Blumenhofer FS3.2 on test

M

Mordante

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Jan 5, 2017
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Leyden
I've had some problems with my cart. The stylus was bent. So about 3 weeks ago a Dutch audio distributor came by and picked it up and sent it to van de Hul for repair. Today he came back to install the repaired cartridge.


However he knows I'm sort of looking for new speakers. So he took a pair of Blumenhofer FS3.2 with him. He'll pick them up again in a few days. So let's play and listen.

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How well do the Blumenhofers pair with the Symphonic Line La Musica?
Should be fun with the FS2 whenever you get to listen to it.
 
Nikhil said:
How well do the Blumenhofers pair with the Symphonic Line La Musica?
Should be fun with the FS2 whenever you get to listen to it.
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The SL does great with the Blumenhofers. IMHO better than with my current speakers. The SL is as far was I know a class A/AB design. With the Blumenhofers is stays in class A longer and that does sound better.
 
Hopefully I'll be testing the FS2 in store within a few weeks. Maybe some other speakers as will like Martin Bird and maybe a pair of Raidho.
 
This weekend i compared the Raidho X-3 vs Blumenhofer FS2. Eventhough there is a sizeable price difference between the two. It was not easy. I brought my own amp. But in the end the X-3 was the winner. But I’m not yet convinced the X-3 will beat the FS2 in my home setting. Hopefully I’ll be able to test them in my living room.
 
hifinutt said:
nice to see a thread about these . nice pics [ i love your shed !] seen them at shows but never heard them
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Thank you. The shed is the winter residance of my motorbikes. Hopefully soon I’ll be able post some pics of the FS2 and X-3.
 
I spoke with the shop owner he agreed with me that the FS2 were not sounding that good during the demo. So he'll bring them over to my place. Since they don't fit into my car. While he and I agree that the X3 probably sound better its only fair to give the FS2 a fair chance.
 
Now I have the Blumenhofer FS2 on test. So far so good, I much prefer them over the FS3.2

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can you describe why you prefer the raidho over the blumenhofer?

what do you like more, and what do you not like about the blumenhofer?

thanks in advance.

andy.
 
I suck at writing reviews. So I'll try to pen down something.

First I had the FS3.2, the bass was bad in my room. I think this has something to do with that it was a relative small cabinet forced to do a wide range of frequencies. The FS2 did much better but still not great. It did not rumble or give a huge bass boost in certain frequencies like the FS3.2 did. But the bass was not tight, not defined. The mid high of the FS2 is imho a lot better compared to the FS3.2. A lot more clearer and holographic. But still it did not sound right.

Then my dealer had a nice surprise for me. He could offer me the Raidho X-3 for a really nice price, on a black pair. So yes I was interested. The dealer from Amsterdam, brought over his white pair from the shop. The X-3 standard come in black. The white finish costs more.

I had the white pair for a few days. They sounded much better. It did surplice me. My amp isn't a power house. The Sensitivity of the Raidho speakers is only 85dB 1W 2.83V/m which is pretty low. But the Raidho's did sound a lot more coherent, much better bass control. The impedance of the X-3 is greater then 6Ohm. That helps a lot I think.

The raidho's are mid and high are detailed but not to the extent that it's gives listening fatigue. The bass is fast and tight. The don't have the same bass impact as some of the bigger Wilson speakers, but I don't think it's realistic of me to expect that in my smallish living room.

Then I did some more digging. Someone tested a amp of the same brand I have but a different model. It turns out that that amp and most likely mine as well actually prefer speakers that are not too efficient.

The nice thing about these Raidho speakers is that I can place them relatively close to the wall.

I have replaced most of my cables by Ansuz cables. Except for the phono interlink and speaker cables.

In the future I'd ;ike to experiment some more with room treatment, maybe some bass traps or diffusion/absorption panels at first reflection point.
 
thanks a lot for your review.

a recommendation is fine, but testing at home is always the best way to test if a speaker is the right one.

andy
 
The bass must have been the room/placement issue.

I had the FS3.2 at home and the bass was anything but boomy. It was fast, accurate and dry (in a good way). Plus, they speakers could play really loud without much apparent compression. The sound was always very upbeat.

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I enjoyed the FS3.2 a lot. I have recommended them to a friend of mine who is a reviewer for HighFielity and he was also mightly impressed with those speakers:

http://www.highfidelity.pl/@main-731&lang=en
 
Elberoth said:
The bass must have been the room/placement issue.

I had the FS3.2 at home and the bass was anything but boomy. It was fast, accurate and dry (in a good way). Plus, they speakers could play really loud without much apparent compression. The sound was always very upbeat.

FVyifw.jpg


I enjoyed the FS3.2 a lot. I have recommended them to a friend of mine who is a reviewer for HighFielity and he was also mightly impressed with those speakers:

http://www.highfidelity.pl/@main-731&lang=en
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I read in review of a Symphonic Line Amplifier, that the amp speaker combi didn't sound good. He was using high efficient speakers, later when he changed the speakers to 85-90dB/m speakers instead of 90dB/m+ speakers the combi sounded much better.

That was a different amp from mine but it could be true of the whole brand.
 
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