Audiophilepure

https://www.hifinews.com/content/paradigm-persona-9h-loudspeaker

“That said, the speakers can be sweet and light on their feet with Copland’s own recording of ‘Billy The Kid’ [Copland Conducts Copland; Sony Classical SS 89041] and then deploy their immense power and speed with Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ from the Rage Hard compilation [ZTT 177SACD]. It’s a track I have used often, both as a stern test and an absolute riot, but I don’t think I have ever heard it as clean and hard-hitting as it did via these Paradigm flagships, even with my phone’s VU SPL meter suggesting we were peaking at around 105dB some 4m from the speakers.

Scale back the musical forces, or at least the complexity, and the Persona 9H ‘sound’ showed itself well-suited to the cleanly-recorded interplay of the Oscar Peterson Trio’s A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra set [Verve 0602498625750], with subtle drumming from Ed Thigpen, Ray Brown’s bass with great snap and resonance, and of course Peterson’s delicate touch on the keyboard much in evidence. It was one of those times when you fire up one track just to have a listen, and then find yourself still gripped when the album finishes.”

http://av2day.com/2020/01/elac-vela-bs-403-speakers-outstanding-tweeter-good-sound/

The speakers were versatile in that both listening positions provided very satisfying experiences, but I felt that the equilateral triangle method provided a more intimate experience with the singer placed just in front of the listener and the musicians spread out behind the speakers.

Compared with the resident ATC SCM50 floorstanders, the soundstage and images were noticeably smaller and the BS 403’s bass could not reach to subterranean levels. This was to be expected given the size of the ELAC speakers.

However, the bass that was present was rhythmic and lively. Imaging was solid and stable and the sheer transparency of the tweeter resulted in a very detailed sound. Overall, the sound quality was more on the neutral side of the spectrum and the star component was the JET 5 tweeter which created high notes that soared effortlessly into the blackness.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/monitor-audio-gold-300-loudspeaker-1/

“
These Gold 300s really grew on me over time, thanks to their powerful presence and substantial sound output. There’s a really pleasing solidity here—courtesy of the cabinet construction and other technologies—that won me over across more and more source material. Especially if you appreciate or collect well-recorded material, the Monitor Gold 300s can enable you to reap its rewards. If want a deeper dive into your music collection and you’re in the market for a solid speaker in this price tier, go for the gold and give the new 300 an audition. “

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1368-totem-acoustic-tribe-tower-loudspeakers

“

By most standards, the Totem Tribe Tower would be considered a relatively tiny floorstander, but the pair of them sounded big in my mid-size room. Having heard what their similar sibling, the Sky Tower, could do here less than a year before, I wasn’t completely surprised, but unsuspecting listeners might be at first caught off guard, then quite pleased — this speaker should be of interest to anyone who wants room-filling sound but who doesn’t have the space for a pair of big boxes.

At first I thought I’d prefer setting up the Tribe Towers closer to the front of the room, to make better use of the front and sidewalls to help reinforce the bass — indeed, Totem recommends placing them as little as 4” from the front wall. While I was never going to do that — I’ve never been happy with the sound of speakers from that close to the wall behind them — I did try pulling them out just over 12” from the front wall. Unsurprisingly, the Tribes benefited from room gain — the bass was fuller, the overall output greater. However, even with 2’ between the wall and the speakers’ rear panels, I was still more than satisfied with their low-end performance, while preferring the greater three-dimensionality of soundstage I experienced with them farther out from the wall. Ultimately, they ended up very near the positions where most speakers tend to work best in my room.”

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/wilson-audio-sasha-daw-floorstanding-loudspeaker/?page=3

“In fact, the Sasha DAW’s only real weakness is possibly also its greatest strength. This is not a loudspeaker that ever sounds bad (its greatest strength), but it also has the potential to sound truly soul-shakingly good. There will be some pairs of Sasha DAWs where that potential remains untapped. This is a loudspeaker where going to the extra place is not simply an exercise in navel-gazing but returns the kind of performance that can stop you in your tracks. Here’s a perfect test of the Sasha DAW’s true power; play something evocative like Jacqueline du Pré’s remarkable rendition of the Elgar Cello Concerto [Barbirolli, LSO, EMI]. Unless the system has been set-up with a pick-axe, you will get goose-bumps. When the system is fully on song and at its very best, you find yourself in tears. It’s an uncontrollable, almost atavistic, reaction to the music that happens when the system pulls the music into focus. You can find this in very well set-up systems, but usually in very well set-up systems that cost so much they could depth-charge the economy of a small island nation.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/magico-m6/

“The three MPod feet that support the tripod on which the enclosure rests are very sophisticated devices that do more than couple the speaker to the floor. Magico calls the MPod a “noise-channeling support system.” Cones and spikes perform the important function of coupling the speaker to the floor so that the cabinet vibrates less. This anchoring effect makes the cabinet more resistant to moving in response to driver motion. But cones and spikes don’t dissipate vibrational energy. The ideal loudspeaker-to-floor interface would thus provide the anchoring effect of spikes, along with vibration dissipation. That’s the theory behind the MPod. The device employs constrained layer damping that is tuned so that the MPod provides solid coupling to the floor below 300Hz, but attenuates noise and vibration above that frequency. The damping material, which was reportedly developed for NASA, is so thoroughly researched that the designer using it can specify the precise frequency at which the material begins attenuating vibration. Note that the MPod’s lower hemisphere isn’t connected with hardware to the speaker, but rather through the constrained layer damping mechanism. The MPod is usually shipped with a pin inserted through the device that is removed once the MPod is installed. Removing the pin engages the constrained layer damping structure. It is thus possible to hear the effect of the device by pulling the pin. Unfortunately, the review samples had made the rounds of audio shows and weren’t shipped with pins, so I was unable to hear this comparison.”