Audiophilepure

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/wilson-audio-wamm-master-chronosonic-an-audiophile-bucket-list-item-checked-r1292/

WAMM is my Mount Everest of loudspeakers, capable of presenting an entire symphonic orchestra or an acoustic singer / songwriter on stage right in one’s listening room. I often couldn’t believe what I was hearing when listening to music I know very well. The separation of musicians and instruments was likely the most amazing aspect of what I heard. It was the exact opposite of an entire orchestra that emanates from two loudspeakers. The WAMM’s presentation made Stravinsky Conducts Le Sacre du Printemps (Columbia Symphony Orchestra) sound like there was a loudspeaker for each musician on stage. The separation was mind blowing, and the entire performance retained amazing delicacy, transients, and musical engagement like I’d never experience.

I didn’t set out to write about this listening experience, but the more I listened to the WAMM Master Chronosonic the more I thought I had to at least share a little bit of what I heard with everyone who may never get the opportunity. Only 70 pairs of WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeakers will ever be built, and the cost is certainly prohibitive for most people, including myself. I have to thank The Audio Salon in Santa Monica, CA for enabling this bucket list audio experience. The WAMM Master Chronosonic checks an item off my bucket list, and checks absolutely every sonic box imaginable for those of us who love music.

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/yg-acoustics-carmel-3

Get past this trait and there remains so much to admire. For starters, the Carmel 3 are almost shocking punchy for their size. They thump out low notes with real venom and with a scarcely believable amount of muscle. These may be relatively small but the combination of ultra-rigid aluminium cabinet, highly developed drivers and carefully calibrated crossover results in a presentation of considerable authority. They have a sonic boldness that’s hugely appealing. 

Play Jay Z’s Already Home, and these towers don’t hold back. The bass hits hard and true while the robust solidity at higher frequencies has to be admired. Rhythmic drive is surefooted, without quite sounding enthusiastic. But, it is still good enough to convey the hard-charging nature of the music well. Move away from the more muscular aspects of music replay and you will find that these speakers dig deep into the production and uncover plenty of detail. Importantly, all that information is organised with care to produce a cohesive and musical presentation.  

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/quad-revela-1

The Quads have a claimed sensitivity of 86dB/W/m and a nominal impedance of 6 ohms, with a minimum stated at 4.1 ohms. Those figures put them roughly in the same ballpark as rivals such as the Award-winning KEF R3 Meta (£1900 / $2200 / AU$3900) and the Neat Petite Classic (£1995 / $2500 / AU$3999). Regardless, you’ll need a decent amplifier to drive them to get the best results – a decent starting point would be the Arcam A15, but we wouldn’t deter you from going a little higher to the Naim Nait XS3 (£2499 / $3999).

Be aware that you’ll need to take care in terms of system matching with the Revela 1, as they can be fussy when it comes to flaws and harshness in recordings and partnering kit. There’s an overly hard edge to the soaring vocals on India Arie’s Ready For Love as the vocalist hammers home the high notes, a quirk that the Revela highlight rather than taking in their stride. 

We angle the speakers slightly inwards so that their axis crosses behind our heads. Placing the Revela 1 too close to the wall makes an already rather soft bass feel excessively flabby and amorphous, while moving the units to their preferred \

https://www.hifinews.com/content/burmester-b38

Listening to the B38, I was reminded of that famous commercial from Heineken about refreshing the parts that other beers cannot reach. The impact of this speaker’s 32cm woofer – unusually large for even a floorstander at this price – is immediately noticeable, delivering a bass performance with real extension, plus grip and control. Coupled to succinct, clean highs from the AMT tweeter, the resulting sound has plenty of dynamism, and the voicing shows no desire to add extra warmth to what’s already on the track. There’s energy and liveliness; a direct feel to the sound that’s simpatico with the loudspeaker’s physical style.

It’s a performance that worked wonders with Daft Punk’s ‘Da Funk’ [Homework; Parlophone CDV 2821], which begins with a deep, propulsive electronic bassline and rat-a-tat percussion underpinned by a thudding kick drum. Each element landed with rapid attack and decay, the space between beats making it easy to latch on to its nightclub groove. Furthermore, even at a listening level that could be described as anti-social, the B38 didn’t lose its clean, composed nature.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/diptyque-dp-115-speakers-planar-magnetic-attraction

First, the caveats. Unsurprisingly, high-performance sound comes at a cost. That cost is literal; the MSRP of $12K is the highest of any speakers I have reviewed for this magazine. You also need to have a beefy amp to drive these speakers properly, a bargain AVR will not do the trick. So, you have to invest in speakers and power. Plus, the 40 Hz extension is pretty much determined by the laws of physics, so if you want to play deeper you need a sub that can keep up with speakers of this quality, representing another sizable investment.

But if you do take that path, the reward is tremendous. In previous issues, I have discussed how I have begun to weigh the benefits of fewer but better channels versus adding ever more speakers to a system. These days, a 13.4.6 system is doable with a high-end AVR. But the bottom line is maxing out an AVR like that costs even more than buying a nice stereo, and yet these days even high-end 2-channel gear accommodates eARC and streaming, so it really is OK to put a pair of awesome speakers in your living room, use them for everything, and call it a day.

I listened to the Dynaudio Emit 10 speakers using Qobuz high res streaming through a laboratory-grade soundcard balanced output into Parasound JC 1+ monoblock power amplifiers. The speakers were placed on stands 10 feet apart, toed in.

Below are the standard albums that I use for reviews. I don’t use all of them for every review, but I include some for each of the factors that I want to listen for, such as violin smoothness, sibilance, male and female voices, bass punch, etc. I also listen to new music releases for some variety, but the main opinions are based on the standard albums because I know what they are supposed to sound like