electricbeach Frugel3 Loudspeaker

12. June 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , ,
FRUGEL_3

Simplicity with Flare

electricbeach is a cottage industry which wishes to remain as such, created by one Steve Jay and his passion for the FRUGEL_1Frugal Horn design and its capabilities for natural sounding music reproduction based on simplicity.

With frugal being the overriding brief for the project, Steve has created a system based around the well known Frugal Horn Mk3 design and added an amplifier from Chinese company Dared (a tube based triode preamplifier married to a class D power amplifier) plus his own high purity copper configuration of speaker cables. Simply add a source such as an OPPO universal player or music streamer and you have a minimalist system which can be tailored style-wise to suit your own personal decor and colour schemes.

After being made aware of this speaker/amp combo becoming available for review I quickly showed interest in them and was put in contact with Steve Jay from electricbeach. We had a lengthy chat on the telephone about his aspirations and enthusiasm for the system with him stating that “The system is capable of great musical appeal and that the amplifier is equipped with 6 channels, so has the potential to be built upon with matching rears and a centre speaker”. This however is not the basis for a review for Hifi Pig as we tend to focus on two channel reproduction; although it’s a very interesting addition should the buyer wish to expand the system to cover movies and TV.

I was initially dubious as I, like others, don’t really associate Hifi with Home Cinema, but Steve suggested “It’s an added benefit, not a compromise. The amplifier has no processing and is purely pre amp plus 5 channel power amp, a source would have to do all the processing, it is not anything like a AV based receiver amp, yet can accommodate 5 speakers and a sub (passive or powered)”.

The Frugel3 speakers themselves can be finished in any gloss painted finishes you like, satin or matt, with a combination of a large range of leather and or wood finishes.

Horns by their very nature and design have some wonderful attributes and some areas which can be a partial compromise. Like a lot of other speakers there are always pros and cons and we often audition and buy speakers and relevant components to suit our musical tastes and listening rooms. Horn speakers or single driver speakers tend to have a gorgeous midrange, the top end can be a little rolled off and the bass can be a little loose and lumpy.

The Frugel3 is a hybrid, adopting a part horn and part transmission line design. I’ve never been a great fan of transmission line speakers due to an over blown bass and a long slow extended booming character to their bottom end. The Frugel3 has the first part of its internal chambers constructed to utilise the transmission design and the lower part is based on a horn speaker with a rear bottom mouth which allows the driver to breathe and recreate lower frequencies. More »

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TSAE Evince Loudspeakers

04. June 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , ,
Evince Loudspeakers

There are two reviews of the TSAE Evince Loudspeakers here. One was done by Stuart and one by Linette. Both were written completely independently and without sharing of notes, though we did listen together – hey, we’re married.

SCHERER, the brand of TSAE (Thomas Scherer Audio Engineering) and the owner  Thomas Scherer is a German OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAbased audio engineer who manufactures just two loudspeakers, the standmounted Elation and the floorstanding Evince which we’re looking at here.

The Evince is a transmission line design using a five inch fullrange driver. Low frequencies from the back of the full range speaker are channeled through a dedicated tube/duct and output in-phase with a forward facing driver. The shape of the transmission line used here allows the bass frequencies to travel through the line but mid-frequencies are reflected back in on themselves at the corners so that only bass frequencies are emitted from the mouth of the line. The cabinet is made from birch ply covered in a composite material that looks very sleek and well finished – it feels like very highly polished stone to the touch. The review pair were white but you can have pretty much any colour you want. It’s a very interesting and modern looking design with an interesting profile for which Thomas has been granted a patent. Basically where all other transmission lines I’ve seen hide the transmission line within a box the Evince has it unfolded and forming the body of the speaker – have a look at the photographs and you’ll see what I mean. It’s not a huge speaker, though it is deep from front to back, and it is very slim (220 x 944 x 873 mm w/h/d). The speakers weigh 25.5Kg. Purely from an aesthetic point of view I think it’s a winner, but I’m sure there will be some for whom the design is just a little too radical. They are, for all their unusual design very unobtrusive in the room and I can see them finding favour in ultra sleek and modern rooms, but also in more conventional rooms where a person wants a statement piece. Attached to the loudspeaker base is 4 cones but other feet are available to suit your particular floor type. More »

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Alacrity Audio Caterthun Loudspeakers

11. March 2013 · 3 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,
caterthuns_pair_011

Introduction

These must be one of the more controversial loudspeakers from a small British manufacturer to come along in recent caterthuns_pair_011years.  Alacrity Audio’s claims for this small standmount loudspeaker are nothing if not bold!

Take a look at this technical specification ;

Power Handling: 200 W (110 RMS)
Sensitivity: 88 dB
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms.
W x H x D: 205 x 415 x 250 mm
Weight: 10kg per cabinet
Frequency Response: sub-sonic to 20,000 Hz +/-3dB
Crossover Frequency: 2.25 khz
Bi-wireable: Yes
Connections: 4mm Gold
Bass Port: Front Reflex
Drivers: LF 17cm Bass Mid / HF 20mm Soft Dome
Optional Extras: Flight Case

Recommended Stand Height: 50 – 60 cm

…. Power handling, sensitivity, crossover point, bass loading, dimensions … blah de blah … frequency response 20KHz down to sub-sonic with +/- 3dB limits … impedance, driver size, connections ….

Whoa! …. Hang on …. you what? — subsonic frequency response?  Have the laws of physics been rescinded or written anew for this speaker?  Interesting indeed.

They aren’t a budget-priced speaker, but at £2,000 a pair they compete with many including ProAc.  I’m not sure the fit & finish is up to ProAc standards, but it is perfectly fine.

No grilles are provided, so proud parents whose little darlings may have cone- and dome-prodding fingers had better be careful! More »

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Tannoy Turnberry SE Loudspeakers

05. January 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , ,
Turnberry2

Construction and Styling

These loudspeakers hail from the new range of Tannoy’s prestige series loudspeakers aimed at the higher end of theTurnberry2 market, and employing not just the same technology as their predecessors of old in the use of dual concentric drivers, but also sharing a traditional cabinet design.

It’s probably worth starting with the aesthetics because it’s here that the new Prestige line stand head and shoulders above their more traditional ancestors.  The design has been deliberately kept  ye olde English where the ‘speakers seem if they ought to be fitted with brightly polished tan leather brogues for ‘speaker shoes, or dressed in tweed (hang on…the grill cloth is a little tweedy).  It’s no small surprise that such traditional styling cues have been chosen as the main market seems mainly to be the Far East.  It’s in markets such as Japan and Hong Kong where large floor standing Tannoys are prized possessions as part of the appeal remains the English country gentrification image as well as the traditional and much valued dual concentric loudspeaker design.

The odd thing is that the styling does in fact suit modern minimalist homes as much as it does Chesterfields and oak panelling, so wife acceptance factor (WAF) is likely to be very high.  With the Turnberrys you get a box which stands 95cm tall by 46cm wide and 37cm deep, each box weighing in at a reasonably hefty 30Kgs.  The front edges are crafted from solid European Walnut with left and right edging being twin through-fluted to act as the port vents for the cabinet, which is a neat and aesthetically pleasing design.  The cabinet itself is a hefty and very solid construction of ¾ inch thick plywood/particle board with a European Walnut high quality veneer and it appears to be very well braced and very strong.  They come with a few tubs of Tannoy branded wax polish, which whilst welcome does not make up for the fact that the woodwork from the factory is not all that well finished.

Removing the grill requires the use of a gold plated brass key to unlock the grill panel.  Whilst this may appear gimmicky, it’s actually a good design as there’s no plastic bobbins to snap off and a rather sold locking mechanism which prevents little fingers removing the grills to get to the inviting drivers beneath! More »

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Quadral Chromium Style 30 Loudspeakers

16. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers.

A long-established German manufacturer of loudspeakers, Quadral has a very broad range of offerings and is said to be the 3rd largest speaker maker in Germany.  Skimming through the Quadral catalogue online, I think I counted an astonishing 46 speakers and subwoofers!  Something for everyone, perhaps.

Quadral’s largest model, the appropriately named Titan VIII, comes in at a lumbar crunching 88Kg.  But the speakers under review here, the Chrome Style 30, are more easily handled at 5.5Kg each and look very elegant atop a suitable stand.

A seriously cute little ribbon hybrid speaker, hand made in Germany, the Chromium Style 30 is just on 32cm high.  The review samples came in a beautifully finished piano black, but white is also available as an alternative.

A ribbon tweeter crosses over from a 135mm metal-coned mid/woofer at 2KHz.  A bass reflex design, there is a large port at the rear of the speaker, below the single pair of high quality speaker cable binding posts. More »

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Marshall Choong FS-1 Loudspeakers

28. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,

Rod Alexander investigates a ‘low distortion’ loudspeaker

Curiosity killed the cat, they say. Well, worryingly, it was curiosity that led me to the website of hi-fi retailer, Walrus Systems – run by Les Wong and Pete Sanhen, to see what wonderful hi-fi confections they have in their lovely little shop. They’re an unlikely couple, the Penn and Teller of audio retailing. And while they’ve recently embraced the whole computer audio, servers and steamers thingy, reassuringly, they remain analogue and stereo fundamentalists. In their own words,

“We are a tranquil haven for two-channel enthusiasts amidst the mediocrity of multi-channel home theatre madness, with a particular emphasis on record players and valve amps.”

I first met them over 20 years ago, when they were working together at another London Hi-fi retailer (obviously with dreams of far greater things). It was obvious, even then, that they were square pegs in round holes, with a bizarre take on just about every aspect of hi-fi – the industry, amplifier topologies and brands. Les started importing the Morch range of tonearms which looked, to me, garish and fragile in the extreme. They sounded breathtakingly ethereal. Pete and I discovered that we shared an almost fetishistic love of the DNM Series 2 pre-amp and a Pavlovian, wincing response to the sound of the models that replaced it. Around the same time, Les completely lost the plot and started extolling the virtues of a near empty box – the Mod Squad Line Drive passive pre-amp. Passives became de rigueur within a couple of years. They’re a pair who’ve just been consistently ahead of the curve. More »

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Yummy Mummy

19. October 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , , , ,

hORNS Mummy MKii

I’d been waiting for the Mummys for a while and the excitement in the household was palpable. It was kind of like that week before Xmas when you were a child and you knew that the main event was only a matter of a few days a way… but every hour seemed like a lifetime. I’m always like this before any bit of kit arrives for review. Needless to say the usual courier nonsense got in the way and, rather than arriving on the Friday like the tracking details proclaimed, I would have to wait until Monday. Oh, the torment I was longing to give these things a slating as being all style over substance. It was a tough weekend where I busied myself preparing the listening room, moving out old loudspeakers and making room for the arrival of the sarcophagi.

Monday finally arrived and just after lunch there was a knock at the door. Now, for this bit you need to cast your mind back to the Indiana Jones films and imagine a pair of wooden caskets being deposited in Harrison Ford’s sunlit and dusty office. I’d like to say that I’d dressed for the occasion with hat, whip and buckles to swash, but I hadn’t, all I had was my normal attire – yellow socks and a pink cravat (nothing lah-di-dah) and of course, in true action adventure hero style… a crowbar.

The wooden boxes looked for all intents and purposes like I’d taken delivery of two small coffins… the mortal remains of a pair of child pharaohs perhaps. With my trusty crowbar in hand I jimmied the corner of one of the boxes and carefully moved around, slowly releasing the lid from the main body of the box. Laying there in stately grace was the tightly swaddled body of the loudspeaker itself. Carefully upending the coffin and sliding out the loudspeaker was a three man job, these are certainly no light-weights… and so to the cautious removal of the outer layers of the protective wrappings to reveal what lay beneath. More »

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Ancient Audio Studio Oslo Monitors

01. October 2012 · 4 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , ,

Love at first sight

I’m a sucker for the cute and pretty ones. I’ve always been the same. So as soon as I unpacked Ancient Audio’s dinkyStudio Oslo active loudspeakers, I knew I was in trouble. Beautifully finished in deep gloss lipstick red and measuring just 100 x 239 x 210mm (WxHxD) they adopt the ‘narrow frontage/extended depth’ format. For those who would consider the review pair too, errr… ‘tarty’ they are also available in white or black gloss as well as ebony and rosewood veneers.

Hailing from Poland (despite the Norwegian moniker) the Studio Oslo is described as a ‘nearfield powered monitor speaker’. Given the connectivity on offer, it’s hard to argue. With balanced XLR inputs, in addition to 2 pairs of RCA phono sockets (for high and low level signals) along with volume and – wait for it, tone controls, they certainly tick the studio monitor checklist.

With an eye toward their likely placement on desks, from the side they have a parallelogram profile, ensuring that the single full-range driver, sourced from Dayton and featuring an anodised aluminium cone, fires slightly upward, toward the listener.

Connections and power amplification reside in one of the speakers, along with an analogue sound processor, precisely set to optimise the performance of the drivers by compensating for phase shift and amplitude variations across the driver’s frequency range. An umbilical provides signal to the left speaker. Onboard amplification is based around the Philips TDA8566Q IC, providing 30 watts of power. Ancient Audio state that they have biased it well into class AB, but in use, the rear-mounted heatsink barely rose above room temperature.

The units come complete with a simple laptop type power supply, though Ancient Audio state that any laptop power supply with an output of 17 – 19 volts DC will do the job. Ancient can also supply an adaptor that allows the speakers to be used with car or leisure type batteries. More »

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Eminent Technology LFT-8b Loudspeakers Review

13. September 2012 · 4 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers., Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

These are the big brothers to the standmount LFT-16a speakers recently reviewed in Hifi Pig. At just over 5 foot (1.6m) tall and weighing in at a fairly hefty 41Kg, these will be difficult to hide away in the corner or to sneak past your Significant Other!

Once again they are quasi-ribbon hybrids, but with the LFT-8b the quasi-ribbon array is much larger and covers a larger proportion of the frequency spectrum, and a larger woofer cone and enclosure is used to handle the bass. As the listening sessions showed, though, it’s not just bigger helpings of the same sonic flavour but a rather different style of presentation.

Technology Background – Different ways to re-produce the music

To recap on the LFT-16a review –
(feel free to skip this section and the next if the previous review is still fresh in your mind!)

The most usual loudspeaker technology is based around a cone or dome made out of paper, plastic or metal with a coil of electrically conductive wire (the voice coil) attached, and with an adjacent magnet structure. An electrical signal is applied to the voice coil, this interacts with the magnetic field and the cone or dome moves in time with the signal variations. Make the signal variations the music signal, and music is the resulting sound created by the air movement.  The problem here is to make the cone or dome stiff enough that it precisely follows the input electrical signal. The cone/dome material flexes; it has to, nothing is perfectly rigid. Strengthen the material to make it stiffer and you will most likely increase the mass, which reduces the responsiveness of the system and so reduces the resolution of the sound. Material and magnet type can be improved, generally at a cost and with the usual law of diminishing returns.

Eminent Technology takes a different approach, at least as far as the midrange and treble parts of the audio spectrum are concerned. They use “magnetic planar” drive units for that. An electrically conductive aluminium track is etched onto a light Mylar film and is placed between an array of strong magnets. The audio signal is passed through the aluminium track, and the magnetic field so produced interacts with the magnets and causes the Mylar film to vibrate, producing the sound.

It’s the same kind of principle as electrostatic and ribbon speakers; a thin, lightweight diaphragm moving the air. The advantages are similar, too …. Low colouration, as little energy can be stored and released later. No need for boxy cabinetry, so another source of colouration is removed. High diaphragm ‘acceleration’ due to the low mass of the diaphragm, so resolution can be very high. Excellent high frequency extension, once again due to the low mass of the moving material. There is a lot going for the approach!

The main disadvantage is that the excursion limit of the diaphragm is more restricted than for a conventional cone driver, in order to keep the driver within the linear region of the magnetic field, so less air is moved for the same driver area. This results in lower sound pressure levels and restricted bass extension. The way around this is to increase the diaphragm area – this of course increases the size of the speaker (full-range electrostatic and ribbon speakers can be very large!) and also increases the cost. More »

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Eminent Technology LFT-16a Loudspeakers

03. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , ,

Technology Background – Different ways to produce the music

How to move the air that makes the sound? A bit of a quandary, that – there are several ways … a cone or dome made out of paper, plastic or metal with an attached magnet structure is most common these days. Vary an electrical signal to the magnet and this makes the whole thing move in time with the signal variations.  Make the signal variations the music signal, and music is the resulting sound created by the air movement.  The problem here is to make the cone or dome stiff enough that it precisely follows the input electrical signal. The cone/dome material flexes, it has to, nothing is perfectly rigid. Strengthen the material to make it stiffer and you will most likely increase the mass, which reduces the responsiveness of the system and so reduces the resolution of the sound. Material and magnet type can be improved, generally at a cost and with the usual law of diminishing returns. More »

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Harbeth Super SHL5 Loudspeakers

03. July 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,

Background

It’s been a while since I listened to any Harbeth loudspeakers (ok, it’s been decades!) but I recently had opportunity to take delivery of their Super HL5 stand mount speaker, the largest in the so called “domestic” range.  Let me explain; Harbeth have been making loudspeakers since 1977, many of which are used in broadcast studios (including the BBC).  This is no coincidence since the BBC’s senior audio research engineer, Dudley Hardwood founded the company.  He and his team designed one of the first loudspeaker cones to be made of Polypropylene which outperformed similar cones made from Bextrene (popular at the time) and Harbeth was born.  Their goal was to design a very clean and transparent sounding speaker which would excel at studio monitoring and in that, they succeeded.  The early Harbeths may not have been much to look at, but they were renowned for their natural sound.  Alan Shaw took over the company around 25 years ago and further improvements were made to the design, including the appearance.  For sure though, the secret of Harbeth’s success lies in the specially developed RADIAL midrange/bass drive units manufactured using injection moulding techniques as it’s these that are primarily responsible for the transparent and natural sound that Harbeth have become famous for.

Harbeth monitors are broken down into the domestic and the professional studio models (or “M” series) and the SHL5 sits at the higher end of the domestic range.  The “S” stands for “Super tweeter and the HL5 is a development of the original Harbeth monitor that started with the HL1.  The SHL5 measures in at 638 by 322 by 300mm and if that sounds close to the two cubic feet dimension which characterises BBC monitors, than that’s because it is! Only the M40.1 is larger at 750mm tall and is designed for serious full range studio applications (…or fabulous full range home loudspeakers!) More »

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Akkus V1 Loudspeakers

25. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,

I haven’t had much (actually, any…) experience with Polish hifi equipment, so I had no expectations or preconceptions of what the Akkus V1s were likely to deliver – just an awareness that my usual Audio Physic Avanti III floorstanders were a tough act to follow for any loudspeaker, much less a stand-mount.  For this test they were teamed-up with a Unison Research S9 SET valve integrated amplifier, Naim CDX CD player, and for vinyl a Graaf GM70 phono stage, Palmer 2.5 TT with SME2-10 arm and Lyra Kleos cartridge.

First impressions before they were even out of their box was that for stand-mount speakers – and the company’s entry level ones at that – these are very heavy and substantial speakers.  They are supplied with perfectly-matching veneered MDF speaker stands and once set up you could see how well matched these stands are to the overall aesthetics of the speakers. These are very attractive speakers too, with casework which leans back to help time-align the drivers, while the stands project forwards. This works very well and manages a nicely deceptive trick of looking more compact than these not-insubstantial speakers actually are!  The front baffles are also heavily chamfered, helping to reduce diffraction as well as increasing their overall visual appeal. More »

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CA-Electronics AP10 Loudspeakers

18. April 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News, Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,

I was always told that nice things came in small packages but never really believed this about loudspeakers until I first heard some Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors, and was always captivated by the superb little Proac Tablette Reference 8 Signatures.  There was always a “however” however.  No-matter how good these little stand-mounters sound, after a while I always miss some real bass perspective underpinning the proceedings, and still, it can be argued, a good big box will always beat a good little box in this respect.  Not everyone has the room for large floorstanders though, so how did these little CA Electronics AP10 ‘speakers fare?  Would my preconceptions of disappointingly bass light little boxes be borne out or shattered?
When the boxes arrived, first impressions upon unpacking were rather good.  The AP10’s measure 220mm by 245 deep by 355 high and weigh in at around 6.2 Kilos each.  Build quality seems good with each ‘speaker receiving up to 6 coats of piano black gloss lacquer.  Although a lovely finish, as with all similar finishes, it promises to show up every finger print after a short while, so it you’re a compulsive ‘speaker mover, cotton gloves may be order of the day.  I would have rather seen a quality veneer finish though as these mid priced stand-mounters (£2K per pair) blend in all too easily with the ubiquitous gloss black flatcreen TV’s and other mainstream consumer AV goods these days.  Perhaps a real wood veneer might have set them apart a little. More »

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Totem Acoustic Forest Loudspeaker

29. March 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: ,

Price £3,850

You have a hifi plan right? A map, an idea of where you’re headed. You know how you want your music to sound and carefully plotted purchases bring you closer to that sonic ideal. Most fellow enthusiasts I speak to do and I certainly have, with my journey treading a single ended path through valves and high efficiency speakers to midrange nirvana once I’d seen the glowing bottled light.

So the purchase of a pair of Totem Acoustics Forest speakers might be seen as a bit of a departure from that route. Yet there they are, sat either side of the fireplace in the spaces usually occupied by my beloved Audio Note AN-es. I’ve been devouring reviews and they’re here on a promise. A promise of big speaker performance from small, front room friendly towers. A promise of unrivalled soundstaging and imaging, of immense low end reproduction. They’re also here out of curiosity. If I’m being completely honest I’d got rather used to Peter Qs superb boxes and found myself wondering what another speaker might bring to the party. Canadian Vince Bruzzese’s Totem brand has a dedicated following, with innocuous looks hiding the lock mitered monocoque chassis, hard wired crossover and Borosilicate damping that sets them apart from other loudspeaker designs. Intrigued, this SET convert bought some. I’m not even sure I have an amplifier that will power them. More »

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ProAc Future Point Five Floor-Standing Loudspeakers

16. March 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , ,

Wow – I really, really wanted to like these speakers.

I’d owned and liked, and sometimes loved, ProAc speakers off & on for years.  It all started with a pair of the original Response 2 speakers.  I’d gone to a dealer dem’ to listen to some big floorstanders of another make that were getting good reviews … urk, dull as ditchwater and mind-numbingly dynamically slow.  So I got to chatting with the dealer (Dave from Progressive Audio), and saying what I wanted – dynamic speed, openness, low colouration ….. He looked at me kind of speculatively and said “wait a minute”.  He brought two small standmount speakers into the dem room – he saw my expression – “don’t pre-judge – just listen” he said “and don’t ask the price!”.

I was blown away, just awestruck by what these little speakers did, dynamics exploded from the small cabinets.  I bought those ProAc Response 2 speakers, quite possibly the first pair sold in the UK, and stayed with them a long time. I changed them for floorstander Response 3 when the 3 came out – that was a bit of a mistake, really, the 2 had more musical magic.

Anyway, where was I?  Ah yes, the Future series.  ProAc’s stab at the high-priced high end of the market.  Well, why shouldn’t they have their crack at the Big $$$?

From what I had heard and read, the Future series were the speakers that Stuart Tyler (ProAc founder & boss) had always wanted to make – I’d heard tales of ProAc working on an open baffle design a decade or so earlier, but that seemed to come to nought at the time.  The Future series were his dream come true, apparently. But for some reason they received very little publicity (apart from a Stereophile review for the Future One back in 2000 which came up with one significant criticism and otherwise a bit of a rave). More »

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Audio Physic Virgo Mk2 Speakers

16. March 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , ,

Audio Physic Virgo Mk2 Speakers

I’d heard Audio Physic (AP) speakers several times at Shows, and the overriding impression had been of a dynamic and quite exciting sound, but with a tonal thinness that really did not appeal to me.   Box Swapper though I am, AP speakers never made it on to my Want List for that reason.

But I kept reading reviews and forum comments about how wonderful they were, and the soundstage performance was nearly as legendary as the weird speaker positioning that AP recommends!  The company byline of “no loss of fine detail” also appealed.

A pair of Mk2 Virgo came along on eBay with a nice Buy It Now price, and not too far to drive to collect them.  I succumbed, more out of curiosity than anything else … it would be easy enough to move them on the following week, after all.

Audio Physic are a well-established German speaker company, who make a wide range from small standmounts to large floorstanders and massive subwoofers.  They are obsessed with soundstaging, and recommend that their speakers be placed well out into a room and widely spaced compared to what most folk are used to.  The listening seat should also be crammed back against the rear wall.  Well, interesting, but we’ll see …. More »

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AN Affair of the Heart – Audio Note AN-e/LX

14. March 2012 · 3 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers.

Its February 2010. I’m sat in a hotel room at an exhibition in Bristol in front of some boxes. It might it raining outside, and I think there’s some other people in the room. However on both counts I can’t be sure. I haven’t really got any space in my brain for anything other than the wonderful sound that’s filling the room. It has my complete attention.

The hotel was the Marriott, the exhibition was the Bristol hifi show and the boxes were Audio Notes AN-e loudspeakers. My first experience of their products and, quite frankly, a total game changer for me. The sound is so much richer, so much more natural and so much more right than anything else I’d heard before. I had to have them.

Or at least a version of them. Audionotes product line features several different spec versions of the same full range design. The version that have left me awestruck were the AN-e SPe Signature and at £11,500 a little (cough) outside of my budget. Three months of eager/obsessive online searching and now two large cardboard boxes are sat in the middle of my sitting room. Would this lower cost version of the E make the same impression on me? More »

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Horning Agathon Ultimate Loudspeakers

27. February 2012 · 4 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Design and Construction

I first came across these unusual ‘speakers a few years back when looking for replacements to a pair of Lumley AB300’s I owned, as I was after a high efficiency loudspeaker without some of the stereotyped high efficiency design colourations, and was lucky enough to find a pair courtesy of Jim at Audiolincs in Leicestershire. A 2 ½ hour drive later had me sat in his listening room with a pretty mammoth pair of loudspeakers facing me from about 9 feet away.  Build quality on these is up there with the very best.  Solid wood (not veneer) panel fronts are used for the substantial edgings with veneer to the main panels.  The panels themselves are very substantial and made from ¾ inch thick ply, heavily braced. More »

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MBL 116F Radialstrahler

25. February 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

MBL 116F RADIALSTRAHLER SPEAKERS

This is a difficult review for me.  I normally like to be able to put a hifi component  into context, by comparing it with some of its sonic and/or financial peers, and so being able to point out their relative sonic merits, the pros and cons of the performance. More »

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Infinity RS2.5 Standard Ribbon Hybrid Loudspeakers

25. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Loudspeakers. · Tags: , , , , , , ,

Day The First ….

I’d been ecstatically happy with the Leema Xavier speakers I bought on an “eBay whim” a few months previously, and this year’s hifi budget allocated by swmbo (aka Lindsey, my wife) was pretty much depleted anyway. So I was looking forward to the rest of the year settled down with the highly musical Xaviers. Life could be worse.

But a few days ago we came into a bit of an inheritance and swmbo allocated a top-up to the 2009 hifi budget (what a fine lass she is!). What’s a box-swapper to do? …. I hoofed it on to eBay pronto, that’s what, to see what was cookin’!

I saw these on auction with a couple of days to go …. did a bit of on-line research, and promptly fell in lust with them. A query to the seller resulted in the offer of personal delivery for £40 petrol money – you cannot be more reasonable than that.

So, here they are, arrived around noon yesterday.

Big cabinet – 51 inches high, 18 wide but only 11 deep. 12 inch woofer and the legendary EMIM ribbon midrange and EMIT high frequency units.

The Infinity RS 2.5 in Situ Chez Jerry

The bass unit crossover is set at 300Hz.

They weigh-in at 53Kg each.

I’ll forego detailed sonic description for now, as after a few hours listening and positional tweaking they simply seemed to be the best speakers I have ever heard. More realistic vocals I have not heard from a speaker. Maybe it’s just a “1st day pride of ownership” thing. We’ll see.

They sound just fine with the covers in place, so that’s the way they are in my room. More »

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