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The Xavians travel in very stout single shipping cartons with big cast-foam spacer inserts to keep the satin-pouch'd innards well away from the cardboard walls. What peeled out of the cartons was more demure than expected and smaller too than the earlier referenced Meadowlark Heron. Not apparent from the photos either was the -- very welcome -- fact that the plinth which slot-loads the down-firing bass port is permanently bolted to the speaker. It does not require any awkward positioning of spiked speaker to spiked platform and makes for a very solid unified structure.


Equivalent considerations fell on the provided WBT silver jumpers which, unlike nasty high-mass atrocities elsewhere, don't compel one to instantly chuck them. Whether formal biwiring would outperform these remained to be seen. Suffice to say that even seasoned 'philes could live single wired without knowingly committing a crime.


Should the speakers sound muddy, check to make sure you've removed the magnetic masks first. They're not transparent but solid, fitted with rubber bumpers to protect the veneer where they contact it and otherwise held securely in place on the two short metal shafts set into the baffle on either side of the woofers.


Since protective covers are far from common, if you end up using these, initial lack of habit could have you forget that you left 'em on after you hit 'play' and went about your business. Don't ask how I would know. Something about old dogs and new tricks...


Out of the gate, the 360s suffered abnormally elevated bass levels. Break-in usually increases bass amplitude when woofer suspensions reach proper compliance. I was thus suspicious but proceeded as usual when dealing with new speakers - gritting my teeth and hoping for the best.


Meanwhile Victor from Aural in Singapore checked in. He is a dealer for Neeper Acoustics, a Danish speaker brand also employing Scanspeak Revelators. Victor handles Almarro, Hyperion Sound and WLM as well, all brands I have reviewed or own and about which we've shared earlier notes. Now we were commiserating about Revelator break-in woes. Victor opined that these woofers cause massive port-tuning misalignments before settling down. He was also very curious what I thought of the Xavians. Having discussed all available Revelator drive units with their original designer, he knew that the tweeter chosen by Xavian "didn't like" those particular Revelator mid and bass units - a certainly interesting comment from the transducers' own developer.


While the utterly overbearing, over-ripe bass eventually did slim down to step back in line, it remained more buxom and elevated than I felt was perfectly integrated. But that alone wasn't alarming. After all, such a tonal balance is much admired by some. The problem I had was with the right speaker. Over the FirstWatt F4s (one stereo amp per speaker, each channel driving one terminal), the right speaker's upper input only produced partial output - undistorted but scaled down in amplitude. Replacing that speaker with a Mark & Daniel Maximus Monitor without touching anything else, the amp acted normal again.


I then swapped amps for my AudioSector Patek SEs. While amplitude on the right XN 360 corrected itself, the amp dedicated to it ran abnormally hot very soon while the left's operating temperature was cool as normal. Something seemed the matter with one XN 360, triggering different distress reactions from my amplifiers. Alas, the crossover access plate appeared caulked up so well that I didn't dare crack it open for a look-see without marring the finish. As it turned out, I wouldn't have found anything amiss. Xavian pronounced the speakers perfect upon return.


All along I remained suspicious that something in my setup was responsible yet applying prior trouble-shooting smarts netted no resolution. I even jokingly e-mailed Mr. Barnum about the usual doctor's visit where your symptoms miraculously disappear once the doc begins his diagnostics.


As my opening comment indicated, because I couldn't rectify my issue, I felt ill at ease to request that Xavian return the pair after its clean bill of health inspection back in the Czech Republic. What if I encountered the same issue all over again? I wasn't keen on loading up Xavian's shipping and customs clearance fees. While I appreciate that the curious reader will have hoped for more, it's my hope in turn that our indefinite preview will at least serve as an introduction to Xavian and this particular model. I was very impressed with the obvious attention to detail the XN 360s displayed in their construction and packaging, all of which indicated a quite obsessive commitment to high quality. As to the lack of a real conclusion, chalk one up to Uncle Murphy, patron saint of curious glitches and mischief and general trouble maker.

Quality of packing: Card board with molded inserts.
Reusability of packing: Absolutely.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Entirely unproblematic
Condition of component received: Flawless
Completeness of delivery: Contains spikes for plinths, the solid protective driver mask, installed WBT jumpers and a full-color brochure
Quality of owner's manual: Good.
Website comments: High quality - and the XN360 has its very own dedicated sub site.
Global distribution: Growing. Reference the mother site for details.
Human interactions: Very prompt with US distributor, delayed with Robert Barletta the designer who appears very busy.
Pricing: Fair considering the expensive driver units and overall construction excellence.
Xavian website