Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1221-yg-acoustics-peaks-ascent-loudspeaker

I suppose I should trot out some classical stuff right now to get the taste of testosterone and stale cigarette smoke out of your mouth and tell you how civilized music sounds on the Ascents. My three-LP box of the Végh Quartet’s cycle of Béla Bartók’s string quartets (Telefunken SKH 25083-T/1-3) is a challenge—all sharp edges, elbows and knees sticking out at odd angles. So it takes a while to find the tune. I sat there, mouth agape, as the Ascents spread out a semicircle of musicians, each perfectly locked in position. This was true midrange magic. Again, the images were slightly larger than I’m used to—the wider positioning likely the cause—and just slightly ahead of the plane of the speakers, but so fully formed that I found my eyes darting left and right, looking for the musicians that I could clearly hear.

Back to the bass once more, because it gave me trouble at the beginning. I think it’s important to let you know that it was my room, not the speakers, that was fighting me. Throwing one of my old chestnuts onto the VPI told me worlds about the Ascent’s bottom end. Chet Baker’s Chet (LP, Riverside / Analogue Productions APJ 016) is just awash in tube juice—the entire album sounds like wet sex. Paul Chambers’s double bass sounds physically huge on this LP, and it’s easy for a speaker to miss out on the crisp leading edge that stops it from turning into mush. The Ascents handled this difficult instrument with the perfect balance of accuracy and extension. That single woofer cranked it out crisply on “If You Could See Me Now,” reproducing that initial bite while still retaining the room-enveloping bloom—the comfy pillow on which the track rests. Most importantly, there was no overhang whatsoever.

The Revela 2 extends the lineage of the S-5. It uses a similar formula, but improves. Did that new Butterworth crossover contribute to the wonderfully clean and almost undetectable crossover points? Likely. I also think the new wood-pulp and artificial-fiber drivers enhanced the overall easy-going flow, and help to provide the Revela 2 with a coherence that few speakers in this price range can provide. I’m sure the heavy and solid cabinets with the radiused edges and new internal bracing don’t hurt either. The outstanding cabinet construction could easily lead you to believe these speakers were more expensive.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/bowers-wilkins-801-d4-signature-loudspeaker

I spent a couple of weeks running them in, loud and hard and soft and sweet, playing all kinds of music, internet radio—even using them as the world’s most expensive TV speakers, all in the interest of loosening them up and getting them to their ideal operating condition. Over that time, I didn’t hear much change in the top end or midrange, but the bass got bigger, especially deep bass. On J.S. Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, played by Virgil Fox on the direct-to-disc LP The Fox Touch Volume One (Crystal Clear Records CCS-7001), the famous growl and rumble of the biggest pipes in the former Crystal Cathedral was satisfyingly room-shaking after this multiday sound workout, whereas at first it sounded too constrained.

The speakers were located roughly where my larger-footprint 808s had been, but at this point, their sound didn’t seem to fill the room as much. Was it just a matter of me adjusting to a modern, more pronounced tweeter, or did their position need adjusting?

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1848-arendal-sound-1723-tower-s-loudspeaker

My first impression of the Tower S was that it’s built like a tank. As I mentioned, this instilled some unfounded notions in my mind about how it must sound. Those preconceptions, it turned out, were in fact correct. The bombastic “War Dance,” from Respighi: Belkis, Queen of Sheba Suite (CD, Reference Recordings RR-95CD), with the Minnesota Orchestra, was delivered with ease by the Arendals in all its power and drive. During my time with the Arendals, I also had an SVS SB-4000 subwoofer at my disposal and could have added it to the mix. But the Arendals generated such tight, solid bass, there was no need for a subwoofer (at least not for music).

Within the bounds of volume level I could tolerate, the sonic character of the Tower S remained the same. If you enjoy loud playback, the Arendals will oblige. As all other speakers, they too have their limits, but I never approached them. A shortcoming I did notice occurred midway through “War Dance,” when a solo clarinet enters. On some speakers, this clarinet passage captivates your attention as it gracefully floats in space. Not so much with the Arendals. The clarinet was reproduced clearly enough; it just didn’t have the presence to command the spotlight.

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/tannoy-stirling-iii-lz-special-edition

Tonally, these Tannoys sound lean and short of natural warmth through the midrange, leaving voices and instruments sounding thinner and harder than they should, which also contributes to a cluttered feel to the sound. We play around with the front panel settings for tweeter energy and roll-off but none of it helps as the issues have to do with quality rather than level.

Bass performance is also flawed. Tannoy’s engineers have worked hard on the porting arrangement in the cabinet, but the results aren’t great. The Stirling can dig relatively deeply, but compared to the ATC SCM50 speakers when playing bass fests like Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar OST or Massive Attack’s Heligoland set, there is a notable shortfall of grip and definition. A better grasp of rhythmic drive and greater timing precision in general would be nice too.