Rethm Maarga

Very reluctantly selling my Rethm Maargas - by far the best-sounding speaker I have ever heard anywhere near this price level, or most any other price level for that matter. Only letting them go because I've got a 9-month-old son who seemed to be very interested in tipping these over at all hours of the day. Don't worry, he hasn't managed to touch them and they're safe in their boxes now. Rating condition conservatively at 7/10, more on that later.

I truly believe the Rethm line is among the best-kept secrets in audio. I upgraded to these last year from the Trishnas, and I'd love to try the larger Saadhanas someday, although i'm told they don't have quite the resolution and tonal balance of the Maargas. Indeed, after attending the NY Audio Show late last year, I came back feeling even stronger about the Rethm line. Literally nothing at the show sounded as good! Designer Jacob George has pulled off a miracle in his quest to match and even improve upon all of the virtues of Lowther drivers -- the marvelous detail and delicacy -- while utterly, I mean utterly, eliminating the shout. Couple that, even more importantly, with the fact that these drivers are full-range augmented with active bass modules. Once you experience the huge, clean, coherent soundstage that these speakers deliver, it's hard to imagine doing crossovers again. It is truly difficult for me to understand why anybody would use a two-way or three-way speaker that uses crossovers anywhere above 80 Hz. To my ears, these speakers have no real shortcomings. I could go on. A truly high-end, uncompromised sound at a bargain price.

I have paired Rethm speakers with Shindo, Yamamoto and most recently Coincident amplifiers. They have sung beautifully with all of them, and revealed all of their respective virtues effortlessly, with a very honest sensitivity of 98 dB at 8 ohms.

Here is a very accurate review of the Trishnas, as well as a review of the Maargas, which finds that they were better than the $29,500 Voxativ Ampeggio. It concludes that the Maarga "isn't simply the better balanced speaker. It's the better speaker period." I haven't heard the Voxativs (which Art Dudley has famously raved about), but I wholly concur that it's hard to imagine beating the Rethms.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/rethm7/1.html

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/rethm6/1.html

As for condition, I'm rating them 7/10 because of a chip in the paint on the top of the right-hand speaker, shown in the picture, which was made by a floor lamp getting tipped over and grazing it (pre-baby, speakers have been in their boxes since he started crawling.) The speakers also are about six years old, I believe, but apart from this they are truly in flawless condition. Also, on the plus side, they are completely broken in, which is a very good thing for Rethms. I have just tested both speakers and they are singing beautifully together. The Maargas will ship in their original boxes and packaging to anywhere in the lower 48, buyer pays shipping and fees and I usually can get a bit of a price break with FedEx. Please holler with any questions and thanks for looking!