SVS Prime Pinnacle Loudspeaker $1,600 Review
July 11, 2019 Comments Off on SVS Prime Pinnacle Loudspeaker $1,600 Review
“While moving the SVS towers closer to or further from the wall increased and decreased overall bottom-octaves balance by obvious degrees, it did so with somewhat less tendency to emphasize the “boom” octave centered around 80 Hz or so than I’ve experienced from some other tower speakers. I posit that the Prime Pinnacle tower’s three woofers, each at a different height from the floor, mitigates the floor-bounce (or “Allison effect”) of low- frequency first reflection from the floor inducing a peak-dip-peak as it rejoins the direct radiation—first subtractively, out of phase, and then additively, in phase, and so on. More accurately, this must create a series of closely spaced floor-bounce response ripples, but the overall effect seems to be to smooth 50-150 Hz response a good bit, even when fairly close to a wall. This is a welcome additional benefit, and quite possibly another factor in the slim multi-woofer tower trend.”
LOUDSPEAKERS WILSON AUDIO TUNE TOT STAND-MOUNT £10,998 REVIEW
July 10, 2019 Comments Off on LOUDSPEAKERS WILSON AUDIO TUNE TOT STAND-MOUNT £10,998 REVIEW
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Obviously the caveats are going to be well understood by anybody in the market for these Wilsons. But once you have come to terms with that I reckon you will be surprised at how good they are with horns and orchestral pieces. There is no sense that the music is being squeezed out of such a small box. No unwanted edge or tonal nasties from the cabinet. Even drums are enormously coherent and totally understandable as are pianos, often a real contentious proposition for such small speakers. This is due to the superb way they cope with the leading edge, or attack of instruments and voices. Vocals and solo acoustic guitar can be mesmerising. Don’t expect to feel your chest cavity resonate along with the Timpani though.
These tiny Wilsons completely live up to the reputation of quality, long established by the company. They are a niche product in so many ways. Designed to allow you access to very high quality music in situations where few speakers even begin to work. They take full musical advantage of all the great things that a small speaker can provide. Speed, lightness of bass touch, out of the box sound staging, and the ability to start and stop very, very quickly… these are all strong points of the Tune Tot and are vital to good music making. They have exceptional pace and pinpoint timing if your installation is precise and tonally they never stop surprising, even at surprisingly low levels.”
Paradigm Premier Series Speaker System Review
July 7, 2019 Comments Off on Paradigm Premier Series Speaker System Review
“The Surround 1 speakers come with a wall-mount bracket, safety strap, and a stencil guide to properly attach the speakers to a wall if you aren’t placing the speakers on a flat surface. The wall-mounting process was relatively straightforward; however, I found having an extra set of hands available made the mounting process easier.
A personal litmus test that I have for speakers is that they have to look good without grills. The Premier Series speakers pass this test with flying colors. I doubt many will complain with how these speakers look, which should help ease the frustrations of weary significant others less keen on having large speakers in the house. The 700F, in particular, looks stunning without its grill on. These speakers would make a statement in just about any room. The speaker grills are magnetic, too, which I prefer allowing the cabinet to have a cleaner, more seamless look when the grills aren’t attached.”
GoldenEar Triton Reference Speakers Review
July 6, 2019 Comments Off on GoldenEar Triton Reference Speakers Review
Sonus Faber Serafino Tradition $21,900 Review
July 5, 2019 Comments Off on Sonus Faber Serafino Tradition $21,900 Review
“What I heard was the right amount of detail, wrapped in lovely timbre, presented with a sense of intimacy. Vocals, especially, practically glow through these loudspeakers; someone clearly spent a great deal of time listening to them during their voicing, someone with the mandate of ensuring that the human voice would be presented in all its raspy, guttural, breathy, round, clarion glory. “Hair-raising” was something I wrote in my notes. Overall, the speakers had a warm, robust, and forgiving presentation that I have come to call the Sonus Faber “house sound”.
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Usher Audio S-520 Loudspeaker Review
July 2, 2019 Comments Off on Usher Audio S-520 Loudspeaker Review
“The sound of the Usher S-520 is as good as the construction and the finish of the loudspeaker. The tonal balance between the woofer and the tweeter is spot on. Too many loudspeakers have an uneven tonal balance. In my research it was disclosed that in some earlier production runs, the tweeter resistor was of slightly lower value. This would make the loudness of the tweeter higher than the woofer— this appears to be the case of earlier production runs and has been confirmed by technical measurements in Stereophile. Happily, my pair has the later, 5 ohm combined value tweeter resistor.
This mini monitor sounds different compared to many small loudspeakers I’ve heard. Some can sound anaemic and less substantial than I experienced with the S-520. The S-520s sound substantial in their presentation. In particular, their midrange and upper bass sound firmer and have greater physicality. This is especially true when listening to singers and piano. When listening to the Beatles’ “Let It Be” track on the album of the same name (EMI Records C2 46447), Paul’s voice, as well as the piano sounded more like the real thing. The piano had solid weight, and a truly percussive sound to it. This is not typical of most small mini monitor loudspeakers in my experience. ”
KEF LSX Wireless Streaming Loudspeaker System $1099 Review
July 1, 2019 Comments Off on KEF LSX Wireless Streaming Loudspeaker System $1099 Review
“In the end, the KEF LSX is not going to replace traditional hi-fi rigs. It’s not going to make hardened, seasoned veterans of the hi-fi show circuit suddenly give up their ten-watt tube amps and worship at the altar of Spotify streaming. But it might convince some of them that good sound can come in new shapes and forms, that hi-fi doesn’t have to be limited to vast component systems and artisanal hand-crafted phono cartridges. I know I was convinced that bigger isn’t always better, that stacking more and more shiny metal boxes won’t necessarily get me closer to what I want.
What I want is fun and good music. That’s what the LSXes provide. Sure, the apps aren’t great, but that’s far from a deal-breaker. The LSXes sound fantastic; they’re simple and easy to set up; they’re surprisingly versatile and portable; and they’re genuinely affordable. They aren’t the future of hi-fi, but they’re definitely one of the futures. From now on, if a normal person in real life asks me how to get into this hobby, I’m going to recommend the LSXes or something like them. I think that more or less says it all.
RUSSELL K RED 120 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
June 30, 2019 Comments Off on RUSSELL K RED 120 FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER REVIEW
“This is an unusually revealing loudspeaker that more than makes up for its diminutive stature with the sheer level of detail that it can extract from the signal. It’s clearly a slave to whatever comes down the cable and manages to expose an awful lot of musical detail in a fabulously coherent manner. ‘Coherent’ is the key word; the Russell K Red 120 may not produce the biggest image in the world or have the most muscular dynamics but it can deliver the music precisely and effortlessly in time. There is no sense of time smear and in this respect it deserves to be ranked alongside the best that Rega, Neat, and a few others have done. The Red 120 doesn’t look like great value when compared with the other floorstander I reviewed this month (Audiovector QR5) but looks can be very deceptive. Musical enjoyment is not a visual thing it’s a sonic trick that only really works when the timing is spot on. And with the Red 120 that is always the case.
Wilson Benesch Eminence Loudspeaker $235,000 Review
June 29, 2019 Comments Off on Wilson Benesch Eminence Loudspeaker $235,000 Review
“Although many loudspeakers have very flat frequency response, the Eminence went a step further by combining tonal neutrality with a colorlessness that served as a blank canvas upon which instrumental timbre could be portrayed with sensational realism and vividness. The speaker didn’t impose its own tincture on tone colors that would have diluted their vibrance. Not only did instrumental and vocal timbres sound more “alive”; they were also differentiated from each other more clearly. The result was that each instrument in an ensemble was its own entity, more vividly present. It was like looking at a multi-hued photograph printed on pure white, rather than slightly grey, paper. This impression was heightened by a stunning sense of openness through the midrange and top octaves. There was a gossamer-like sense of the music existing independently of the speakers, unencumbered, and with the impression that a lid had been removed from the top octave.
The midrange had an electrostat-like directness and immediacy that were sensational. Brass and woodwinds were reproduced with an unfettered dynamic life and visceral presence. Trumpets had a full measure of high-frequency energy without sounding hard, brittle, or metallic. Freddie Hubbard’s instrument on his composition “Byrdlike” from the George Cables album Cables’ Vision was richly portrayed, with just the right balance of immediacy and liquidity. Piano was particularly well-served by the Eminence’s freedom from dynamic constraints, the purity and clarity of its midband, and its exquisite resolution of lower registers. I particularly enjoyed how the Eminence conveyed the way pianist Brad Mehldau’s left hand creates counterpoint with his right, weaving in melodic developments with equal facility in his right and left hands (and sometimes simultaneously) and in the process seemingly improvising an entirely new composition. The colorlessness of the midrange was apparent on vocals, rendering them with outstanding clarity. The Eminence’s reproduction of vocals was a bit understated spatially compared with many other speakers, presenting voices along the loudspeaker plane rather than projecting them forward. It was a more subtle and sophisticated perspective that tended to draw me in.”
Wilson Audio TuneTot £10,998 Review
June 25, 2019 Comments Off on Wilson Audio TuneTot £10,998 Review
“This is a very neutral and revealing loudspeaker and one that easily shows the characteristics of the components it’s partnered with. Both the aforementioned Musical Fidelity M6 500i amplifier and my resident Naim Supernait 2 integrated are able to provide perfectly solid bases for the TuneTot to demonstrate its incredible spaciousness and exceptional detail retrieval, but I have little doubt that moving further up market will yield even greater rewards – provided, of course, that you have a reasonable amount of power at your disposal.
Best of all is that the TuneTot never demands a constant supply of perfectly mastered material to deliver on its virtues. My music library contains more than a few rough diamonds and no journey into these areas leaves me unhappy with the results as it consistently delivers an engaging performance without fear or favour on every occasion. The balanced manner in which it allows you to hear the limitations on some recordings its fed while effortlessly connecting with and delivering the music’s emotional core is one that is perfectly judged.
Audiophilepure 
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