Shahinian Compass

[southall-1998]

Thinking of saving up for a used pair. Ideally for a mark 2. I refuse to buy new. Very pricey!

Anyone here using the Compass?

Thanks.

S.

[Dauntless]

I used to have a pair of mark 1's. It was around the mid 90's and I think I paid around £1.6k for the pair. They were fitted with metal dome tweeters and they were bright, so much so that I had the late Shaun Williams of Williams Hart Audio to fit new tweeters and mount the X Overs externally. The tweeter refit tamed the brightness and I ran them for a while after that. I have to say I was shocked when Shaun showed me the drivers on line which could be bought for £25 each. I think I am right in saying that a new pair comes in at North of £4k so I am not surprised you are looking for used. I found the Compasses to be quite space hungry in the room, a little wobbly on the carpets and not too deep in the bass. Over time their negative traits became annoying so they went! Shahinian speakers are well sort after used so bring good prices, a bit like Naim gear. I have two pairs of speakers which I much prefer to the Compasses, one is the Wilmslow Audio Classique ( modified X over ) and the current speaker I am using at the moment, the Cambridge Audio Aeromax 6. The Aeromax 6 is available direct from the Cambridge site and in my opinion is a great buy for £900 a pair. I am sure others on here can point to other speakers that are better value. If you fancy Omnis how about Larsen?

[Puffin]

I sourced a mint pair of the Aeromax 6's for a mate about 18 months ago (I think the original price was £400 or thereabouts) he got them for £140. Oddly enough the bloke he got them from had up-graded to Shahinian Arcs which I think he paid £1500 for. We were well impressed with Aeromaxes.

[Dauntless]

I sourced a mint pair of the Aeromax 6's for a mate about 18 months ago (I think the original price was £400 or thereabouts) he got them for £140. Oddly enough the bloke he got them from had up-graded to Shahinian Arcs which I think he paid £1500 for. We were well impressed with Aeromaxes.

Are you sure they were not Aero's Rob? This model came before the Aeromax range and started off in Richer Sounds for £400. The Aeromax has the same dimensions as the Aeromax but has inferior cabinets and the BMR driver is not as recent.
Shane in my view the Shahinian Arcs are a much better speaker than the Compasses but are more expensive still. Myself, I would try Larsen if I wanted omni type speakers. I think you can probably buy new Larsen 6's for the price of used compasses. The Larsens work hard up against a wall and have much better bass response.

[hifi_dave]

I've used Shahinians on a couple of occasions and not been impressed. What I can't get on with is the vague imagery, with a wall of sound wherever you sit. Very strange and very expensive.

[southall-1998]

The ARC's are definitely in the pipeline.

S.

[Puffin]

Are you sure they were not Aero's Rob? This model came before the Aeromax range and started off in Richer Sounds for £400. The Aeromax has the same dimensions as the Aeromax but has inferior cabinets and the BMR driver is not as recent.
Shane in my view the Shahinian Arcs are a much better speaker than the Compasses but are more expensive still. Myself, I would try Larsen if I wanted omni type speakers. I think you can probably buy new Larsen 6's for the price of used compasses. The Larsens work hard up against a wall and have much better bass response.

I think you could be right. They look very similar. Still a bargain IMO.

[Ninanina]

I had a loan pair of Arc's and was very impressed with them

However initally it's a bit weird listening to the omni style of these type of speakers

[petrat]

I once lived in an open-plan cottage, with very low ceilings and a ridiculously complex floor-plan with a fireplace in the middle of the room. I was advised that Shahinians would be about the only speakers that could work in such a space, so I spent some time auditioning them. The only ones I really liked were the super-expensive Diapasons, which worked well in a barn-like demo room. The Obilisks were OK too, but the smaller Arcs were quite limited in their presentation, and ultimately I could see no real benefits over the stand-mounters I was using at the time. Concluded that all Shahiians needed high ceilings and lots of space ... so, exactly wrong for my cottage :lol:

[pgarrish]

I once lived in an open-plan cottage, with very low ceilings and a ridiculously complex floor-plan with a fireplace in the middle of the room. I was advised that Shahinians would be about the only speakers that could work in such a space, so I spent some time auditioning them. The only ones I really liked were the super-expensive Diapasons, which worked well in a barn-like demo room. The Obilisks were OK too, but the smaller Arcs were quite limited in their presentation, and ultimately I could see no real benefits over the stand-mounters I was using at the time. Concluded that all Shahiians needed high ceilings and lots of space ... so, exactly wrong for my cottage :lol:

Diapasons are epic! I heard a pair in a fairly small demo room at SoundAdvice in Loughborough.... awe inspiring, before you got to the (in 1994 ish) £18K/pair price tag :)