscious bass down to 35Hz (not even a hint of boominess at any levels) superb highs (so much detail, so transparent) and everything inbetween that makes you tap your feet to the music.

We tested out the following music.

Tori Amos - Precious Things -> O god they brought that soung to life. Sounded like you were there.
The Dissociatives - Horror With Eyeballs -> This song really shows you how dynamic these speakers really are.
Tool - The Pot -> tremendous results
Live - Likini's Juice -> Again tremendous.
and a few others.


We tried the Interludes with 2 different integrated amps, and they both did marvelous jobs....

valve integrated -> See Here

SS integrated -> See Here


Needless to say i was so impressed I put a deposit down, and will be picking up my freshly run in speakers at the end of this week..... god i can't wait wub.gif

o, I orded them in Jarrah

Well done Aaron, how are you getting them so quick - demo's??

Did you hear them at your place or Gregs? Make sure you post up some pics

Cheers

excellent stuff drizt. great to read you have foudn what you were looking for and they did all the right things and yeah that you are soon to have them as well.

yes do post pics once set up, very happy for you.

Yes congratulations Dritz, sounds like you will have them home for the long weekend…

He had already made up two pairs of Interludes (by the dust i would say a couple of months old). One was in Bubinga, and the other in Jarrah. The Bubinga ones were the ones I listened to, and they had been run in for around 30 Hours, god they sounded good.

The Jarrah ones, Have not even been plugged in (Virgins ), but they are a complete unit, waiting for some good old electricity. Hes gonna leave them running this week in one of his bedrooms (I HOPE his dogs don't eat my speakers or bash them into oblivion, big friendly giants they are. And they tend to knock against the speakers ).

I am so anal about not getting demo's, thats why I leant towards the jarrah pair. I know it wouldnt make a difference but at least i will have the satisfaction of being the only person to have listened to them . Plus I liked the Jarrah ones asthetically speaking more than the Bubinga so it was an easy decision for me)


Hehehe, pity i only have my denon AVR to run them.... I'm soooo going to start saving for a for one of these -> http://www.osbornloudspeakers.com.au/opera/Calaf.html

I have heard the Titans connected to my Denon 1906 and they did sound good, but not even in the same ball park as when they were connected to the good amps (links above).. But I will have to make do... Even this little expenditure is going to stretch my finances for months to come... hehe the joys of being a graduate.

Excellent news Drizt! So pleased you two have found one that excites appropriately. I must admit I liked the Osborn sound at the HES and can imagine how sweet they will sound. Piccys in your set up are mandatory

Thanks heaps for all the kind words fella's

I just can't believe how much better these sounded than all the other speakers I had listened to in this price bracket, none of them even came close. The two best speakers I auditioned over the last few weeks were both made by Greg Osborn. The Titans were a magnificant bookshelf and easily out muscled the others i looked at. And the Interludes had a very similar sound to them, although they had greater bass extension and could play slightly louder. Both the Titans and the Interludes have such exquisite detail and refinement which i put down to the exceptional tweeter. I can only imagine how good the top of the range tweeter that he uses in the Reference/Grand series would sound. (I had a quick listen to the Grand Monuments but I would need another listen to them to make any sort of judgement on them, they overwhelmed me the first time i heard them) .

It was the easiest decision in the world on what speakers to buy. The hardest choice was chosing a finish, but Jarrah won me over.

Ah yes choosing a finish I know how you feel. I went from thinking of getting piano black to satin Jarrah then to high gloss jarrah. In the end i went for something inbetween, Jarrah with a bit more gloss than satin. Hopefully I will be happy with the choice.

Im sure you will be mate.... after the first few months of owning them, no matter what finish you get you will be used to them and love them, and then you will wonder why you agonised over them.

Greg told me a few weeks back that he has a problem holding onto demos becuase people come to his house, love what they hear and insist on taking the pair they just heard in case the new ones arent as good l dont think you can go wrong with either finish, his cabinet work is as good as it gets.

heres to hoping my fresh pair will sound as good as his demo set.....

Dont worry mate, l dont think Gregs or Focals QC is that bad

Congratulations Drizt...................well done.
It's nice when you listen to something and it just 'does it' for you.
I'm assuming Jenski went along for the ride and was also suitably impressed?
Andrew

She did come along.... i have tried to prod her into writing about her thoughts, but she seems reluctant to do so....

Not reluctant, just CBF...

I think Drizt has said it all really, we were just so happy and smiley listening to the Osborns. Basically it came down to the fact that when we listened to a lot of the other speakers they were good, nothing really 'wrong' with them, but they weren't exciting. With the Osborns, both Titans and Interludes, I was sitting there with a stupid grin.

I'm really looking forward to getting them hopefully Friday or Saturday! It will be so nice to be able to sit around listening to quality audio, with all the detail and clarity the Osborns offer.

My real challenge now is preventing my dear Drizt from buying an amp on the credit card...it will have to wait a few months I think. Maybe longer. *sigh*

its great really that you both liked the sound of the speakers and its just what you were after. Yeah its goign to take quite some holding back I can imagine with the amp !

Yeah I'm just glad we can agree! Imagine if we couldn't...might end up with an HT room each...could get VERY expensive!

Fortunately Drizt and I have similar tastes in many things. We both seem to value clarity and transperancy above all. Thank god he's not a doof-doof bass man. It would have been over a long time ago!

Instills confidence..

Don't get me wrong i love bass, but wouldnt trade detail for bass.

hoe much do these speakers cost?

Email Greg Osborn.

Sounds like it's a secret

Sorry can't stand places that don't use price tags, sorta makes you feel like you're walking into a used car yard.

me either... ok fair enough, ill post my price once i get the speakers... hehe

don't want to create any waves until that happens *safety first*

I just looked up the info that was being handed out at the recent HES from Osborn and the "Published" retail price for the Interlude is $2960.00

No one needs to know what price you are actually paying Drizt.

Yeah Drizt sorry mate was not inferring we should hear your price. Rather was wondering out loud why Greg didn't publish RRP. Keep your price to yourself as you should!

G'day,


Congrats on the speaker purchase. I am so jealous that you only have to wait one week to get them

I don't think there is an Osborn dealer in Qld. I did hear a pair of Epitomes once, but these were trade-ins at a shop and there was a problem with the tweeters. So I guess I'm still an Osborn virgin.

--Geoff

yeah agree we dont need to know negotiated pricing, but a rrp for a review would be handy. Lets people know whether to consider if in their price range/budget.

not shop sold gear, so peopel have to approach him for a price ?. think the secrets review had a price of $2500 on it but not sure how far back that was.

Dritz, just wondering why you didn't listen to a pair of Equinox Aphelions, these seem more in the price range of the Interludes. Perhaps there weren't any available.

The price I paid wasn't a negotiated price, but rather his post HES sale price. I paid the listed price. The price i paid put the Interludes well within the ball park of the Perphalions.. The Aphelions were another $600 on top of what i paid :ph34r: Kaanage had the Perphilions available, so I did the right thing and put them through their paces. They are similar in price, both 2 way speakers that I thought would be directly comparable.






If only we could afford the Australs Andrew, now they were a thing of beauty.

But we like these Osborns for similar reasons to why we liked your speakers, so accurate, and made you sit back and enjoy the music.




I have wondered why he doesn't put up the prices, *shrugs*. Maybe something to do with JM.Labs getting upset with him using their drivers and selling his speakers at prices less than they do... Who really knows.

Congrats on the purchase Drizt.
Glad to see you have finaly found a pair of speakers that you realy enjoyed and fell into your price range.
The other beautifull thing is you don't have to wait for ages to get them.

What amp will you be running them with untill the credit card recovers and you go hunting for a new one?

My denon 1906, shudders, I know, I know, wont do them any justice

Ah, but think of how much better the upgrdade path will sound later down the track.

Well done once again mate

Finally have them in my posession and they are definately a work of art.


They look and sound terrific.


As expected they do not sound as good on my denon avr + $200 dvd player as they did on the $4500 consonance integrated amp + valve cd player but that was to be expected..


Even on my modest equipment they are many many times better than the Aarons that they replaced, im extremely happy with them...


Next on the purchase list is a squeezebox 3 for my birthday, and a Consonance Calaf integrated amp for chrismas.... hehe hope i can hold of that long.... credit card is feeling awful heavy at the moment.

I have taken a few happy snaps but as the forum attachments section is down, i have emailed mondie the pics, and he will host them. Once thats done i will post the hotlinks...


O and the price i paid was $2195 if anyone was still interested....


These are exceptional speakers for the price

You can always use www.imageshack.us or similar.

excellent stuff drizt. soudns like your very happy indeed with the purchase and sounds like you have upgrade path with amp and source worked out as well ! its goign to be a tough wait ! but good to hear your still enjoying the speakers now jsut the same

Well done mate, l reckon there is no better value on the market than these at the price you paid. Such quality in both drivers and cabinetry plus amazing SQ for the money. l have the pics and will get them up shortly.

Cheers

well done Aaron, really keen to see the pics, let us know how they settle in...

Thanks for all the kind words guys...

They really do look amazing, huge WAF/GAF factor. Could just pass as a wooden asthetical enhancement to a room


Your damn right Al that its going to be a long hard wait for me to upgrade my front end to make the speakers really shine *sigh*.

Just to make matters worse i only had 30mins to enjoy the speakers yesterday before we went away. *sigh*, Ill get to see my new babies tomorrow when i get home....

Greg played them in for 50 hours, so they already sound right at home. I can tell a huge difference though between my setup and the setup i tested them on before buying. At least I know that when I upgrade I know exactly how much better they will sound. And I will know that the speakers are not the limiting factor in my setup anymore. Its all very exciting.

I think you guys will agree that they look good when mondie gets the pics up.... , thanks for doing it for me while im away mate

l got there in the end, and yes they do. Great choice you made there Dritz

[IMG]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j270/simongara/HiFi/INterludes/th_P5101221_resizedLarge.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j270/simongara/HiFi/INterludes/th_P5101210_resizedLarge.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j270/simongara/HiFi/INterludes/th_P5101223_resizedLarge.jpg[/IMG]

Great looking speaker without the "cheap looking" speaker grill on it.

And before folk get upset, yes I am aware that they have most likely been chosen for their acoustic properties rather than their looks.

Hey Drizt fantastic setup mate take your time with the upgrades there is always more!

The Osborns look really nice, top quality drivers too. What finish is that? Jarrah?

Dritz the speakers look superb! I have to admit I like the sound of Focal.

Aaron, speakers really do look a sight, i'm sure it will look better once you drop the Forbidden City-Calaf

Yep, its Jarrah. Nice hey. l second the upgrades comment, its a slipperly slope into upgraditis

Yeap the finish is Jarrah. Greg explained that due to the fact he uses real wood as teh veneer on his speakers each speaker is always going to look different as he can not control the grain of the wood . He explained that the wood used on mine actually came from a really old tree as the grain is wide apart. Apparently younger jarrah has much closer together grain..

Of course this could all be bs. as i know nothing about trees

I dont mind djos, everyone has different opinions.

The grills dont look so good in the picture but they really suit them in real life. And you are right, Greg chose them for their acoustic properties. I think he usually likes to have no speaker grills.

I must admit that after hearing a/ how much they cost b/ all the happy customers like yourself chirping about them & c/ seeing how good they look. Im now suffering from another bout of upgrade-itis (my wellings are very ordinary) and now I want to hear them for myself.

djos of the local brands the finish and build of the osborn's is really up there as good as if not better than say the topline whatmoughs or VAFs for instance. Only critism I have in regards looks is jsut with some of the models that look a bit on the bulky side. the interlude or the titan you were looking at originally drizt I reckon are really both the nicest looking of the whole range unless you go for some of the big mamas like the grand monuments or something !

Well worth a listen djos if you get a chance.

I dont have room for the monuments but the interludes would fit in better than my wellings (I know cause I've already checked the dimensions)

I can really recommend them...... The interludes are fantastic speakers. I didnt hear anything that even came close to them really. If you do have a listen to the interludes don't be afraid to post your findings.

I would really like the Epitome's but couldnt double my budget..... In real life they look excellent and go all the way down to 20Hz @ -3dB

Hi guys...

I have posted a few more pics on the planet audio forum... if anyone wants to have a look please go here -> CLICK HERE FOR MORE PIC's


Sorry to post a link to another forum, but the uploads section of this forum is not up yet.....