Audiophilepure

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“Timbral accuracy was gratifying. With a 2019 release of the Canadian woodwind quintet Pentaèdre performing arrangements of Mozart string quartets, the distinctive color of each member of the ensemble—flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn—were faithfully represented, as was the characteristic blend of these five voices combined. The rich, mellow sonority of divisi violas and cellos at the outset of the Ruhevoll movement from Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, as heard on a 1967 Philips LP with Bernard Haitink leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra, achieved the calming (but not soporific) effect that the composer was surely going for.

The Figaro L’s were revealing, both in terms of uncovering meaningful musical detail and demonstrating differences in recording technique. It was easy to hear that guitar doubles the pianist’s right hand melody on “LTMBBQ” from Wayne Horvitz’s Sweeter Than the Day album, as well as the contrast between the very “wet “ acoustic chosen for Artur Pizaro’s performances of Ravel’s keyboard music for Linn Records and the much drier one heard on Matti Raekallio’s Prokofiev piano sonata CDs for Ondine. Todd Rundgren recorded every instrumental and vocal part on the first three sides of his classic gatefold LP Something/Anything, this at a time when overdubbing wasn’t nearly as easy to do as it is now. The Figaros let one know when Todd actually brought this off (usually) and when his efforts to function as a one-man band were less than fully convincing.”

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“Elsewhere in the spectrum EPDR is very well controlled, with a narrow dip to 2.0ohm/35Hz and to 2.6ohm/826Hz. So the Nova V isn’t as hard to drive as it may first appear. Forward frequency responses measured on the tweeter axis [Graph 1] show a rising output above 4kHz, which strongly suggests the speaker should be auditioned a little off-axis for the most neutral tonal balance. Response errors reflect this up-tilted treble at ±4.8dB and ±4.4dB, respectively, but with careful alignment it should be possible to reduce this to ±3dB or so. Pair matching error over the same 300Hz-20kHz range is disappointing at ±1.7dB but this is largely due to a minor narrowband disparity at 2.1kHz. Without this the figure would have been a respectable ±1.0dB. Diffraction-corrected nearfield measurement showed the bass extension to be 43Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz). The cumulative spectral decay waterfall [Graph 2] is free of resonances in the upper treble but shows three modes associated with the response peaks at 1.2kHz, 2.3kHz and 3.8kHz”

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“The Dynamo 800X is what tips the scales even more in MartinLogan’s favor. At $2250 for the three-piece system, this is crazy good. I can’t think of too many speakers for this amount of money that I’d rather own. They certainly don’t reach 24 Hz. They don’t have room correction or Bluetooth or wireless capabilities, nor can they be operated with my iPhone. I can only wonder what would have happened if I had told Devin to send me the big 1600X subwoofer cuz I gotta have MORE BASS. With the 35XTi, it’s still just a $3400 investment.

I’m not sure if the MartinLogan Motion 35XTi monitors and Dynamo 800X subwoofer have turned me into a 2.1 kind of audiophile. I still prefer the simplicity of two-channel audio. But if someone asks me for a recommendation for an affordable yet killer pair of satellites and sub, I’m simply going to send them the link to this review. Superb!”

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“I can only think of a handful of loudspeakers at the same price point as the MartinLogan Motion 35XTi that are truly competitive. While some can definitely surpass the Martin Logan’s low end, they can’t quite match the performance of that stunning Folded Motion tweeter. If you need more bass, you can always check out the floorstanding models in the Motion line—the $1800 20i, the $2400 40i and the $3500 60XTi. You get that same fab tweeter in those as well.

The Dynamo 800X is what tips the scales even more in MartinLogan’s favor. At $2250 for the three-piece system, this is crazy good. I can’t think of too many speakers for this amount of money that I’d rather own. They certainly don’t reach 24 Hz. They don’t have room correction or Bluetooth or wireless capabilities, nor can they be operated with my iPhone. I can only wonder what would have happened if I had told Devin to send me the big 1600X subwoofer cuz I gotta have MORE BASS. With the 35XTi, it’s still just a $3400 investment.”

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“So yeah, there’s a correct volume for most music. For me, that level is often higher than others might find comfortable, but the heck with them. The YBs were able to accommodate my need for speed, and encouraged me to turn it the hell up. The Estelons were a tiny bit reticent at low volumes, and so might not be the best choice for those who listen late at night and need to keep the noise down. But they sure did come alive when I goosed them just a bit. There was a clear demarcation point at which the YBs snapped awake. I live in a townhouse, with neighbors to either side, and I wasn’t ever concerned that I was playing the music too loud while in the YB’s zone. That said, I did get huge smiles from cranking these guys up to seriously loud levels.”

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”
The Focal Sopra No1 is an expensive minimonitor, but you get a lot for $9990/pair: cutting-edge design, and manufacture under Focal’s direct control — they make every part of every one of their speakers in-house. From the pure-beryllium inverted-dome tweeter in its patented IHL frame, to the W sandwich midrange-bass driver, to the rock-solid, curved, beautifully finished cabinet, it all comes together in a package that leaves a lasting impression. Even the matching stands are well engineered and beautiful to look at.

Having reviewed Focal’s Spectral 40th speaker, my expectations of sound quality from Focal were high. The Sopra No1s met and exceeded those expectations. Their imaging prowess and transparency were beyond reproach — they “disappeared” from my room even as they chiseled out precise aural images on a wide, deep, and tall soundstage. The degrees of delicacy, shimmer, and extension I heard in the top registers were breathtaking, and the Sopras offered taut, quick bass with superb dynamic punch and contrast.”

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“The Notes excel in making a superior recording sound magnificent. They also will completely eviscerate a poorly recorded song and leave it bleeding on the sidewalk. With neutral electronics and sources, this is a speaker system that will exactly portray the recording as it is on the system. Some songs have so little bass I wonder what’s wrong. Other have so much I want to get the remote and turn down the gain on the subs. This is a byproduct of accuracy to the recording. When you have this level of clarity, accuracy, dynamics and imaging, being true to the recording isn’t always a blessing.

The Notes are effectively a one-way, omnidirectional line array speaker with dynamic linearity, huge dynamics, amazing clarity and accuracy. This, however, comes at a cost: efficiency. They like power. Porzilli recommends a minimum of 100 WPC. To get the full, oftentimes shocking dynamics, a minimum of 200 WPC is suggested. My Esoteric A02 outputs a continuous 400 WPC into 4 ohms with a ceiling of 500 WPC so I had no issues at all. Because of the load sharing over so many drivers, these speakers are rated at a maximum of 2000 WPC.

It is assumed that most homes have eight-foot ceilings. However, it may be a problem accommodating one speaker just over seven feet tall, or a second version just over eight. For my listening room, with nine-foot ceilings, this was no problem at all.”

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“Over a span of several weeks, the fact.8s were my primary sound source, including for casual listening. I adapted to their sound, except when I sat still and focused on a piece of music, at which time I was quickly reminded that I needed more richness in the upper and midbass. That prevented me from spending much time with orchestral recordings—my usual meat and potatoes—and it tilted my selections to small ensembles, solo voices, and simple, open instrumentation.

I revisited some old favorites, like the classic recording of Handel’s Concerto for Harp and Lute with Osian Ellis, Desmond Dupré, Granville Jones, and the Philomusica of London, on a Boston Skyline reissue (BSD 119). The delicate scoring, the definition of the solo instruments, and the strings and winds of the ensemble were clear and delectable here. And I should note that my Monitor Audio Silver 8 loudspeakers lacked the PMC’s upper-midrange and treble transparency, and its high-definition soundstage. But the Silver 8s provided more energy in the lower frequencies, achieving what seemed to me a more natural balance.”

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“The impulse response also can be used to plot the step response, which shows when each driver becomes active in relation to the other driver(s) when the signal voltage is initially applied. Below is the step response of the Sonus faber Lilium. The first peak on the left side is the tweeter, followed 0.23 ms later by the midrange and woofers (the midrange and woofers are the same size – 7”, and their summed output is larger than the single tweeter peak). 2.3 ms after the midrange driver is the subwoofer driver, followed by 1.7 ms later by the passive radiator. So, between the tweeter and passive radiator, there is a 4.23 ms delay. This shows you cannot fight the laws of physics. The reason there is delay is that the cones for the larger drivers have more mass, and therefore, it takes more time to “get them moving” when the signal voltage is applied. However, even though the passive radiator cone is the same diameter (10″) as the subwoofer cone at 10”, the passive radiator has to respond to the subwoofer movement rather than the directly applied voltage. So, the voltage is applied to the subwoofer, it moves, causing air pressure to change in the enclosure, and that change in air pressure then causes the passive radiator cone to move. Frankly, I am surprised there is only 4.23 ms in between the tweeter and passive radiator. That is just 4.23 thousandths of a second.”