WTD Castle Howard 2 or 3

[Dulce Tones]

If anyone knows of a pair or is thinking of selling, I really fancy trying some out.
Not sure if they might overwhelm my listening space as about 11x14 into a bay.
Heard some a while ago in a bigger space and was impressed.
I know there is a pair on e bay but seem priced a bit high compared to selling prices.

[Lawrence001]

Think I sold my 2s for about £200 with some relatively minor cosmetic issues, I'd say £250-300 in excellent nick.

[Dulce Tones]

Yes Lawrence, thanks that's about what I've come across.
I haven't heard 3's, are they a big improvement?

[Dulce Tones]

Bump...
Still on the lookout if anyone is thinking of selling..

[Batty]

I have the S1 from 1995, still impressed with them.

[Dulce Tones]

Good to hear they're still impressing.
Seems people like to hang on to them!

[shadowphax]

I sold my S1's in beautiful yew finish recently. I was still thinking of keeping them but a pair of my dream speakers (Celestion A3's) finally surfaced and I pulled the trigger on them.

I can say that Howard's are very, very impressive loudspeakers. Much under-rated. I did it myself in my younger years, seeing them a bit carpet-and-slippers, but believe me, they can really play any music well.

Some people say they need a large room, but that isn't strictly true. It's the height of the room that is more important, due to the quarter-wave transmission line and upwards facing bass driver. As long as you ceiling is higher than the usual modern house, you will be fine in most rooms. I was OK in a 16x18 foot room with a ceiling high eneough that it couldn't be touched with an out-stretched hand.

I tried to use a Rel Storm sub with them, but the Howard's go so low in the bass, I couldn't get it to integrate correctly, when I had no issues with other loudspeakers I used the sub with.

The S1 and S2 are virtually identical, with just changes to crossover and it's position. The S3's are the Chinese made version that are a bit smaller and have different drivers (soft dome tweeter and carbon fibre bass).

If you get some I spotted a guy on Ebay who offers servicing/repairs and it's a guy mentioned on this and other forums who used to work at Castle so knows them well.

Good luck finding some as they pop up from time-to-time.

Cheers

Graham