IS this an original RUARK ACOUSTICS TALISMAN II ?

Hello! IS this an original RUARK ACOUSTICS TALISMAN II ?
There is not the badges at the front .
Its serial NO.:19452. Its Tel:0702-601410
Who can tell me the detailed data about the RUARK ACOUSTICS TALISMAN II ?
thank you.

 

They look fairly gen.....

I thought they used plastic speaker screw downs the sort you slotted a coin into [Well my broadswords did]

they have lost [?] the badges at the front
the drivers look original
this is what hifi choice said about them

The Talisman was one of a handful of speakers that defined the first wave of high-quality floorstanding column designs. There was the Mission 753, the Rega ELA as well as the Ruark, and as Ruark points out in its supplied literature, the Talisman entered the market as many of us were discussing the relative merits as CD and vinyl. It was originally introduced in 1989, three years after the company was formed, and upgraded to MkII form the following year. It is the most successful loudspeaker Ruark has ever made.

Now in its third iteration, the Talisman III belongs in the Heritage range alongside the Sabre II, and in the not too distant future, the Crusader III, respectively smaller and larger than the Talisman. Our protagonist in this test is a two-way loudspeaker in a more or less conventional wood-veneered enclosure, but a closer look yields up a number of subtleties that may escape initial attention.

The Talisman baffle, for example, is gently tilted back, though whether this is enough to provide any useful time alignment is not clear, but it's certainly enough to ensure that the front and rear walls of the enclosure are not parallel. In addition, the front baffle section wraps around to the side, adding a second structural layer where it is required most, and giving each panel a distinctive resonant behaviour of its own. The enclosure is critically damped, and also reinforced by a non-symmetric brace, with a closed-off base section available for mass loading.

As with earlier Talisman versions the drive units are sourced from SEAS. The bass/mid driver is a 180mm treated profiled pulp cone unit with a pure rubber surround, mounted in an alloy chassis. This driver hands over at the 3kHz crossover point to a 27mm dome tweeter with a Sonolex dome and polymer surround, a low hysteresis (effectively high response speed) combination optimised for good transient behaviour, and fitted with a vented magnet. The use of a slightly larger tweeter than usual is consistent with some of Ruark's previous designs, and probably helps with power handling - but the specified frequency response to 22kHz (-3dB) would be impressive for a 25mm unit.

Changes from the previous models are in general subtle but significant. The reflex port has migrated around to the rear, perhaps to reduce the audibility of any internal resonances, but the enclosure is otherwise similar (but not identical) to the original. The new tweeter replaces a slightly smaller textile dome unit, and the bass unit has increased in size from 165mm to its current 180mm, with a consequent improvement in low-frequency response under free-field conditions from 46Hz to 42Hz (-3dB) - figures that will be improved by the loading effect of room boundaries.

The speaker's power handling has gone up from 100 to 150 watts, while the sensitivity and nominal impedance figures remain unaltered at 88dB/W at one metre and eight ohms respectively. The Talisman III gives every indication of being easy to drive. It works consistently with a range of amplifiers (Arcam, Audia and Stello for this test), with the moderate sensitivity placing no strains on any of the amps given the speaker's own power handling limitations (discussed later).

The front wrap is finished in a choice of natural oak or rich walnut (sic), with yew and rosewood to be added as extra cost options later in the year. The standard of fit and finish is extremely high, though the speaker has a rather traditional, four-square styling that is probably fitting for the nature of the target audience. The base is reinforced and equipped with 8mm sockets for the spikes which are supplied. The speaker is finished with substantial bi-wire terminals feeding a hard-wired crossover internally, and some attractive if discreet badges, all adding subtle reinforcement to the message that the Talisman III is a high-quality product.

SOUND QUALITY
Our first impression of this new model at a recent hi-fi show was that it was a really good loudspeaker that sounded completely on form: clean, articulate, agile and a speaker that gets to the heart of the music in a way that doesn't happen a lot, especially (for whatever reason) at hi-fi shows. It was clearly a thoroughly engaging and likeable design, with more of an emphasis on qualities like clarity and analysis than with previous Ruarks. Another impression, however, was that this was not a new loudspeaker at all, but actually one of the earlier versions of the Talisman.

On audition, as it turned out, the similarity between old and new may be more apparent than real. The new model has a certain poise and energy that has not always been part of previous designs. Earlier Ruarks had sometimes seemed to be developed with more of an eye (ear?) to avoiding treading on people's audio sensibilities, occasionally at the cost of making a firm musical statement, and in this respect the new model has redressed the balance. To some extent, it may look like yesterday's news, reinforced by the Heritage range name, but this is not the way it sounds.

It's not perfect, of course. The new larger bass driver has led to a more extended bass response on paper and probably in practice, while power handling has been increased by up to 50 per cent without any measurable effect on system sensitivity. At normal listening levels with most music types, the Talisman sounds very well balanced in the bass, with a solid, extended feel in keeping with its floorstanding status - but no more. Push the volume level up a few notches and the character of the bass changes significantly. The natural flow of musical dynamics is disrupted and soon the speaker begins to sound a little uncomfortable, and held back at the lowest frequencies. For this reason if for no other, this is not perhaps the most convincing rock music loudspeaker around.

But at more modest volume levels and probably even at moderately high-ish levels in smaller rooms, the Talisman III is going to sound completely at home. It may not be the biggest, deepest animal in the pack, but it qualifies for most purposes as a full bandwidth loudspeaker. It is elsewhere that the Talisman III really comes into its own. Without descending into hard or congested sound, the Ruark has a bold, clean presentation, an upfront quality that gives the music a real sense of presence, but also very firm control. Soundstaging is well articulated forward and behind the plane of the speakers, and the sense of a clear, open window on the music is sustained by a treble output that is balanced to perfection - it is neither bright nor dull, and there is no real sense of a transition between the mid and the top. It's just a natural extension of what the loudspeaker does so well elsewhere...

In fact, that is the story of the Talisman. It's a neat, unprepossessing loudspeaker that has the unity and articulation of a small but high-quality standmount, with the extended frequency coverage of a full-size loudspeaker. It does not have the bloom often considered a requirement for home cinema purposes; it is in fact a purist stereo loudspeaker aimed squarely at the purist hi-fi fraternity, the kind of speaker that makes a statement about the music and never about itself.

FEATURES

Size (WxHxD): 22x84x31cm. Weight: 18kg P Two-way, bass reflex configuration. 180mm SEAS pulp cone bass/mid driver. 27mm SEAS synthetic dome tweeter. Sens/imp: 88dB/8 ohms

they scored it 4/5 stars .......

I liked the ones I heard too !

 

THANK YOU "zanash "

 

also found this

http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=4520

which has a different base .....to

http://www.savantaudio.com/talisii.html

 

My brother has had a pair of these for years, and despite several expensive upgrades to the rest of his system he has never felt the need to change the Ruarks.

His look like the pic on the 2nd link zanash supplied....

 

Are you thinking of buying a pair?

I had some for years, and really rate them.

They are a great choice if your budget is a little limited.

You can certainly use them with expensive equipment, and they won't be out of their depth.

 

yes,I want to buy.But I living China.How to contact you? I cann't speak e, I Chinese

 

buy some on e-bay.