LOUDSPEAKERS

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go to: Contents | Features | Bookshelf, Stand-Mount and Desktop | Floorstanding | Editors' Choice Awards Von Schweikert Audio VR-44 Aktive $25,000 vonschweikertaudio.com The new VSA VR-44 Aktive is a high-performance speaker made for tube-lovers. A four-way, single-cabinet, transmission-line design, the VR-44 incorporates new VSA technology in cabinetwall construction and O.E.M. Scandinavian drivers. It also reintroduces self-powered woofers, last used by VSA in 2004. GH found the approach inventive and the sonic results completely satisfying. Albert von Schweikert has blessed this complex acoustic design with an aura of magic. GH, 230 Sound Lab M-1PX $25,170 soundlab-speakers.com Like a CLX with really low end, this huge and hugely wonderful electrostat has the biggest soundfield, far and away the deepest bass (true 20Hz extension), and most lifelike dynamic range of any ’stat—in addition to the traditional virtues of ’stats (gorgeous tone color, lightning transient response, single-driver coherence, and phenomenal inner detail). It can sound a bit warm and dark in balance and overblown in the bottom octaves if placement and amplification aren’t carefully minded. JV, 122 MartinLogan CLX $25,495 martinlogan.com A long time coming, this successor to MartinLogan’s one-and-only previous full-range electrostat, the CLS, bests the original in every way, particularly in tonal balance where its lower midrange and upper bass are no longer sucked out. The most transparent-to-sources loudspeaker JV has yet auditioned, the CLX is the very model of resolution, neutrality, and realism. It is also, alas, limited to about 50Hz in the bass, which means you’ll need a pair of ML’s Descent-i subs to get the whole orchestra. JV, 190 Magico Q1 $26,500 magico.net The tiny, aluminum-bodied Magico Q1 is not just a little better than its celebrated predecessor, the Mini II, it is a whole lot better. Switching from the Mini II to the Q1 is almost exactly like switching from a wooden-bodied M5 to an aluminumbodied Q5, only in a couple regards (the blending of its beryllium tweeter and carbon-fiber mid/woofer, and its overall “disappearing act”), the Q1 is better than the Q5—effortlessly dynamic, surprisingly deep-reaching, seamlessly neutral, and very highresolution. The best speaker Magico has yet made for smaller rooms. JV, 219 Coincident Pure Reference Extreme $26,800 coincidentspeaker.com This reference-level loudspeaker is a breakthrough product. Not only is it blindingly quick with huge dynamic delivery, it can be powered with lowwattage tube amps. Add to this some of the most holographic imaging you’ll hear, and you have Magico sound for reasonable dollars. One of the best-sounding easy-to-drive dynamic loudspeakers on the market. Peter Breuninger, 209 Nola Metro Grand Reference II $27,000 nolaspeakers.com This model positioned between the Micro Grand Reference and the Baby Grand Reference features two 6.5" magnesium woofers coupled to a 4.5" dipole midrange driver and 4" Raven tweeter, with the latter two drivers mounted in an open baffle. The Metro Grand offers a tremendous sense of spaciousness, air, and naturalness. Some slight bass warmth has been ameliorated in the II version. Works well in small-tomedium-sized rooms. JH, 224 Sony SS AR-1 $27,000 sony.com A work of speaker art from designer Yoshiyuki Kaku, the AR-1s combine advanced driver technology with ideas reminiscent of musical instrument design (special wood choices, different for front and back/sides). Musical, indeed, in tonal character, with a slight BBC-style midrange dip but otherwise very smooth and neutral, this exceptionally pure-sounding floorstander of moderate size is capable of everything from the most exquisite delicacy to unstrained orchestral dynamics, even in large rooms. REG, 214 Vienna Acoustics “The Music” $27,000 vienna-acoustics.com Here’s a full-range, multi-driver unit with ’stat-like coherence due to its remarkable flat midrange driver with coincident tweeter. Equally at home with power music and small-scale works, it has a reference-quality ability to reproduce the complete soundstage. A thrilling, accurate, yet musical speaker. JH, 195 Wilson Audio Sasha $27,900 wilsonaudio.com As the replacement for the venerable WATT/Puppy, the Sasha had big shoes to fill. And fill them it does, greatly improving upon its distinguished predecessors. Featuring a new midrange driver derived from the $168,000 Alexandria X-2, in the midband the Sasha combines tremendous warmth and richness of tone color with finely filigreed resolution. The Sasha’s bass is classic Wilson, an amalgam of weight, warmth, extension, dynamic agility, and outstanding articulation. RH, 204 TAD Evolution One $29,800 tad-labs.com The Evolution One is the first model of a new series of loudspeakers descended from TAD’s Reference line. In spite of some modest economizing the same exemplary performance carries over with nary a hitch. Thanks to the brilliance of the CST coincident midrange/beryllium tweeter the sound of this three-way remains incisive and transparent—a veritable showcase for precise imaging and full-spectrum dynamics. Bass response is propulsive and extended. NG, 229 KEF Blade $30,000 kef.com A culmination of KEF’s 50 years of innovation in speaker design, the Blade is a rarity: a true full-range point-source speaker. As such, it promises benefits in coherence and frequency-dispersion into the room. That promise is fully met, with superb imaging and neutral tonality that does not vary with seating position or even when standing versus sitting. Further, thanks to its superb resolution and vanishingly low distortion, the Blade delivers a wealth of musical detail without fatigue. A sonic and technological tour de force. AT, 222 Sonus faber Amati Futura $36,000 sumikoaudio.net This exquisite 3.5-way floorstanding loudspeaker breaks new ground for Sonus faber in transparency, low-level detail, neutrality, transient response, and top-to-bottom coherence, bringing you closer to the sound of a live performance. The lute-shaped Italian cabinetry is drop-dead gorgeous, and masks an enclosure filled with technical innovations designed to reduce resonances and related colorations. While the Amati is not as lushsounding as its predecessor, massed strings and voices are more accurate and natural. JH, 228 YG Acoustics Kipod II Signature $38,800 yg-acoustics.com This Kipod II aims to bring the performance of the company’s $119,000 Anat Professional to listeners with smaller rooms. The Kipod is scaled down in size, bass extension, and playback-level from the flagship, but not in fundamental sound quality, with stunning dynamics, resolution, and liveliness. 112 Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers www.theabsolutesound.com previous page NEXT page
go to: Contents | Features | Bookshelf, Stand-Mount and Desktop | Floorstanding | Editors' Choice Awards Bass is quite extended for its small footprint, thanks to the powered woofer module. That midrange driver is run full-range, which confers greater purity at the expense of the ability to play loudly—this is a speaker for moderate playback levels. Signature version (heard only at shows) offers considerably upgraded performance. RH, 199 TAD Compact Reference 1 $42,000 (w/o stands) tad-labs.com The CR1s are expensive, but think of them as full-range speakers that just happen to sit on stands, because that is most certainly the way they sound. Their bass is superb (and flat down into the mid-30s), their midrange and treble likewise (thanks to TAD’s concentrically-mounted beryllium midrange and tweeter drivers), their disappearing act second to none, their level of lifelike fidelity exceptional. NG, 205 Vandersteen Model 7 $48,000 vandersteen.com Based on new drivers made from carbon-fiber-clad balsa wood, the Model 7 strips away a layer of coloration and artifacts, revealing an absolutely glorious purity of timbre. You simply don’t hear the cones when listening to music through the Model 7, which is electrostaticlike in its clarity, transparency, and openness. The extensive bass adjustments, made possible by the powered woofer, allow the Model 7’s response below 120Hz to be tailored to your room. RH, 206 Nola Baby Grand Reference II $59,000 nolaspeakers.com This large, ribbon/cone, quasi-linesource floorstander, designed by the redoubtable Carl Marchisotto, may not cohere quite as well as New School designs in the bass; nonetheless, it is one of the more lifelike speakers JV has reviewed— and certainly one of the most successful ribbon/cone hybrid in his experience. With downright breathtaking treble, resolution, transient response, dynamic range, power-handling, and soundstaging, the Baby Grands invariably sound like the real deal. JV, 205 Estelon X Diamond $65,000 estelon.com This beautiful, sculpturesque, threeway, ported-box floorstander with Eton drivers boasts what has to be the best blend of a diamond tweeter and ceramic midrange and woofer JV has yet heard. Where diamond tweets usually stick out like diamond sore thumbs, here all is beautifully of a piece, thanks to the engineering smarts of speaker-maker Alfred Vassilkov. Like many ceramic-driver speakers, the Estelon is a model of low-level resolution and finesse, but unlike many ceramic speakers it doesn’t compress dynamics (as much) at higher volume levels. This may, in part, be because it has absolutely killer bass. JV, 228 Magico Q5 $65,000 magico.net You may find it hard to believe, but Magico’s massive, sealedaluminum-box, three-and-a-halfway floorstander outperforms the company’s previous flagship, the M5, for $30k less dough. This is a speaker that truly does comes closer to achieving the impossible dream of mating the transparency, clarity, coherence, and resolution of an electrostat with the frequency extension, dimensionality, and dynamic range of multiway cones. Those looking for a more bespoke sound, such as a built-in boost in the mid-to-upper bass, should look elsewhere. Those looking for the sound of music as it was actually recorded will be amazed. JV, 214 Wilson MAXX 3 $69,500 wilsonaudio.com The venerable Maxx 3 supplies deep bass—though not the very deepest—and a wide soundstage, coupled with the legendary Wilson dynamics, which have the ability to 113 Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers www.theabsolutesound.com previous page NEXT page
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LOUDSPEAKERS

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