Troels,  
 
I thought I’d drop you a note having completed my A50-II’s and share my impressions after the first 50 or so hours of listening - To avoid unnecessary suspense, my one sentence summary is that they are a triumph. Here’s my thoughts on why.
 
As a preamble,  I have a dedicated listening space (5mx6mx2.7m) and it’s been professional treated, within the constraints of what is practical in a domestic environment. Acoustically the result is pretty good, a bit on the dry side, but not over-damped, and unfortunately there is still a 32hz modal peak that is suppressed but not completely removed, probably not helped by the suspended wooden floor. If my diamond shoes weren’t so tight, I’d have a couple of meters in all dimensions and a nice solid concrete floor - but we struggle on. 
 
This has been my hifi room for about 20 years and over that time I’ve changed equipment relatively infrequently. Amplification is either a vintage Naim NAC52/Supercap/NAP250 combo or a Devialet Original d’Atelier, which combines streamer, DAC and amp in pretty copper boxes. One looks like a vintage computer the other looks like it should come with a wine pairing. With speakers, I’ve owned Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario, Wilson Sasha II’s and Martin Logan CLX (with a subwoofer - I’m not a masochist). All have done something that I really liked, and also brought limitations. The Wilsons had incredible dynamics, but in my room they needed to be loud to be great and I’m at an age when I need to take care of my hearing. The CLX’s have driven me to distraction. When they are good, they are outstanding, but I have spent too many hours trying to get them to work consistently in my room and I still have a sweet spot no bigger than an envelope. I suspect in a bigger room they would be superb, but you have to know when you are beaten..which leads me to the A50’s. 
 
I should also add that for fun, I’m a bass player so it’s important to me not just to hear bass, but to hear the instrument character and the player’s technique. One of the things that initially drew me to the A50s was your early research commentary on the quality of that relatively large woofer. That, combined with the published frequency response, suggested that something promising may be here and perhaps a route to bass reproduction that didn’t require heroic room correction or therapy.
 
Placement of the A50’s turned out to be fairly straight forward. I did find them quite sensitive to distance from the front wall. SBIR accepted, I thought the front-facing port might make this less critical, however In my room, for the mid/lows to really develop they need to be well into the room (>1.25m). 
 
Even before I had finalised placement the A50’s started to make a positive impression - a beautifully integrated and consistent sound across the entire useful frequency range. 
 
Once placed, I can honestly say I’ve not heard another speaker that is quite as even and tonally consistent, from the low B of a five-string bass at ~31 Hz right up until my ears run out.  Detail retrieval is also outstanding. The overall character is very lively and dynamic, in the best possible way. These are not speakers that politely fade into the background; they encourage you to stop and listen. The mid-range is particularly wonderfully.  Voices are resolved, natural and perfectly placed, present without being pushy, and completely free of harshness even at high volumes.
 
Scale is also rendered really well, and without wishing your design skills a disservice,  possibly helped by the amount of air those large cones can move.  Rudolf Serkins recording of Beethovens piano concerto #5 is a favourite of mine and is reproduced with wonderful drama and intensity and yet no detail is missed and for performances at the other end of the scale spectrum, Lisa Hannigan’s, intimate and beautiful Sea See is reproduced in every delicate detail with subtle nuances, some revealed to me for the first time after maybe 500 prior listens.
 
And my need for bass? Well my current bass player belle  - Joe Dart from Vulfpeck sounds just superb, the detail retrieval and accurate presentation of the low frequencies means I can hear ever nuance of his playing technique, but also the recording techniques that gives him his subtly distinctive sound. There is a lot of online chat about how the bass guitar on Dean Town was sidechained to the audio compressed bass drum to get that dipping, locked-in sound. I mean 90% of it is in his fingers and his prodigious talent, but now we know about the last 10% - you can hear the compressor attack and release - the A50’s tell it all,  and sometimes the details paint the bigger picture.
 
Weakness - too early in the relationship to say. Maybe the tiniest last bit of attack on a snare drum is missing, but I’m hoping over the running in period that will sort itself out.
 
So how would I sum up. I don’t think there is much point discussing what is best, only what makes you most happy. I know it’s become a cliche, but it is true that on the first day with these speakers, I was still listening to music at 4am. Since then, I’ve spent many joyful hours rediscovering music that I hadn’t played in years, even the tricky stuff…Aimee Mann ‘I Should’ve Know’ was mixed to be bright and in your face. With the wrong setup it is unlistenable, but here its just powerful and intense and magnificent. When a system does that, it is very very special.
 
A job very well done. Bravo.
Darren