Fuselier and Synthesis Speakers.
Kurt Strain
Hi,
In this chain somewhere, someone suggested that you listen to the
conrad-johnson Synthesis LM300's. I have never heard these speakers
but do have some interesting info that may be of use to you.
conrad-johnson commisioned a speaker designer, John Fuselier, to come
up with a speaker for them about 6-7 years ago (maybe longer, the details
here are a bit sketchy). He did this in return for some of their
equipment which he was going to use to test his own speakers. He completed
the design work and gave it to them. They equipment which he received in
return he has long since gotten rid of (he found that he did not like their
stuff very much).
In any case, I have heard that conrad-johnson used the design, after making
a some modifications to the crossovers. I believe that the resulting speaker
was the LM300.
I own a pair of Fuselier Fives which were in development/production at around
the same time that he did the work for conrad-johnson. I bought them used
from a dealer in New York. (They came in LM300 boxes.) In our conversation he
mentioned that his favorite speakers were the Quads, Fuseliers, and Synthesis LM300.
This now strikes me as being rather telling, since it was only later that I found
out that Fuselier had done the design work for conrad-johnson. My point is that
apparently the LM300's bear the sonic signature of John Fuselier, even though the
crossovers were mucked with. My next point is that you should hear John Fuselier's
work if you can ever get the chance.
I have listened to the Thiels and Vandersteens also, and the subtlty of Fuselier's
work leaves these other speakers behind (IMHO :-) He has 2 2-way designs, 2 3-way
designs and an isobaric design that is almost ready for production. The prices
are something like $900, $1200, $1700, $2400, and $3500 dollars, respectively.
The sonic character of these speakers is that they are enormously detailed and they
produce a natural sonic image better than any speaker that I have ever heard. Like the
gentleman mentioned about the LM300, there is virtually no fatigue associated with
listening to these speakers. As a matter of fact, looking back at his comments,
I am just about to repeat much of what he said he like about the LM300. The Fuseliers
are very efficient and quite easy (non-fussy) to drive. The highs are wonderful,
the bass is true and unexaggerated, and like he mentioned, they offer incredible
imaging. You don't need $8000 dollars worth of equipment to get phenomenal soundstage
depth with these speakers. You can get this kind of imaging while spending only about
1/8th this sum. In short, this is a speaker for a music lover, not necessarily an
audiophile. You will quickly forget about the equipment and become involved in the
music.
The problem will be to get an audition. Fuselier works out of Atlanta and several
high end dealers there carry his line. To find out more about these speakers,
I recommend that you call Julian Scharfmann at
404-587-1900 (Fat) Julian's Audio, Atlanta.
He is a very interesting man to talk with, and he can give you more info about
the availibility of Fuselier's speakers.
I do hope you get to audition them somehow. I think that you will be delighted.
Regards, and enjoy your search.
----------------
My questions: Are these mini-monitor speakers? Are they full range?
Same questions apply to the Synthesis.
Kurt Strain
Kurt Strain
knows a lot about these Fuselier's. The model pricings are as follows:
$850, $1050, $1650, $2150, and finally $3600. The first two are two-ways.
The last are three-ways. The $2150 model, the 3.8d is being discontinued.
The newest model, at $3600, is called the 4.3 Isobaric. The woofer operates
on an isobaric principal, said to achieve the lowest possible bass distortion
known to date (his claim). The Absolute Sound heard Fuselier speakers
demoed and requested the 4.3 Isobaric for a full review to be coming up.
The 3.8d was listed in Audio Magazine's Best of Audio in 1989.
He says the 3.8d has the transparency exceeding the Thieles and much less
distorted, unequalized bass. The 3.8d is 2' tall, 13" wide, and interestingly,
2.5' deep. They need stands. They have time-aligned drivers. Fuselier
has attempted to make a no-holds-barred state-of-the-art design in the
4.3 Isobaric. If this is that good, then the $3600 asking price would
seem ridiculously low. No complaint here. The 4.3 Isobaric will be like the
B&W 801 in certain ways. If it's as good or better, I want a pair now.
It will have 2 10" woofers in an opposing isobaric suspension, operating to
200 Hz. The midrange and tweeter will be in individual isolated boxes on top,
in a time alignment like the B&W's.
I can't possibly hear them unless there's someone on the West Coast who owns
a pair. Anyone know someone? Otherwise, I must simply purchase them.
Anyone seen a review? Anyone else hear them besides Peter?
This is really intrigueing me, because if all he says is true, then it's
what I've been asking for. He also says a disadvantage the Thiele has that
these don't is the high frequency roll-up. As for listening fatigue, he
says that no one he knows ever complained about that (for what that's worth).
He also says that many speakers tend to "hide" their midrange, because that's
often a weak link. I know that's true. But he also says that Fuselier
does not do this. You get a good midrange, he tells me.
Pretty interesting! They've got my attention.