Audiophilepure

The bass produced by the active dual 12-inch woofers felt powerful enough to scramble your insides in that basement listening space. It was tight, visceral, and unrelenting. At times and depending on the track I felt, while fun, the bass level might have been a little too much for that room. This is saying something as I’ve heard all manner of speakers and subwoofers in Craig’s basement over the years, and while I loved the powerful bass for most tracks, on select others I came away thinking the bass was a bit too much on certain tracks. The way Craig had the speakers configured with the Marantz AV10 pre-pro allowed for adjustments to the bass levels. I didn’t ask him to turn it down as the room pressurization was too enjoyable. If one is planning to bi-amp the Focus XD while using a standard stereo preamp and some Y-cables, then getting the optional Nobsound external attenuation box (mentioned in the Design section) might be a good idea.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/jbl-4329p-active-loudspeaker

Wanting to move on to highest-resolution playback, I connected the speakers together with their CAT5e tether and plugged an Ethernet cable into the primary speaker. I selected the network/streaming input on the JBL remote and fired up Roon software on my office desktop computer, which was set up as a Roon Core. It found the JBL speakers on the network, noting that they were not “Roon Tested” but were available as a designated endpoint. I selected them and started streaming music from my own library and Qobuz. Although JBL folks didn’t say the speakers needed break-in time, all new woofers, in my experience, benefit from some limbering up, so I played music for hours on end for a few days. By the third day, the bass was sounding deeper, fuller, and less like it was pushing against the tide. The horn tweeters seemed a little less jangly, and the bass-treble balance settled in. I felt refreshed from all the hard rock, metal, and old-school hip-hop I’d played as the speakers worked out their birth pangs.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/sonus-faber-homage-amati-g5-loudspeaker

Meanwhile, the two G5 bass drivers, with their ‘ultralight CCAW voice coils’ and neodymium-boosted magnet, work into a larger vented enclosure, but even this is unusual. Its use of ‘Stealth Ultraflex’ bass tuning, realised as long alloy slots that exit via the speaker’s spine, aim to reduce the size of bass chamber required for a given LF extension while also smoothing out the airflow.

They’re handsome beasts, these Amati speakers, taking their name from Nicolò Amati, active in the 17th century as part of a dynasty of violin makers stretching back to his grandfather Andrea, who first formulated the modern shape of the violin, viola, and cello. Nicolò is acknowledged as the greatest of the family, and later had as his student Andrea Guarneri, and possibly Antonio Stradivari (though this is disputed).

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0423/Alsyvox_Audio_Design_Botticelli_X_Loudspeaker_Review.htm

Over our entire day of listening, the resultant degree of coherence the Botticelli effortlessly delivered, its ability to convincingly speak with one continuous voice, was simply extraordinary. That voice is full-bodied, replete with the complex harmonic structures of individual instrumental accents that it presents with an overall tonal balance that is as faultless as I’ve ever experienced from any ribbon driver-based loudspeaker. As such, the piano was superbly represented time and time again, and the Botticelli’s ability to convey micro-dynamic shadings, combined with its truthful depiction of timbre, was simply and convincingly real sounding. Tone color is richly vibrant and texturally complete. Instrumental decay is portrayed exceptionally faithfully, with a sense of unrestricted speed that allowed for a very natural interpretation of its natural linger and air, all attributes of their remarkable coherence and astonishing speed.

To my ears and sensibilities, Daniele Coen’s Alsyvox Botticelli X not only clearly represents the state of the art as currently applied to the category of planar dynamic loudspeakers, but they are so easy to listen to, so engrossingly musical, and so emotionally engaging, that they would be my first choice in their price point, a rather ambitious range that includes such “fan” favorites as the Børresen Acoustics 05 or the Wilson Audio Alexx V.

Over the last 3 years, I have added the Harbeth SHL5 Plus XD / MJ Acoustics Kensington subwoofer, Sonus faber Maxima Amitor / Gravis VI subwoofers, and the Vaughan Line Array Major/MJ Acoustics Kensington subwoofers to my personal reference speaker systems. All are outstanding performers within their limits.

The Focus XD has taken the position within my personal reference speakers, as my (until something knocks them off the top) ultimate reference loudspeaker system. They best the above-mentioned reference speakers at every level. They play deeper, with less distortion, and with a sense of ease that the other speakers cannot quite accomplish and do so in an elegant package. They are more than highly recommended: they are the reason one might ask ‘why pay more?’

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/jbl-4305p-studio-monitor

Of course, in absolute terms the JBL 4305P Studio Monitor offer a lot for very little in a hi-fi system context – built-in access to a world of music streams, the opportunity to add external sources, and a bigger, clearer, punchier sound than anything else we’ve heard out of a two-box system at this price level. For many people, this will rightfully be enough system… until the inevitable upgrade bug kicks in, that is.

The 4305P may be some sonic refinement and dynamic expression short of being heralded ‘miniature marvels’, but they’re much closer to that description than that of ‘try-hard do-it-alls’. Here we have yet another likeable set of JBL speakers, then.