Audiophilepure

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/psb-alpha-t20-loudspeaker/

“Vocal naturalism and detail were the prime beneficiaries of the T20’s largely balanced behavior. Notwithstanding the fact that I enjoy listening to singers, vocalists with their broad multi-octave range provide a good tool for evaluating midrange and upper midrange performance and coherence. Ana Caram’s vocal on “Fly Me To the Moon” remained a lovely, breezy, bossa nova” take on this classic tune. The throaty, torchy vocals of Holly Cole were equally expressive, and even low-level details like the handclaps during Cole’s version of “Jersey Girls” sounded fleshy and alive rather than like wood blocks struck together. At $649/pair for the entire speaker, one can’t help but wonder how expensive the tweeter could be; yet on a track like Harry Connick Jr’s “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” it just sounded expensive. Connick’s simple open arrangement of vocal, piano, acoustic bass, and sax was persuasively transparent, quick on transients, and nicely controlled overall.

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/speaker/sonus-faber-minima-amator-ii-bookshelf-speaker-review/

“First, I found that I preferred the overall sound with the speakers closer to the rear walls than usual. I settled on about 30 inches between my front wall and the speakers’ rear baffles. I thought that this would make the bass a bit too boomy, but that was not the case. I also preferred the sound with the speakers a bit closer to” each other than usual. My final placement put the speakers six feet apart and 9.5 feet from my listening position. I adjusted the toe until the speakers converged at a point about two feet behind my head. This gave me the best overall tonal balance as well as optimizing imaging and soundstage depth. I didn’t feel the need to add any rake to the setup as the tweeters were sitting at ear level for me and sounded nicely balanced as is

https://hometheaterreview.com/focal-chora-826-three-way-floorstanding-loudspeaker-reviewed/

“Each Chora 826 sports one pair of binding posts, so bi-wiring isn’t accommodated. Overall, I really love the quality of the binding posts, as they’re easy to loosen and tighten and look quite lovely. If I have one concern, it’s that tightly fitted black and red caps will need to be removed if you intend to use banana plugs (as I always do), and these caps do put up a good bit of a fight. I had to end up resorting to needle-nosed pliers to extract them, and it felt a bit like pulling a tooth. By the time I had them out, the caps were more than a bit mangled.

From there, though, setup is a breeze. Due to the front-ported design of the speaker, you don’t have to be quite as concerned with distance from rear boundaries. In my relatively small two-channel listening room, this is a blessing. Being able to position a pair of speakers six inches from the wall rather than eighteen definitely leaves me with more breathing room and affords a wider soundstage, since there’s more distance between me and the speakers.”

https://audiofi.net/2020/01/bowers-wilkins-formation-duo-supreme-streaming-speakers/

“First impressions were positive – a big and expansive sound stage was painted, and even with compressed material from Apple Music, a very enjoyable sound was presented, with fine rhythmic “foot-tapping” quality to the bass line on Dave Brubeck’s Time In (Apple Music Adaptive AAC streaming). Browsing through my Apple Music library was an enjoyable spree, the speakers taking on all genres and presenting a very detailed, rhythmic and enjoyable rendition.

Especially of note was the anchoring of female vocals in the centre of the soundfield and the texture of the plucked double bass (Ilona Knopfler, Live the Life, Adaptive AAC streaming). Vocals had fine projection, with exquisite handing of sibilants and the “air” surrounding the singer. The double bass showed lovely texture, with the leading edge of the plucked sound having fine articulation – one can almost visualise the singer and the bassist”

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2020/1/31/sx2mawfb31qml5sp0jy537p7mznx97

“I then put on my 70s Robert Ludwig mastered copy of Patti Smith’s Horses. The first track, “Gloria”, features a chorus where background singers shout in a call and response patter with Smith. This effect was rendered incredibly lifelike on the Choras and I was able to distinguish the individual voice types in this group section, something I wasn’t used to hearing. The snappy Reggae inspired guitars and drums in “Redondo Beach” displayed excellent transient response. I could hear the pick scrape against the guitar pickup. Moving on to the track “Money”, I did sense a bit of glare in the piano tone. As much as the highs and lows of this speaker continue to impress me, as well as the three dimensionality of the soundstage, I do get a sense that the midrange comes across as a bit simple and grainy at times. Not overly so, but it is a contrast against the otherwise well-rounded areas of the frequency range. Despite this, this speaker was producing the kind of fun, toe-tapping sound that so many “audiophile” speakers at this price (and even above) lack.”

https://www.stereophile.com/content/vivid-kaya-45-loudspeaker-page-2

In general, the bass performance of the Kaya 45s was remarkable for their size. From a closely recorded Spanish guitar to pipe organ and large, dynamic ensembles, these relatively small floorstanders delivered respectable—and musical—bass. That’s not to say a pair of 5″ woofers per cabinet can push as much air as bigger or more drivers. What was wonderful about the Kaya 45s is that the quality and balance of the bass and upper bass in my altogether normal listening room was such that I lacked for nothing, except in direct comparison to bigger speakers (and Vivid makes those, too). With a classic recording of Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata in F, performed by Thomas Murray on the E. & G.G. Hook organ at Jamaica Plain (CD, Raven 3901), the detail and fullness were immensely satisfying. As the tones descend in the fourth movement, there was a slight attenuation of the lowest tones, but that did not affect the progression or impact of the music.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/magico-m2-loudspeaker

The dual-mono pink noise track on Editor’s Choice sounded hollow if I stood up but evenly balanced, uncolored, and smooth when I sat with my ears level with the M2s’ tweeters, which are 38.5″ from the floor. The pink noise sounded mellower than it had with the Q Acoustics Concept 300s that I reviewed in the January 2020 issue, but the central image of the noise signal was appropriately narrow and stable.

Stable, accurate stereo imaging was a consistent feature during my auditioning of the M2s. I have been a fan of pianist Mitsuko Uchida since Stereophile‘s then-publisher Larry Archibald and I saw her performing at London’s Royal Festival Hall the February 1986 night we sealed the deal on my replacing J. Gordon Holt as the magazine’s editor. A recent purchase was Ms. Uchida’s live 2010 Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic 

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/927-egglestonworks-nico-evolution-loudspeakers

“Having struck the right balance with the eager EgglestonWorks, I tried some instrumental fare. I’m an enormous fan of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons as “recomposed” by Max Richter and performed by the Berlin Concert House Chamber Orchestra under the direction of André de Ridder (24/44.1 MQA, Deutsche Grammophon/Tidal). I’d ordinarily thumb my nose at a reinvention of such a classic, but Richter so skillfully transforms several of the movements that I find myself preferring them to Vivaldi’s originals. Listening to Winter 1, which redeploys one of Vivaldi’s most famous melodies, I was smitten by the Nico Evolutions’ ability to capture the nuances of Richter’s subtle but deliberate opening. The lightly plucked violins resonated pretty far back on the soundstage, and the recording venue sounded big, even if it wasn’t re-created with the extension and effortlessness that I’ve heard through more linear, dead-neutral designs. Still, I was impressed with the smoothness of the Nico Evolution’s soft-dome tweeter, which never sounded hard or etched. The harpsichord sounded natural, as did the violin of soloist Daniel Hope, which was very well defined, and even had a hint of sweetness I wasn’t anticipating. The Eggies proved deeply engaging with this track, a quality I highly value in a speaker. If you’re after warmth, or a polite, relaxed sound, the Nico Evolution isn’t for you. But if, like me, you prefer a sound that’s highly resolving and articulate, the baby Eggleston may well fit the bill — it was great fun.”