Acora speakers ?

[Speedthrills]

Has anyone here demo'd the new Acora MRC speakers anywhere ? No reviews anywhere other than minimal Axpona / show reviews. I like the looks but with zero reviews I'm hesitant to buy a pair and my local dealer only stocks one model and all others would be special order only. I also worry about resale given they're not well known. I have Sasha 2 currently that I love, driving them with ARC REF160s and LS28SE. I may be looking to downsize to a smaller footprint and something more asthetically pleasing in order to move them into our living room. The Sasha 2 are big and a tough sell to convince my wife.

Thanks

 

[TooCool4]

What model does your dealer have in stock? Why not go and listen to it to get an idea of what the brand is about. Why care about reviews or others opinions when you can go and use your own ears, best judge are your own ears.

 

[Argonaut]

Has anyone here demo'd the new Acora MRC speakers anywhere ? No reviews anywhere other than minimal Axpona / show reviews. I like the looks but with zero reviews I'm hesitant to buy a pair and my local dealer only stocks one model and all others would be special order only. I also worry about resale given they're not well known. I have Sasha 2 currently that I love, driving them with ARC REF160s and LS28SE. I may be looking to downsize to a smaller footprint and something more asthetically pleasing in order to move them into our living room. The Sasha 2 are big and a tough sell to convince my wife.

Thanks

As you seem happy with the Wilson sound , perhaps consider down sizing within the Wilson ranges … Legacy Puppy 2 for example .

 

[Speedthrills]

What model does your dealer have in stock? Why not go and listen to it to get an idea of what the brand is about. Why care about reviews or others opinions when you can go and use your own ears, best judge are your own ears.

Thanks, yes, I plan to do that but he has the MRC1 and I'm interested in the MRC 3, big difference in price and sound given the size differences. I keep hoping that they get a pair into Stereophile/Absolute Sound etc but maybe they've been trying and can't. I'm cautious as I have a 40 yr history of buying and then selling a couple years later, I want to avoid getting stuck with a product that has no reviews and therefore makes people cautious about buying etc.

 

[Speedthrills]

As you seem happy with the Wilson sound , perhaps consider down sizing within the Wilson ranges … Legacy Puppy 2 for example .

Thanks, yea, might do that, I had a pair of the original Sabrina that I liked before upgrading to the Sasha 2, which are much bigger and more full sounding and go much deeper, possibly the sabrina x may be interesting but they've also hiked the msrp from $16k to 23k for the same model over the last few years!!!

 

[TooCool4]

Have you tried contacting Acora directly? I had the same issue many many years ago. I wanted to try a speaker / brand that my local dealer did not carry, I spoke to the manufacturers direct and they ended up sending a loan unit to my dealers for me to have as a home demo. I liked it so much, I bought a new pair and my dealers ended up carrying that brand.
Since your dealer already carry Acora, the chances of them sending it out to your dealer is high.

I'm cautious as I have a 40 yr history of buying and then selling a couple years later

Could this be because you read reviews and not listening to your own ears?

 

[SoupRKnowva]

I heard the MRC-3 the last day at South West Audio Fest.



They were sort of hidden at the show, in a side room of the room with the much larger Acora speakers. I will say that I am very happy I found them Sunday. I haven't ever really thought much of the larger Acora speakers at shows, but these MRC-3s were impressive to me. One of my favorite rooms at the show, specially considering their price. The sensitivity is also nice to see, 92db. I can't really provide any specifics, other than that I liked them. If you're interested I would definitely look to audition them.

 

[Speedthrills]

Have you tried contacting Acora directly? I had the same issue many many years ago. I wanted to try a speaker / brand that my local dealer did not carry, I spoke to the manufacturers direct and they ended up sending a loan unit to my dealers for me to have as a home demo. I liked it so much, I bought a new pair and my dealers ended up carrying that brand.
Since your dealer already carry Acora, the chances of them sending it out to your dealer is high.

Could this be because you read reviews and not listening to your own ears?

I def trust my own ears, with new brands though I'm cautious in terms of resale value. If they have a few good reviews from credible sources then resale value is usually protected - if there are no reviews at all its risky to count on being able to resell them, people naturally want to look up reviews before buying something for $15k to see if there are either glowing reviews are critical reviews- I'm sure you know and do this yourself, like all of us do.

 

[Speedthrills]

I heard the MRC-3 the last day at South West Audio Fest.

View attachment 152096

They were sort of hidden at the show, in a side room of the room with the much larger Acora speakers. I will say that I am very happy I found them Sunday. I haven't ever really thought much of the larger Acora speakers at shows, but these MRC-3s were impressive to me. One of my favorite rooms at the show, specially considering their price. The sensitivity is also nice to see, 92db. I can't really provide any specifics, other than that I liked them. If you're interested I would definitely look to audition them.

Thanks thats encouraging !

 

[TooCool4]

Speedthrills, good name / good reviews does not mean a good resale value, just one example is Nagra. Great name plus good reviews, have you checked them on the used market?

Not sure I worry about reviews too much. I have looked up reviews afterwords to see if they align with what I think, but in general don’t care if they do or don’t as long as I like the product.

I guess I am different from most people, as I don’t look or care about resale value since when I buy something I have a good intention to keeping them for a very long time. I don’t change kit often, whenever I change it’s to make a big upgrade. In fact since I started buying my own Hi-Fi, which is over 30 years ago, I have only owned a total of 5 speakers. I just make sure I get it spot on before I part with my money, hence the kit stays with me for years and resale value does not come into it.
If you are constantly changing kit, I guess resale value is something you have to have in the back of your mind.

 

[TooCool4]

Audio Excellence Canada, talking about the MRC-3

 

[Speedthrills]

Thanks, I both trust my ears and protect my wallet given that I do tend to change gear out every few years- been doing it for close to 40 years, upgrading/changing components, selling one to buy something for another system in another room - so for me factoring resale is part of my decision. I bought a pair of great speakers- Avance Signature 8 from a friend who was briefly a rep for the brand. It never caught on in the states yet the speakers are really good. 10k msrp; I bought his demo pair for 2k - they have few reviews and no resale value in the US. I knew that when I bought them. I'm not interested in doing that with 15k though no matter how good the speakers may sound. If there's few or no buyers out there on the used market I don't want to struggle selling them or taking a huge bath on them.

 

[thedudeabides]

With your concerns re published reviews, I'd wait. Otherwise, you will be constantly thinking about that resale issue. Neurosis is not conducive to peace of mind. Plus there are other options you can pursue that address that criteria. Two products that are near that price point you might want to consider are the Gershman Acoustics Grande Avant Garde and the Joseph Audio Perspective II. Somewhat under the radar but outstanding price / performance. Can get used (if you can find) for under 10K.

 

[Speedthrills]

With your concerns re published reviews, I'd wait. Otherwise, you will be constantly thinking about that resale issue. Neurosis is not conducive to peace of mind. Plus there are other options you can pursue that address that criteria. Two products that are near that price point you might want to consider are the Gershman Acoustics Grande Avant Garde and the Joseph Audio Perspective II. Somewhat under the radar but outstanding price / performance. Can get used (if you can find) for under 10K.

Thanks and yes, I'm interested in hearing the Joseph Audio speakers. Jeff Joseph used to be a sales guy on the floor of Harvey Electronics when I was VP of Store Ops and Sales back in 1990 or so!