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Wharfedale Linton Heritage vs KEF R3 vs Buchardt S400 vs Klipsch Heresy IV?

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Ok, I narrowed my choices down to these three speakers.

They are all in open box conditions, and the prices for them are:

Wharfedale Linton: $1260
KEF R3: $1300
Buchardt: $930
Klipsch Heresy iv: $1700

My room is around 300 sq ft and I'm planning on pairing the speakers with the Yamaha TSR-700 that I already have. Which one would you suggest and why?

Edit:

Thank you for your insights in advance!
 
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hifi72

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I’m not sure if you’ve made your purchase yet but these are my thoughts on the decision. I don’t have experience with the Buchardt, but I do now own the Linton paired with a Yamaha A-S1200 in a 150 sqft room. Moving from a Focal Aria tower speaker, (closer to the Kef sound in my experience), the Linton is more open, warmer and a enjoyable speaker to listen to. This is all subjective and I listen mostly to classic rock etc, but I don’t feel like I downgraded by switching up, I lost that grating treble and I was looking for a change to something a little more balanced. I was a little torn between an Kef, Heresy, RP-600 and the Linton, but in the end I went with a classic look I liked the most, and the money savings. It depends on what you are looking for in a speaker and the room, and this is how my own process went. Best of luck, it’s a fun process.
 
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Thanks for your input! I ended up narrowing down my options to LS50 Meta or Buchardt S400 MKII. Heresy, Lintons and R3 were just simply too big for my space layout. Testing both speakers out as we speak and probably will make my decision soon :)
 

norcalscott

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The Lintons are definitely big. I really do like mine, especially since I added a sub to pressurize the room a bit. Let us know what you decide between the LS50 and S400s.
 

djigibao

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Thanks for your input! I ended up narrowing down my options to LS50 Meta or Buchardt S400 MKII. Heresy, Lintons and R3 were just simply too big for my space layout. Testing both speakers out as we speak and probably will make my decision soon :)

Between Buchardt S400 & KEF R3 is 7cm differences at height ;)

Buchardt S400 = 365 x 180 x 280 mm
KEF R3 = 422 x 199 x 335 mm
 
OP
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The Lintons are definitely big. I really do like mine, especially since I added a sub to pressurize the room a bit. Let us know what you decide between the LS50 and S400s.
Initially I wasn't all that impressed with the S400 MKII compared to the sound of the LS50 Meta, and I was ready to pack them up and send them back. However, Buchardt said (and as the included manual specifically states) that the speakers requires minimum 100 hrs to max 300 hrs of burn in time. While I'm not burning the speakers in 24/7, I have spent a fair amount of time for the past 3 days watching movies, listening to music with it, and I must say the sound seems to get better day by day. I was always skeptical about the 'burn-in' of the sound system, but I think I'm starting to believe otherwise.


I'm going to give it at least the required burn in time of 100 hrs for both systems before I start comparing them! Really can't go wrong with either speakers... I'd probably keep them both IF I had a bigger space ;)
 

norcalscott

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Initially I wasn't all that impressed with the S400 MKII compared to the sound of the LS50 Meta, and I was ready to pack them up and send them back. However, Buchardt said (and as the included manual specifically states) that the speakers requires minimum 100 hrs to max 300 hrs of burn in time. While I'm not burning the speakers in 24/7, I have spent a fair amount of time for the past 3 days watching movies, listening to music with it, and I must say the sound seems to get better day by day. I was always skeptical about the 'burn-in' of the sound system, but I think I'm starting to believe otherwise.


I'm going to give it at least the required burn in time of 100 hrs for both systems before I start comparing them! Really can't go wrong with either speakers... I'd probably keep them both IF I had a bigger space ;)
Yeah, on here burn in of anything is treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. Many feel that rather than some mechanical "burn in" we experience something like "getting used to" the speakers or headphones and once used to the sound we generally "like" it more. I've certainly had that experience a few times.
 
OP
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Yeah, on here burn in of anything is treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. Many feel that rather than some mechanical "burn in" we experience something like "getting used to" the speakers or headphones and once used to the sound we generally "like" it more. I've certainly had that experience a few times.
I have the Buchardts set up in a separate room, just so that I can be sure that it's not me 'getting used' to the sound of the Buchardts, but actually something happening in the speakers.

It's actually something that I'd love to investigate. A lot of the tests didn't seem all that controlled, even the one done here. 3.5hrs of burn in time on one sample in uncontrolled environment with used speaker doesn't seem like the best way to properly get to the bottom of this 'myth.'

Companies like Buchardt demands 100 hrs of burn-in time, which is quite long, but if one wants to debunk the myth, I feel like it should be done with multiple speakers with 100 hrs of burn in at the minimum. Water boils at 100C, not 3.5C.

Whether this little experiment of mine will actually yield tangible results or not, only time will tell. If Buchardts end up sounding better after the "burn-in" is done, I'll be keeping them and returning the Metas. Otherwise, Metas will be my main driver for a foreseeable future! ;)
 

srrxr71

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Yeah, on here burn in of anything is treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. Many feel that rather than some mechanical "burn in" we experience something like "getting used to" the speakers or headphones and once used to the sound we generally "like" it more. I've certainly had that experience a few times.
Agreed and also to burn out your return policy
 
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