CEntrance Masterclass 2504 coaxial speakers

JoeDotCom

Super Member
So, i was at the Chicagoland Head-fi meetup last weekend ("ChiUniFi7") and among the headphone systems setup there was this small (what I thought at the time) single drives desktop system setup.

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I sat down to take a listen and the guy behind the table walked over and turned the volume up for me a little bit. WOW, I figured from the look of the ports in front that they would have respectable low end for their size, but the clarity and reach of the highs blew me away. The guy behind the table introduced himself as Michael Goodman (I later learned he is the man behind CEntrance and their Chief Product Architect). he explained they they are coaxial. More specifically, they are what he called 'coplanar'. The tweeter and the 4 inch driver are nested together and share the same magnet. (I am not the best at the tech side behind this, so here's more info http://centrance.com/products/masterclass/ )

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A very cool design and some excellent sounding speakers. They sounded so good in fact, I am headed to get a second demo and likely pick up a pair this afternoon!

I have a tiny desktop system I use at work. I have a desk located in a shared space, so I usualy wear IEMs when programming to block out noise without disturbing my negibors. I also run a pair of desktop monitors (Cambridge Audio S20's currently) for those times when I want to listen quietly, or those times I am alone in the office when I can JAM! I think the 2025's are going to make excellent near field monitors. Pics / comments to follow. :)
 
I picked them up! I put them on a pair of stands in my listening room and connected them to my bel canto. They sound excellent. Again, surprising bottom end, with the sweet midrange and high end as expected. I need to play with placement a bit, as my stands are little low for these little guys, but imaging was excellent!

My listening space is a bit of a mess right now, so no photos yet. Next week, I will bring me to work and set them up on my desk. I'll get some good shots then. :)

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Here's an example of a Seleneum horn tweeter magnet riding piggy back on a big Eminence main driver ( Emerald Physics Open Baffle ). The tweeter, with it's threaded waveguide, plays through the throat of Eminence.

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Interesting that CEntrance cant seem to keep up with demand for their Audiophile Desktop - DacMini PX and 2504s wedged into a Samsonite case.

http://centrance.com/products/audiophiledesktop/

I'm a little surprised that dealers haven't bundled something like the Wadia 151 / W4S mINT with a pair of the current crop of de rigeur mighty mites from the likes of KEF, Dynaudio and Paradigm. Benchmark did offer a bundle - the DAC1 PRE with a pair of active monitors - but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. Class D has completely redefined the possibilities for those of us with space constraints IMO.
 
Listening at my desk now, yummy!


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Interesting that CEntrance cant seem to keep up with demand for their Audiophile Desktop - DacMini PX and 2504s wedged into a Samsonite case.

http://centrance.com/products/audiophiledesktop/
Yes, its a cool setup. if I could have swung the whole package, that would have been sweet. Having the monitors and powering them with a little SMSL t-amp is a great start though, even if I can't take it on the road in a fancy case. :)
 
Bumping an old thread - just picked up a pair of these on Massdrop - very much looking forward to getting them. These will be going into a small extra bedroom I'll be using as a listening space.

Joe - do you still have yours?
 
yea i just bought the off the massdrop too. thanks for the bump man rarely does massdrop do like 40% of the MSRP, they even come with some nice banana plug cables for $160

looking forward to getting them I'll drive with a onkyo 805x small 20wpc
 
Just brought them also for the purpose of using a tube amp to drive them. I had coaxial speakers before the Equator D5 but never really happy with them. I deside to give these a shot.
 
yea i just bought the off the massdrop too. thanks for the bump man rarely does massdrop do like 40% of the MSRP, they even come with some nice banana plug cables for $160

looking forward to getting them I'll drive with a onkyo 805x small 20wpc

The cable retail for $50 but they are much better than the average cables.
 
Got mine over the weekend - a few thoughts:
Out of the box, pretty forward in the midrange and a bit harsh. After a few hours of run in, the sound seems to have mellowed a bit. Fantastic imaging, as to be expected from coaxials (or coplanars, as Centrance likes to call them). Not as detailed as my reference speakers (Focal 816W), but at a fraction of the price, I don't expect them to be. I have listened to them in a few rooms in my house, and these obviously like a small room for a number of reasons - #1, they get pretty compressed as the volume goes up, but given their low power-handling ability, volume shouldn't go up too high. #2, bass reinforcement is a must, and you're just not going to get that out in a large room.
I will say that these little guys are FAST, which they should be considering their diminutive size. I'm probably going to be looking for a new subwoofer that can keep up with them.

All in all I'm quite happy with them, especially considering the $150 price tag. The cables they ship with are VERY nicely constructed, which makes the low asking price from Massdrop a no-brainer.
 
A bit of necro-posting can't hurt I guess. I had these for some time now. The coaxials image very nicely and the sound can be described as pleasant but the speakers never sounded right to me. I've been experimenting with REW and speaker/room correction lately, here is a quick attempt at a convolution filter for these speakers for near-field if anyone is still interested and has a player with a convolver. IMO they come to life with a bit of EQ.
 

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