Richard Shahinian - High Fidelity Audio

[Arvestaked]

Shahinian Acoustics is a company that has been producing high end omnidirectional speakers for over 30 years. (Omnidirectional speakers set out to eliminate the "sweet spot" phenomenon that is unavoidable in the standard forward-firing driver system.) The speakers they make range from about $3,000 a pair to about $13,000 a pair. They look a bit strange -- they don't seem to have the same visual appeal that some other speakers in that range have -- but when I discovered them I spent a lot of time looking for reviews and testimonials and found a lot positive remarks from hi-fi forums such as those at audiogon.com and some online magazine. The concensus is that they exceptional for the price, with wonderful reproduction and soundstage, but that they take some getting used to and are difficult to incorporate into an audio system. Richard Shahinian, the man who started the company and designs the speakers, is a great fan of classical music and set out to create speakers that he felt were most faithful to the experience of hearing such music. (Classical music is considered by many audiophiles to be the ultimate test of the fidelity of a system.) He got his start as an engineer at Harman Kardon and eventually decided to go out on his own. He created the Obelisk speakers in the 70's and has been expanding his line and improving his technology ever since. Thought you'd like to know. Edited June 11, 2007 by MosJan