CLOSER ACOUSTICS PROVOCATEUR 300B AMPLIFIER AND FORLANE WIDEBAND LOUDSPEAKERS REVIEW

Closer Acoustics Provocateur 300B amplifier and Forlane loudspeakers are made in Poland and for many will represent the audio-nirvana that is SET amplification and wideband loudspeakers. HiFi PiG’s Stuart takes a listen to see if he still likes this particular slice of audiophile heaven.

I don’t normally get into the whole reviewing several bits of kit within one review but for this review, I thought I’d make an exception…kind of. 

I’ll get into more detail later but in very basic terms, the Closer Provocateur Signature Edition is a 300B valve amp giving out just 8 Watts of power and the Forlane speakers are a single driver Wideband model with a sensitivity of 94dB. Now, I woke at 4 am (yes, I know) knowing I was going to be writing this review up today and for some reason my 4 am brain thought it was the right time to think of analogies to compare this set-up to. Where did my ‘milkman o’clock” noggin get to? Well, dear reader, this is how your intrepid audio reviewer spends the wee hours when sleep escapes them. If you can imagine a big power amplifier (I had a D’Agostino relentless in mind) paired with a pair of high-end, speakers (I was thinking Wilson Chronosonic XVX) then I would suggest that they are akin to a modern day, top-of-the-range Bentley motorcar; limitless power, lots of up-to-the-minute technology onboard and a somewhat ostentatious but beautiful design and finish. On the other hand, a 300B valve amplifier paired with a pair of wideband (full-range) speakers is probably more comparable to a Mazda MX5 Miata with its more lightweight but agile performance coming from a much more modest powertrain. Actually, the car I originally had in mind for the latter was a 1962 Lotus Elan, but I wasn’t sure most readers would have got that reference and I’d argue that comparing the really beautiful finish on the Closer offerings to the Lotus would have been somewhat unfair to the Polish brand. As an observational aside, new Bentleys tend to be owned by (perhaps as much a comment on the sheer financial outlay involved) by the well-healed looking for luxury and automotive excellence, whilst Mazda MX5 Miata (and even more so the Lotus Elan) tend to be driven by auto enthusiasts looking to get the biggest thrill for their dollars spent. The latter is likely to tinker somewhat to get the best performance out of the car, whilst the former is likely to expect the car to work flawlessly and have regular services carried out by an authorised main dealership. It’s a crude analogy, but you get my drift.

In some ways, a 300B amplifier and Wideband loudspeakers has been (or rather was at one point in my audio journey) my holy grail of HiFi and I did run a pair of Lowther Fidelios with a 300B PSE (Parallel Single Ended) amplifier for a good old while, and I did love it very much. Without going into too much detail about that specific set-up or trying to second guess my thoughts on the Closer pairing, I thought the Lowther/300B kit I had had a purity of design that carried through to the sound I was hearing. It was stripped back and without the negative effects of a crossover that might cause me to sense the music as being metaphorically strangled. This set-up wasn’t without its negative aspects and I distinctly recall listening to Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and observing that Songbird had a rare purity to it,  but with other more rocky tracks, something wasn’t quite right. And that is when I got back into multi-driver and more conventional loudspeakers, despite their devilish crossover networks. That said, I did keep the 300B amplifier for a good while after the Lowthers were gone and remember enjoying its 16W a side (it had two 300Bs per channel as opposed to the Closer’s one per channel) with a pair of Victor SX7 loudspeakers. 

So, long intro short; I have always loved the idea of the simplicity and purity of concept of the valve amp and wideband experience, but, for whatever reason, I have found myself settling on gear that is more complex and less simple of design and concept. However, in the back of my mind, there is still something that tells me that this more simplistic and natural (Zen, perhaps?) approach to the reproduction of music is somehow more connecting and more correct. I should also lay all my thermionic cards on the table and admit that after owning many valve amplifiers, it is the 300B that remains my most favourite. There is something about the way the tube plays with that all important presence and mid-band of frequencies that, to my perception, is so agreeable and engaging. The KT120, 150 and 170 tubes have a good degree of the flavour of the 300B but with more power, but it is still the 300B that holds a special place in this old audiophile heart. With regards to Wideband loudspeakers, then my experience has been a mixed bag; they do and without doubt, have a different presentation and sound to more conventional speakers and they are compromised in some ways, but when they click into place with ear and brain they can offer up a sonic experience that is astonishingly engaging and in tune with how I think our senses perceive music. With that said, some people will love the Wideband experience and some will only hear its flaws. 

WHO ARE CLOSER ACOUSTICS

Closer Acoustics is a Polish manufacturer headed up by founder and CEO Jacek Grodecki. I think we first encountered the brand at the Warsaw show five or six years ago and I have previously reviewed their teeny OGY speakers, another Wideband design that I thoroughly enjoyed – I’ve also been following Jaceck and his team on YouTube in the last few months as they have been creating an open-baffle bass extension unit for OGY and which we got to hear at the recent Warsaw show. They sell the Provocateur amp in three guises, several sets of speakers, EMS drivers from France, a Phono Preamplifier called Flo, and a power supply for field coil drivers. Closer Acoustic is not a huge conglomerate of a company, rather it is a company created by an audio enthusiast to make quality products for other audio enthusiasts. If you have ever visited the Audio Video Show Warsaw you will understand that the DIY community is huge in the country and out of this DIY community has emerged some brilliant companies and brilliant products. To highlight this point, in our reference system we have a DAC by Lampizator and a preamplifier by Vinius, and in our second system we use Quailo speakers.

THE FORLANE SPEAKERS DESIGN AND BUILD 

The Forlane loudspeakers by Closer Acoustics are their smallest floor stander and measure 120cm in height with their plinth. They are made of solid oak planks with the internal parts being made of Baltic birch ply. Their design is a “distributed resonance” design and the output tube/horn/line/call it what you will has no damping within it whatsoever. Closer says that the “complicated internal construction containing carefully designed channels ensures the enclosure stiffness and that the standing waves are virtually eliminated which results in a very clean and fast bass response. No need for using any damping materials behind the drivers preserves the liveliness of the drivers especially in the midrange”. The company also say on their website that the speakers are an obvious choice for Jazz and classical and all good recordings (except any heavy metal and related universe) at reasonable volume and add that chillout and ambient, film scores, electronic music, R&B, soul, classic rock and pop, blues, folk and ethnic music etc. will also be handled well. I listen to some fairly industrial techno but that’s as near to metal as I get these days, but the comment on the Closer website makes me suspect that they are hinting that the Forlane speakers are probably best left unchallenged by more aggressive styles of music and needless to say I will be testing them with some of just that style of music. The single driver in the Forlane is the EMS LB7 17cm full-range unit without a whizzer cone, an attempt to minimise distortion and colouration. Obviously, the speakers have no crossover, but they do have a phase plug in the middle of the driver. They are an 8 ohm load, 94dB sensitive, will handle 30 Watts, weigh 19kg, and have a response from 40Hz to 18kHz. Their shape is narrower at the bottom than the top with the back panel being sloped and the front panel flat. They look exceptionally well put together and come with a plinth that allows the mouth of the port to exit into the listing room. Overall they are a compact and good-looking loudspeaker that will fit with modern home decor without problem.

The plinth on which the FORLANE speakers sit is connected by 4 bolts and with each bolt having a plastic tube spacer creating a gap between the plinth and the speaker to allow the downward firing port to exit into the room. A couple of things here: the plastic spacers (small tubes) work but I’d have preferred to have something more in-keeping with the speakers (brass, perhaps).

300B PROVOCATEUR SIGNATURE EDITION DESIGN AND BUILD

First, let me say that the packaging that this amplifier came in is the best of any we have ever had here at HiFi PiG Towers…at any price. I don’t know whether this is what the consumer would get when they buy the amplifier but it should be and I would happily pay the couple of hundred quid extra for what is essentially a purpose-made flight case. The amp is in its own space at the bottom of the flight case and tubes and other bits and bobs have their own separately opened space at the top of the flight case – kind of two cases in one. Getting at the amp is made easy as the whole of the top of the case lifts off facilitating its easy lifting. For the purpose of this review, I actually used the flight case as a stand for the amp and I think others would do likewise for that kind of cool industrial aesthetic. If it’s not the standard box the amp comes in, then Closer should offer it as an extra!

There’s no escaping the fact that in the iroko finish we were sent this is a very good-looking amplifier, and how cool is that flightcase?

This is a SET amp (Single Ended Triode) and the output per channel is 8 Watts. The design of the amplifier is by Robert Rolof of Rolof Audio who Closer work with on all their electronic projects. It’s a line-level amplifier with four inputs; on this example there are three RCA inputs and one XLR input but the standard is with 4 RCAs. There is 48 position stepped attenuator knob on the front right of the amp and on the left there is a knob for selecting the input. The attenuator knob is motorised and can also be controlled by the included remote, a small and simple affair but very nice, none-the-less. T

he casework is beautifully put together and kind of splits into two halves – have a look at the pics. Under the front is the master on/off switch and the speaker binding posts on the back panel are of a very good quality. On the SE model the output transformers are “amorphous core” models as opposed to the standard transformers on the base model. Polypropylene caps are used in the signal path and power supply circuits whilst electrolytic caps are used in the heater circuits. Tubes on the Provocateur are a single 5U4G, a couple of 6SN7s and, of course, the pair of 300Bs. 

THE CLOSER PROVOCATEUR ONE OF THE SIGNATURE FINISHES – NOTE THE ZIRCON STONES FOR THE INPUT SELECTORS

The following images are of the standard version and for reference to what is available from CLOSER. This is a Standard finish.

SOUND OF THE 300B PROVOCATEUR AND FORLANE LOUDSPEAKERS

For the purposes of this review I had the amp being fed by our Lampizator DAC which was itself being fed by a Stack Audio streamer with Ansuz switch. In this instance, I used Chord Company speaker cables and Cardas XLRs with a Tellurium Q USB cable from streamer to DAC. The switch used is the Ansuz switch we always use and everything other than the amplifier was put through a Torus Power mains transformer. 

I think it’s best to treat this as a system review and to treat the FORLANE and PROVOCATUER as a package that is designed to bring the very best out of each other. The 8 watts of power on this amp kind of precludes it from working in this big room with any other speakers we own other than the Avantgarde DUO XDs and I retired them from review duties some time ago given their active bass. 

There is a real speed and immediacy with these speakers from upper bass to the upper the upper-tops that allows you to really feel the music. Bass is tuneful and fast too, but if you are expecting these speakers to be able to dig the depths then you will be a little disappointed, I think. However, I did play some fairly heavy rock (Space Bastard by Hawkwind) and they actually didn’t do a bad job at all, with the bass line being easy to follow and there being good dynamics quite evident. Imaging is great with these speakers and you do find yourself getting drawn into that three-dimensionality of their presentation, particularly on the affected instruments in the mix. 

Neil Young’s Unplugged album is more in keeping with where the FORLANE speakers’ strengths lie and this was a treat to listen to with this pairing. There is a real sense of the artist being in front of you and everything starts and stops on a pin. This speed allows the listener to really be drawn into the very specific nature of Young’s vocal style and his guitar playing. What is also very apparent with these speakers is the acoustic of the room on the vocal and harmonica. Mr Soul is a favourite of mine and I have listened to it on this and the Decade triple album (about which I wrote in my “O” Level English exam, as it happens) dozens and dozens of times. I have to say that listening to the CLOSER partnership is as good as I’ve heard it sound. The sense of Young’s frailty in this song comes across in spades on this system – he wrote it in hospital after experiencing and recovering from an epileptic episode on stage with Buffalo Springfield. The steeliness of the guitar strings and the occasional way Young hits the strings in a kind of “fuck it” kind of style also comes across really well. Instead of skipping tracks like I often do when listening to review kit, I let the whole record play and enjoyed it a great deal. I’m not going to talk about each song I listened to but want to try and convey a sense of there somehow being a “better” connection to the songs being sung than with my standard kit. This is not what I would consider audio perfection in the strictest sense (high-fidelity), or perhaps it is and I’m finding myself drawn to the concept of 300Bs and widebanders again for their purity of concept. I barely recall my time with the Lowthers and 300B PSE amp I had in the past, but I’m sensing the same kind of emotional connection with the music. There are no bells, no whistles, and certainly no fireworks going on here. What there is going on is music and a sense of rightness that I think you will either “get” or you will not click with at all. For those who do click with this feeling and sound, I think I would consider this pairing to be a really good example of the magic that the 300B and single-driver speakers can bring to the party. The lack of crossover in the signal path allows the amplifier’s character to come through and what that brings is the music seeming to be more natural, uncoloured, and pure. I’d been waiting for Hurricane to drop on this record as I think it’s one of my favourite records of all time and this is perhaps my favourite version. The simple organ arrangement and yet again the frailty and emotional quality of Young’s voice comes across really beautifully, as does the harmonica towards the end of the track. Helpless has a bit of piano on it that is a bit plonky, but it makes absolute sense to me whilst listening not the Closer partnership – really beautiful! This sense of rightness to this kind of music on this system is a hard one to put into words and I confess that I am finding this a difficult review to write as, with the right music, it’s difficult not to just allow oneself to fall into the recordings and connect with the artist – and I did just that with a lot of albums that I’ve not just sat and listened to in a long time. Now, this is pretty wooly stuff, I know, but what I’m trying to convey is a sense of connection and feeling.

Anyway, upping the ante a bit I pop on the 100% Columbian album by Fun Loving Criminals. I chose this record because it’s poppy enough, but not too heavy so as to push these components beyond their comfort zone. The first thing that hits me is the snappiness of the snare with the sax floating above and in and out of the mix of Up on the Hill, the opening track. Detail and speed bring a whole load of information to the listener but I didn’t feel overwhelmed or that I was getting overwhelmed – there’s a feeling that the information is there but that it’s coming at you in a natural and organic kind of way. Yep, more wooly touchy feeliness, I know. I thought I’d really miss the bass on this record as it can be a pretty funky affair, but I didn’t. To give an example, Korean Bodega is a fairly full-on tune but the bass was there (just enough) and despite one driver having to do everything from top to bottom, not once did I think that the Closer set-up was losing its cool or becoming confused. Layering in the mix was really evident on these speakers and (possibly a cardinal sin to say this) by adding a sub I reckon they’d be brilliant to mix on. I finally got the line I’ve listened to a gazillion times but always mumbled along to –  “He’s got the pizza and brew..sensational!” The electric piano on Back on the Block sounds as sensational as the pizza and brew at the Korean joint! And yes, they really rock out on Tenth Street!!! 

I’m not going to talk anymore about the music I listened to as I think I’ve said enough for you to get a feel for what the CLOSER amp and speakers bring to the party. They excel through the midband and presence band in my opinion and this never feels forced or that anything is being pushed to the fore. They offer up a natural sound that is uncoloured and allows the elements of the tunes you listen to shine out. Bass is a bit light overall, but it’s not something that you don’t become accustomed to very quickly and you do end up with the feeling that there’s a balance and rightness to the music you are listening to. With really banging techno then I do think you need to look elsewhere, but if you can live without the absolute bass (which is the foundation of much of this genre) then you can get right into the information that is there and particularly into effects.

QUIBBLES

Only volume control on the remote and no source selector, but it is a nice little remote.

The speakers really are more attuned to more relaxed and less “heavy” music, but the company do tell you this, and it is what is to be expected from this kind of loudspeaker and power-limited amplifier. 

I don’t like the plastic spacers that separate the base from the main body of the speaker and allow the downward firing port to exit into the room. I think brass or copper tubes would look better and be more in keeping with the rest of the speaker and its finish. I spoke to Jacek at the recent Warsaw Show about this and he is already in the throes of changing them. 

In a big room, the combo struggles to get to loud volumes but how many people are going to push these that hard?

Definitely no a Jack-of-all-trades speaker.

CONCLUSION

The CLOSER FORLANE speakers are excellent in my opinion, but they are still a wideband/full-range single-driver loudspeaker and they do have a presentation that is different to the usual multi-driver speaker that many reading this review will be most familiar with. In this respect, they are likely to appeal to the enthusiast market rather than the mass market, but that has more to do with perception and what people have been exposed to over many years rather than any explicit “failings” on the part of these speakers. With the equally excellent Provocateur 300B amplifier, they represent a pairing that those who know and love tubes and widebanders will adore. To those less familiar, then I would suggest that a period of acclimatisation will be needed, just as is the case for any widebander or horn loudspeaker system.

I can’t recall the previous 300B (PSE) and wideband Lowther Fidelios I owned years back, but I do recall that they were both wonderful sounding (for the most part) and different to multi-driver speakers and solid-state amplifiers. With the CLOSER pairing, there is a relaxed and easygoing feeling to how they get the music across to the listener. This is not to suggest that the sound of the amps and speakers is somehow soft or muffled, far from it; they are incisive and really detailed across the spectrum but with an unknown quality that seems to gel with me and how I like to listen to music. That detail is profound, but never overbearing and everything in the mix seems to be kind of as it should be. Speed is as obvious with these speakers as the detail they bring.  

Do I recommend the CLOSER PROVOCATEUR AND FORLANE duo? Yes I do, but that comes with a couple of caveats: They are an excellent loudspeaker but they are not what most people will be familiar with. However, can I suggest that if you love music and want to get yourself closer to the artist in an emotional and real sense then you should try and get yourself in front of these! In essence, they are not going to be all things to all people.

Could I live with this set up? I could, yes, and I don’t seem to be getting the same (ultimately) compromised sound that I got with my Lowthers and 300BPSE amp…or rather how I recall getting a bit disappointed with them in the long run. These speakers can rock out to an extent, but their real strengths lie in presenting simple music in a pure and (I hate to use the word) simple kind of way. I genuinely found myself sat listening to records that I’d not listened to all the way through in ages and this is a testament, I think, to CLOSER’s ability to be detailed and informative whilst managing to retain an organic feel.

I hummed and ahhed about writing this, but I kind of think that there is something going on with the way that the 300B and the widebanders work together that works with the human brain to make the sound that enters the listener’s ears feel more natural, unforced and in tune with us. I have no scientific proof for this and rely purely on my own experience.

Wideband speakers tend to live or die on the choice of driver and its ability not to break up and get all confused – it is, after all, dealing with all the frequencies from top to bottom. The French drivers used in the FORLANE speakers are, to my mind, obviously a very capable model and able to balance that speed and immediacy you get from good full rangers with just enough bass to satisfy most types of music. 

I’m awarding the CLOSER PROVOCATUER AND FORLANE pairing our Five Hearts Award. But you seemed to love them so why aren’t they getting the Editor’s Choice award, I hear you demand. And the reason for that is that I do not think that they will be universally appealing and some people will not be able to live with their shortcomings, though the bass issue I was expecting and recall from many years ago with the widebanders and tubes I owned seems to have largely been resolved by CLOSER. 

Get yourself in front of a pair, sit there for a half hour, relax and I think you too will get why I have been so enthusiastic about this Polish coupling – no histrionics, no fancy fireworks, just music!  

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality And Features:

Interesting looking speakers that are well finished other than the plastic spacers

An amplifier that is beautifully finished and matches the speakers very nicely

Decent enough remote

Sound Quality:

The speakers are fast and present music in a very organic and pleasing manner that partners with the amplifier’s strength through the mids and upper-mids really nicely

However, not everyone is going to get on with the slightly different presentation. Or perhaps I should reword that to be “However, not everyone is going to take the time to get accustomed to their slightly different presentation”

Bass is not trouser-flapping but it is there and it is present enough to satisfy most people in most modern-day sized rooms. It’s also fast bass without any horn honk

Value For Money:

The amp is from 6045 euros (7915 as tested) and whilst this is a good chunk of money, it’s not outrageous for relatively small boutique and artisan-production audio

The speakers are 7000 euros and while this seems a lot for what could be seen as a pair of 600 euro drivers in boxes, there’s actually a LOT more going inside that box with regards to construction that make this price add up a little more 

Fifteen grand for the pairing seems to be a reasonable price point. It is not cheap but then you have to remember that these are not massed-produced products, they are, to my way of thinking, handmade products made by passionate individuals in small numbers and the price reflects this

We Loved:

The connection with the music is immediate

I thought they would be awful with bass heavy techno and rock but they are not at all bad in a reasonable sized room so long as you aren’t expecting concert level volume

Musical is a term bandied about when some reviewers think a product is a bit shit but don’t want to say it, in this case the CLOSER coupling is a genuinely musical and engaging pairing that you really can just relax into

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Plastic spacers re a bit cheap but that’s being addressed

They are Wideband speakers and they have limitations…but also benefits

Elevator Pitch Review: A 300B SET amplifier and a pair of wideband loudspeakers coming from Poland and costing around 15,000 euros (plus taxes) that are beautifully built and look fab. The notion of SET and widebanders will split the community in two; for some it is a dream made in audio-heaven and for others it is a compromise too far. However, I think I fall in the middle of this but with leanings towards the audio-heaven side and I do get the appeal of these kinds of speakers. For musical engagement, transparency, and immediacy of sound I don’t think they can be bettered and the CLOSER pairing are a very good example of the type. 

Price: 

AMP: 7915 euros plus relevant taxes

SPEAKERS: 7000 euros plus relevant taxes

STUART SMITH

SUPPLIED BY CLOSER

SUPPLIED SPECIFICATIONS

SPEAKERS

Wide band driver: EMS LB87 MKII by Electro Magnet Speaker – France

Impedance: 8 Ω

Efficiency: 94 dB

Frequency response: 40Hz – 18kHz

Dimensions

• height:  112 cm with base plinth
• width:    20 cm
• depth:    34 cm
• weight:   19 kg

AMP

Power output:	8W / 8 Ohm class A
Bandwidth:	18Hz-23kHz (+/- 2dB)
Channel separation:	>70dB

THD:	0,3% (1W)
Input sensitivity:	200mV
Input impedance:	100 kOhm
Mains power:	230 V (or 110V on request)
Volume control:	48 positions motorized, remote controlled stepped attenuator.
	Polypropylene capacitors in the signal path and circuits of power supply and tube’s cathodes.
	Electrolytic capacitors applied only in the heater circuits
Tubes:	5U4G; 6 SN7, 300B
Inputs:	4 line RCA inputs gold plated, pure copper
Speaker outputs:	8 Ohm , pure copper conductor, banana plugs, spades, crimped cable ends (6mm²/11AWG)
Dimensions:	40 x 45,5 cm (L x D); H: 19,8 – without tubes; 32,5 cm – with tubes.
Weight:	28kg