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REVIEW
But in a small- to medium-sized room,
you may not need the extra bass.
These speakers are positively heavenly
in my new small listening room (10
by 13 feet) powered by the Devialet
120. Penaudio speakers have always
needed a little bit of juice to give their
all, and the 120 watts per channel
provided by the Devialet gets the job
done, no matter what the musical
faire. The opening bass drum beats
from Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” are
delivered solidly, without overhang. As
the cymbals linger in the air and fade
off into black, the sparkle remains
potent, which leads me to believe that
these little speakers move some serious
air.
It’s worth noting that Devialet
owners that are running the current
firmware can now take advantage
of their new S.A.M. (Speaker Active
Matching) system, which offers phase
alignment for a list of speakers, like
the Cenya, custom tailored to the
individual speaker. S.A.M. also offers
bass equalization/compensation
in the DSP domain that extends the
frequency response cleanly down to
25hz. This had just become available
at the end of this review, so watch for
a follow up when we’ve spent more
seat time with it. The short story is
that it works incredibly well. You’ll
swear there is a subwoofer in the
room!
My history with Penaudio goes
way back to the Serenades that we
reviewed in issue 4 and that ended
up as my reference speakers for a
couple years. I’ve always appreciated
Penaudio founder Sami Pentilla’s ability
to build speakers that combine
understated good looks and natural
tonality in a compact form.
REVIEW
The tiny Cenya is no exception. It
looks like a slice of the Serenade,
with a 6-inch woofer and a 1.25-inch
soft dome tweeter, and it is available
in a wide variety of finishes.
This particular pair comes in
the high-gloss white that was the
rage at this year’s Munich High End
show. Considering psychoacoustics,
this may be the best color for these
mini monitors, as it lets them disappear
even further into my listening
environment, which is painted Ralph
Lauren Studio White. A knuckle rap
demonstrates cabinet rigidity, which
contributes to the speakers’ stellar
bass response and freedom from
cabinet-induced vibration.
Super Simple Setup
As with any high-quality pair of mini
monitors, the Cenyas benefit from
doing two things: placing them on
massive stands and providing a
solid coupling between the speaker
and stand. Though not as attractive
as the Cenyas deserve, a pair
of 24-inch sand-filled Sound Anchor
stands works perfectly, with a set of
small Isonode feet ($19.95 for a set
of 4; available from Bright Star Audio)
providing an ideal mechanical interface.
The Cardas Clear Light speaker
cables also work well with these
speakers, but for those requiring
a bit more zip and high-frequency
extension, the Graditech speaker
cables provide it. They prove a perfect
match for the Conrad Johnson
LP125sa power amplifier, while the
Clear Light cables are a more balanced
solution (for these ears, anyway)
with the Devialet. (continued)
190 TONE AUDIO NO.64
July 2014 191