Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/klipsch-la-scala-al5-loudspeaker

The Klipsch La Scalas have been in constant production for 59 years, longer than all but a tiny handful of audio products, and this is surely not an accident. (Happily, it also means that secondhand examples, available for a fraction of their current price, are relatively common.) They aren’t perfect, and they require a large room and a suitable amplifier, but they offer the closest thing I’ve heard to a musical performance taking place in my home. They do this as reliably with solo viola as they do with Minor Threat. Best of all, they provide as direct a route as I’ve found to hours of musical engagement—to embodying what Sakuma-san described as “endless energy with sorrow,” to which I would add love, rage, humor, and elation. $13,198 is an investment, but it will buy you some of the most sonically irrepressible and musically communicative speakers in the known cosmos. They just may sustain you for life.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/alta-audio-alec-loudspeaker

As an example, the bass guitar on Simply Red’s ‘Sad Old Red’ [Picture Book; Elektra EKT27 960 452-1] was superb – each note lithe, clean and crisp, along with hand movements along the fretboard. In contrast, on the Cigarettes After Sex track, the bass strings sounded indistinct and somewhat bloated. Moreover, the bassline on Jenny Jones’ ‘Blessed Northern Daughter’ [Go! Discs GODX 103] was gently glossed over, although the weight and punch of the kick drum went some way to disguise it.

Conversely, the vocal ‘pop’ in the second verse of ‘Somewhere, Somebody’ from Jennifer Warnes’ The Hunter [Private Music 261974], which is usually firmly in subwoofer-only territory, was easy to hear. In addition, the rib-tickling bass underpinning ‘Turning Ground’ on Caroline Lavelle’s Spirit [N-GRAM Recordings 4509 98137 2] was present and correct, and didn’t modulate the vocals at all – an unwanted effect I have heard before through lesser designs. When the Alecs get it right, they get it very right indeed.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/klipsch-la-scala-al5-loudspeaker

Last, while the La Scalas throw an enormous and cavernous soundstage, they do not create the razor-sharp sonic holographs of the kind conjured by certain contemporary minimonitors. But if that’s crucial to you, you probably aren’t considering these speakers.

In my room, the Klipsches’ frequency response sounded just a shade richer than neutral, with an extended but mellow top end and some added presence in the lower midrange and upper bass. This euphonic voicing made poor recordings easier to listen to and good recordings propulsive and fun. I wouldn’t change it for a flatter one, but frequency-response-graph enthusiasts for whom absolute neutrality is paramount should probably look elsewhere.

I walk away from this review very impressed. Aperion Audio has designed a remarkable speaker that sounds fantastic and has a stunningly beautiful exterior. Everything about the Verus III Concert V8T exudes quality and refinement. From the packing material to the sound and build quality, I enjoyed these speakers. I hope more people will discover this company that has been making speakers for more than 30 years in our very own Great Northwest. I highly recommend the Aperion Audio Verus III Concert V8T towers if you are in the market for powerful, beautiful, and musically detailed speakers.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/triangle-magellan-cello-40th-anniversary-loudspeaker

German/Sierra Leonean artist Patrice has built a reputation for fusing diverse musical influences in an idiosyncratic style that one reviewer, in France’s Le Monde newspaper, labelled ‘sweggae’. Therefore, after the Cello 40th Anniversary’s strong performance with the Wagnerian orchestral works, it was reassuring to discover the speakers were equally adept at genre-hopping to Patrice’s thoroughly modern-sounding Super Album [Supow Music BEC5611325; 44.1kHz/24-bit], a re-release of some of his previous hits embellished with new instrumentation.

Across the ska-like ‘Soulstorm’ to the rap-infused ‘Change Today’ and the laidback delicacy of ‘Hippies With Guns’, these celebratory Magellans homed in on Patrice’s vocal antics as well as the extra instrumentation, including the muted trumpets on ‘Change Today’ and the beatbox sounds on ‘Hippies…’ that are arrayed playfully around the stage. Just as with Danheim’s songs, here the Triangle speakers polished their signature performance – not overwhelming, not massive, but refined, classy and cultured.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/audiovector-r-8-arret%C3%A9-loudspeaker

The natural, open-voiced delivery of the R 8 Arreté also delivers wonderful string tones, so that Ensemble Allegria’s recording of Britten’s ‘Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge’ [Britten/Hagen/Strauss; Lawo Classics LWC 1241] offered crisp yet fluid performances enhanced by the striking sense of the musicians laid out before the listener. There was such speed and drive in the March of Variation 2, and Variation 5’s Bourée, while the final Fugue built superbly with attack in its growing scale.

The speakers are also completely at home with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins recording of Vaughan William’s 6th Symphony [Hyperion CDA68396], with fabulous drama and superb brass timbres. The massive orchestral scale is delivered without any loss of definition and insight, turning to wonderful fluidity as the movement’s tone calms.