The long-awaited "middle" Meadowlark gets an audition. Review by Bob Shedlock

Meadowlark Shearwater loudspeakers: $2400 per pair. Manufactured by Meadowlark Audio, Vista, CA (760)598-3763

To paraphrase an old philosophy question: "If a speaker plays music in the living room and there's no one there to listen to it, does it break in?" The answer is No – or so it seems with the Meadowlark Audio Shearwaters.

Patrick McGinty of Meadowlark says the biggest single "complaint" he gets from both dealers and customers is the break-in time required for the Shearwaters to loosen up and perform.

It's not like he's glossing over the fact: It says right in the owner's manual that Shearwater break-in takes upward of 200 hours. And with this particular pair, I logged almost twice that time before I was confident they were doing what they're supposed to do.

The Shearwater is a direct descendant of the Meadowlark Kestrel (Vol.3, No. 1), being similarly styled as a floor standing, two-way, time aligned, transmission line speaker system with a first order crossover.

This one is physically larger, though, with 1-inch MDF construction as opposed to the 3/4-inch material of the Kestrel. It also incorporates much higher quality drivers. To quote Mr. McGinty:

“The drivers are both sourced from Scan-Speak. The 7-inch carbon graphite cone is hand felted--that is, rather than the typical graphite cloth, it is made by hand, laying up a wet mixture of graphite, paper fibre, and binders onto a conical form, followed by air drying. This is very labor intensive, and has a lot to do with the high price and scarce supply of this part. The process allows the cone thickness to decrease toward the edge, a key to extending frequency response without beaming.

"Essentially the cone is progressively more flexible toward the edges, so with ascending frequency (hence higher force), the effective radiating diameter falls. This alleviates beaming considerably. Also, the material has a benign top end rolloff, so we can use a simple first order crossover.

"The tweeter is the D2905/9300, which has the same moving system as Scan-Speak's fabulous Revelator – but not the turned aluminum face plate – and a slightly smaller magnet. It is dynamic and robust."

The Shearwater uses the same type first order crossover as the other Meadowlark designs, with only an inductor in the woofer circuit. The caps are Solen Fast Caps, and the speaker is wired with DH Labs Silver Sonic Teflon-coated wiring. The binding posts are the same as those used in the Kestrel.

I would direct you to my Home Fires article in the last winter issue (Vol.4, No. 1) for a listing of my associated electronics. In addition to that gear, the Shearwater also saw time with the Mesa Tigris integrated amplifier (review forthcoming), power cords and cables from JPS Labs (also in the works), the Rega Planar 9 turntable with Clearaudio Sigma MC cartridge (see this issue), Nordost Red Dawn cables, Cardas Neutral Reference Bi-wire speaker cable, and Corona with lime on very hot days.

The Shearwaters started out in my living room exactly where the Kestrels worked best, and ended up within inches of those positions. (My wife only commented once on the tape stuck to the carpet marking speaker locations.) The Shearwaters, despite their slightly larger woofer and increased cabinet volume, only have "a few more Hertz" bass extension than the Kestrels, and I did not find the bass/room interface to be the determining factor for the best placement.

The owner's manual gives good directions on setup and placement, stating that you should not sit closer than seven feet to the speakers. Take that as gospel. My experience is that if you sit closer than seven feet, the high frequencies attenuate and the integration between the two drivers suffers. Eight or nine feet is even better – and you'd do well to keep those distances in mind when considering the Shearwaters as a possible purchase.

Owing either to the time alignment of the drivers or the height of my equipment racks relative to the location of the tweeter on the front baffle, I found the Shearwaters to be particularly sensitive to whatever is between them, and how far apart the speakers are from each other. Small reflective surfaces like an open dust cover can smear the imaging, and cause the center image to lose force. These speakers can be successfully placed much farther apart then the Kestrels.

After the protracted break-in and final positioning, I used a round spirit level to level the Shearwaters and made sure the spikes were well grounded to the floor. Although it may seem retentive to go to such extreme detail in set up and location, I can assure you the results are all quite audible, and the reward is indeed a speaker that disappears, being quite difficult to recognize as the source of the music.

I had expected the Shearwater to "sound" like a refined version of the Kestrel, and it doesn't. I was surprised to hear that there's little similarity, no shared sonic signature.

The bigger speaker is in a completely different class in overall character and refinement. The Shearwater is somewhat darker in its overall, top-to-bottom tonality, yet at the same time its presentation throughout the midrange is less warm, less colored. Where the Kestrels go wall-to-wall and throw a huge, open soundstage, the Shearwater concentrates on developing greater spatial resolution (width and depth) within a sma11er overall soundfield. And the Shearwater is much more relaxed, with microdynamics rendered in greater contrast and overall scale.

The lows have speed and definition, providing good transient information and better cues to the recording technique and venues. Although the Kestrels have good bass extension, the Shearwaters equal that and add a better sense of pitch. Their ability to start and stop on low frequency transients makes the Kestrel's bass seem amorphous by comparison.

Art noted in his review of the Kestrel that they have a midrange coloration, speculating that the woofer, working so high in its range, is called upon to work higher than what is comfortable for it. I may have mentioned that that particular characteristic diminishes greatly after an extended amount of play.

The Shearwater, perhaps because it's also a two-way, has a slight opacity or thickness on the human voice, the woofer not being altogether cooperative with the tweeter on working up that high. This is the very last vestige of their break-in, and it hangs on long after the Shearwater develops good bass and the ability to disappear. It does go away, however, leaving you with a very open and detailed, if somewhat reticent, midrange. Again, gird yourself for that protracted break-in.

The Shearwater was originally priced at $2000 a pair, but as of August, the price of the entire Meadowlark line went up. The Kestrel is now $1250 (still a great value), and the Shearwater is $2400. That of course raises the bar. The $2000 price point for speakers is well populated with worthy and credible contenders. Even at 25 percent more, I feel the Shearwater still deserves to be on your short list. Its overall laid back presentation and its friendliness toward low-power amplifiers (it exhibits a benign load, rising to 12 ohms in the treble) means it should mate well with a wide variety of gear – and this level of refinement is rarely available to users of tube or low powered solid-state amplification. The Shearwater essentially removes many of the compromises prospective buyers face when looking for a first rate transducer.
I rate the Shearwaters at four stars for quality, being more than just "a decent performer which gets you closer to the music." I give it two checks for value (would have been more before the price increase): "Buy without embarrassment.”

But wait: The review isn’t over yet. Patrick McGinty has undertaken the task of offering a performance upgrade to this speaker, which he refreshingly refers to as the “Hot Rod” version as opposed to “Signature” or some other pretentious designation. In fact, I like the implication: high performance as opposed to “high end.” The upgrades are $250 for the Kestrel, $500 for the Shearwater, and $800 for the Heron.

The upgrade in the Shearwater consists of removing one component from the tweeter crossover and replacing the Solen Fast Cap with an InfiniCap, rewiring the speaker with Cardas wire, and replacing the stock binding posts with the very fine Edison Price Music Posts. Naturally, I had this pair done.

Now this is a $2900 speaker system, way up there in the "seriously committed" class. But it's a worthwhile and meaningful improvement. Hot Rodding the Shearwater adds depth to the high frequency end of the spectrum, providing much more detail and nuance, totally free of grain and glare (not that there was any to begin with). Whereas the stock version limits depth somewhat, the Hot Rod gives greater insight into the music and upstream components. Certainly it is less forgiving than the stocker, while still retaining its relaxed, laid back presentation.

The Hot Rod version will show you every little thing going on in the music and your system. Cones? Cables? Isolation devices? The Shearwater is neutral to the point that tweaks become meaningful alternatives to your basic installation.

I found that the Hot Rod did not get along with my standard Discovery Signature speaker cable; things were a bit too laid back. At the eleventh hour (i.e., near deadline) I tried both Nordost Red Dawn and, in what seems like a logical choice, Cardas Neutral Reference Speaker Cables. I ran so long on the audition because both brands require near 100 hours of break-in, and I wanted to accommodate that fact prior to judging the cables' suitability. With either, the Hot Rod Shearwater delivers more of everything that's good about the standard model: more detail, great image specificity, and a lucid, clear midrange. The Hot Rod's performance is totally in keeping with what I would expect from the $3000 price point.
The reality of this hobby is that if you own a high-powered amplifier, you have a much wider range of choices in speaker systems, and all the consummate benefits (or confusions) therin. Now there’s a choice for the rest of us who voted for the subtle performance benefits of lower power amplification.

The Shearwater is a stickler about its room placement, requires an incredibly long breakin, and errs slightly toward the dark side of tonality. The Hot Rod Shearwater is likewise a widely applicable high performance speaker system that images like a demon. (And I bet it would work well with BIG amplifiers too.) Both versions are worth checking out. You could always spring for the stockers and upgrade later as your system evolves. Me, I'm not that patient.

Despite the $500 price difference (or more because of it), I'd give the Hot Rod version another half star in quality and another full check in value. For my money, the Hot Rod Shearwater is the place to be.

Standard Shearwater
Quality: FOUR STARS
Value: TWO CHECKS

Hot Rod Shearwater
Quality: FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS
Value: THREE CHECKS

KEY TO LISTENER RATINGS:

QUALITY :

NO STARS - Unacceptable. Cannot be recommended. Crapzilla.

ONE STAR - Consider only if really, really cheap.

TWO STARS - Decent. Okay. May mix very appealing qualities with flaws, or may simply be fairly good overall.

THREE STARS - A good, solid performer. Hey, this product will get youcloser to the music.

FOUR STARS - Well above average performance. Would delight anybody. You may never want to leave the house.

FIVE STARS - Performance at the limits of what seems possible. As far as we know, this is the best you can buy.

VALUE :

NO CHECKS - Poor value for money. Unless you have your heart set on it, you should really try for something else

ONE CHECK - Acceptable value for money, but can perhaps be equalled or excelled for the price.

TWO CHECKS - Good, decent value. Buy without embarrassment. Brag about it. Keep its picture in your wallet.

THREE CHECKS - Extraordinary value for the money, A gol-dang steal.

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