Buchardt S400 MKII Review

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[kirkaparty]

Nice review. Buchardt 400ii is a very well designed speaker and gives a wide soundstage and natural sound, and scales very well with better amplifiers, for me not near field ( sharp high end data is due to near field listening i think), forgiving with poor music. I also have the KEF R3, (also very well designed) different sound, more detail in the higher frequencies, more picky about placing, base not as deep, but more dynamic above 60hz area, cleaner sound.

[ic]

Absolutely brilliant review, I love the process you use, by far the best presentation on YouTube 👍

[raphaelmeillat]

Erin, I'm loving your reviews more and more. Your presentation, graph comparisons, and detailed explanations... Great mix of info, insights and opinion. Well done! Wishing you and your channel continued success! 😊

[stevethetoolman]

I really like the live review. I have the s400 mk2 and really enjoy them. My room is 13 wide by 18 long with 8 foot ceiling. I had GIK help me with room treatments. I like the wide sound via wave guide. We have friends over for listening sessions (scotch tasting). I’m always on the prowl for other speakers but so far these meet my needs. I do pair them with a REL T9x subwoofer. Great review.

[yvesboutin]

For me, the crossover is why I could spend more than 2 000$ on a pair of bookshelf speakers! These are top quality components. No iron or ferrite core inductors, best on the market capacitors, and no sand cast resistors! I guess the cables are on the level too. Other companies can learn a lot on how to make a good design from Buchart! Very good product and very good video! Thanks!

[eldloppa]

Thanks, this is a great and honest review!

I do love my pair of them, but I've consistently felt that there's something recessed in some vocals. The measurements here seem to perfectly match my subjective impressions of their sound. I think you're right that in some sense, this slight unevenness may actually be part of the reason that they have such nice perceived sound stage depth. Like many things in audio, it's probably one of those "you can't have it all" situations - if they didn't have that unevenness, maybe they'd stage "flatter" for better or worse.

I don't really feel that the bass rolloff matches my subjective impressions though, but that's on me, not a mark of distrust in the measurements. Maybe the shelved shape of it actually matches with room gain nicely, such that when summed up it doesn't get bloated but rather gets fairly linearly lifted in the lower octave when placing them kinda near-ish to walls, as I do.

[impuls]

A very impressive design! I "waveguided" my ribbon and got rid of the biggest problem with my speaker.. 6 db boost doesnt sound as a lot, but a 10db increase feels as twice as loud!

[andrd]

Thank you for this video. Especially the part about the “suck out” below the twitter line. I thought I’m imagining it until I saw the vertical polar chart

[matsudakodo]

Great review as usual. I use these in a mixed-use system that does a lot of home theater, however there is only one row of 3 seats at 3 meters with subs, therefore they do very well.

[pulDag]

Be well Erin and thank you for another speaker insight.

[Artcore]

I'm surprised, isn't this the speaker that all the reviews absolutely praised it's extreme bass performance and extension (for the size)? Crazy. Love the data.

[ManFromLaBamba]

Wonderful to see the measurements and hear your very clear explanation about the listening window vis a vis driver size etc. that way one learns not just about this speaker but about speakers in general how to select one and how ones personal preferences relate to speaker design. Nice!

[DearSX]

Great review thank you! Hope you feel better and also share your car audio setup!

[deankim]

Great review. This was very different than any other review on YouTube that I’ve come across for these speaker.

[iKaBoZ]

Thanks Erin, for a great review as usual, I'm deciding between a few speakers (most of them you already reviewed) and want to take your opinion, as I honestly highly value it.

First, **Room measurements:**
Room size: 12.2 * 15.5 ft
Distance from listening position = 8 ft
Distance between speaker and wall behind it = 2ft
I can bring them closer to me, increasing the distance from wall to 2.5 ft, and decreasing listening distance to 7.5 ft

Distance between the right speaker and a side-wall = 2.5 ft, can be increased to: 3ft

**Preference:**
1- Neutral sound (lol), good bass, clean mids, and clear sounds (don't mind if it's a teeny tiny bit on the bright side but no glare). Not interested in very high volumes as my room is small.
2- I don't have acoustic wall panels yet, but I'm buying them as well.
3- My source is a large 24bit HQ music library I own, in addition to Spotify.
I have already a Yamaha AV rx-v471 (bear with me), I hope to use it and not to have to buy a new AMP, but pls tell me if it's not a good idea, I had it connected to a pair of Klipsch 600rm and I didn't really enjoy as much (I'm not sure which to blame the klipsch or Yamaha or the match)
Anyway, Based on the AV I have, you may think I'm looking for a home theatre system but not, I discovered that what I truly want is a pure musical system, home theatre is a low secondary priority for me.


**My Options:**
A- Passive speakers, because: Longer lifespan, easier to change and upgrade system(though based on my location and budget I don't think I'll be changing frequently), can use my existing AV or buy a new AMP (now or later)


B- Active speakers: The beauty of this option for me is that I won't have to go into the process of testing the speakers with the AMP and DACs and try to figure compatibility, which Audiophiles usually love but would be impossible for me since I moved a few months back (for work) to a country where very few audio options exist. Active Speakers solve this as they provide one package where everything is super compatible, so I won't have the risk of purchasing a pair of speakers that won't match with my Yamaha, then I spend big on a quality AMP just to find out they don't really match with my new speakers and I get stuck with a non-compatible pair for many years until I am able to replace.

**Speakers available to me are:**
1- Buchardt S400 MkII (~2000 $)
2- Buchardt A10 (~4000 $) <<< Really appreciate it if you could review this one, Buchardt seem to be super proud of it and they praise its room correction amongst other features.
3- Philharmonic BMR Monitor (~1900 $)
4- Klipsch the nines (~1600$) [[The only one I may be able to test physically at a store]]
5- Fyne Audio 500SP
6- Any other speakers you recommend that can be bought online and shipped to Saudi Arabia.

Thank you for taking the time and efforts to read and process all this ❤

[agnelroshandsilva]

Hi Erin. Nice review. Get well soon and be more careful with Your back as sometimes those problems take quite some time to heal properly.

[Mishael_Agyei-Boamah]

The rhyme scheme at the beginning of the video. I see you Erin🔥🔥🔥

[WhatAreYouJewingHere]

I threw my back out. You know what? F it, we're doing it live! F this F'ing thing sucks! We'll do it LIVE! We'll DO IT LIVE!

[ishonk]

Thanks for sharing, take it a bit easier and don't drown!

[llllllllllllllllllllllll]

Very interesting data. Thanks Erin!

I really hope Buchardt does some sort of 3-way design, WAW-esque, with a tweeter crossed high and woofer crossed ~400-500hz. The vertical directivity issue is enough to keep me away from them for now. In an MTM, somewhat acceptable. Bookshelf-style 2 way... not so much. Looks to me like a classic driver spacing hiccup.

Regardless, this is all great food for thought. Quite interested to see what Buchardt comes out with in the future. The DSP+bi/tri-amp combo allows for a ton of design possibilities. Sweet platform to design off of.