Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mayfly-mf-201-loudspeaker

The 201s’ internal skyline diffuser succeeds not just as an intriguing novelty but as a factor in the excellent sonics these speakers produce. How big that factor is, only Trevor May knows. It would be impossible for the rest of us to say until we listen to the standard MayFlys as well as to a neutered version, with that complex wave trap cut out and replaced by, say, fiberglass or acoustic foam.

Not that it matters. For all anyone cares, the enclosures can be filled with tea leaves and old sneakers, as long as it sounds good.

Happily, the sound of the 201s—diffuser and all—varies from very good to stellar. Though slow to quicken the pulse, these speakers are not shy or retiring, but you may have to take the time to find the right placement. Yes, sometimes I found myself wanting a little more bite from the MayFlys, to really convey the brainstem-shaking power of Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song” or Rage Against the Machine’s “Bombtrack.” Then again, with 95% of the recordings I played, muscular rock included, the MayFlys were satisfying and often beguiling. I won’t compose an Iliad to sing their praises, but they garner an easy recommendation.

https://www.stereonet.com/au/reviews/devialet-phantom-ii-98db-stereo-wireless-speaker-review

In the Phantom II 98dB, Devialet has succeeded in taking all the quality and character that made the original Phantom speaker so good, and managed to significantly shrink it while still retaining its very high performance. The Phantom II has been elevated to true wireless hi-fi status by introducing the ability to stereo-pair these units. Incredibly, despite the ear-pleasing performance, it’s still the striking aesthetic and unconventional bass driver design that makes it a talking point in any room – and thanks to its wireless integration, every room. 

The inevitable trade-off between bass performance, soundstage, and performance in the rest of the frequency spectrum were also smaller, particularly as sound levels rose. The transitions to the upper bass and then the lower midrange were smoother and better articulated and this improved strings like the cello and bass, bass guitar, percussion, and even some aspects of the lower notes in larger brass instruments. In at least a few cases, it also seemed to improve deeper male voices. 

If you want to impress your friends, you can do so by demonstrating bass drum strikes on the Reference Recordings version of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man [Reference Recordings RRT-93CD]. However, any truly demanding recording of bass guitar will do as well, along with recordings of electronic music that push bass to the limits. The Valor emerges as far more coherent and focused in integrating the deep bass and the rest of the music than most of the top-priced speakers I’ve heard that rely on large, separate subwoofers. 

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1081-atc-scm40-loudspeakers

The ATC SCM40 is an extraordinary loudspeaker at this price and it’s very hard for me to think of anything that comes close, even at twice its cost. There are speakers that reveal more at very low listening levels—my own Naim SBLs, for example—but the SCM40s opened up and took a clear lead once the volume rose a little. The ATCs are beautifully built, easy to accommodate, possess world-class dynamics, deliver a powerful full-bandwidth sound, and are blessed with what I think is the world’s best midrange driver. Fed by good sources and driven with enough power, they delivered superb transparency and soundstaging. With their refined new tweeter they are more tolerant of poor recordings than many loudspeakers at this level. The SCM40s had astonishing timing and speed—there was zero overhang, and transient sounds were delivered like a bullet through a plate-glass window. They could groove and rock with the best, yet displayed superb delicacy on classical instruments or solo piano.

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distortions and colorations, but they never sound dry or overdamped and they have impeccably natural timbre. Their transient behavior is absolutely impressive, bordering on what the Magicos can do and certainly not what I am accustomed to hearing from Magnepan or Apogee. And in addition to sounding technically impressive, they also move me emotionally. So what’s missing, one might ask. Well, that would be bass impact and overall slam, and to a lesser extent, soundstage depth. But do note that it’s not bass depth that is missing, only the kind of “kick” that you get with cone drivers.

But for a speaker costing 6000 euros, I’d say that is a major achievement. There’s no such thing as the perfect speaker and there will always be lesser aspects. Certainly with cabinet speakers. So, if you are in the market for an ultra-revealing speaker and your musical diet does not lean very heavily on metal or hard-rock, the DP-107’s could be ideal.

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1657-klipsch-la-scala-al5-loudspeakers

So what was there to do at that point other than nip downstairs and listen to The Wall from start to finish. It’s a glorious album, huge in scope and huge in its ability to reach through time, always managing to sound fresh through the years I’ve been listening to it. My pressing of choice is the Japanese Sony (LP, Sony 4OAP 1750-1); it just slightly betters the 2017 reissue. About halfway through “One of My Turns,” when Pink loses his shit and starts throwing stuff around, the quick transition slammed me back in my seat and for the first time, made me focus on how the keyboards help drive this track. I also took note of the way the La Scala’s fairly sharp bass cut-off made me miss some of the power of Mason’s kick drum and Waters’s bass. With this track in particular, and with bass-forward music in general, I realized that when I get my own huge industrial loft and end up purchasing my own pair of La Scalas, I’ll definitely want a couple of equally large, equally powerful subwoofers to flesh out the range below 50Hz.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2021/10/26/vb3y90of0oqqvmqk0v9ptmop9rv3yb

The Focal Aria K2 936 takes a maximalist approach to music reproduction. That doesn’t mean extreme, as no aspect of its performance is out of balance. Rather, for the price they offer a lot of everything. Extreme resolution and musicality. Macro and microdynamics. Serious air moving capability and enjoyable low volume music making. They can rock out while maintaining their composure. The only thing they don’t do is make apologies for mediocre source material. That, combined with their large stature, makes squeezing the best performance from them a bit of a commitment. For those able to afford the $6598/pair Focal Aria K2 936 Loudspeaker, they will provide an immersive musical experience. An essential audition. 

https://www.hifinews.com/content/wilson-audio-alexx-v-loudspeaker

What the Alexx V represents, to this veteran Wilson listener, is the utopian midpoint between the WATT’s focus and scale of the Chronosonic XVX. This enormous system delivers the soundstage and presence expected of a coffin-sized construct, yet it produces detail and precision to rival any point-source. It’s dangerous to say these words, but here goes… the Alexx V is the best damned speaker I have ever heard.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/pmc-fact-fenestria

They image superbly for such large boxes – thanks no doubt to the well controlled cabinet resonances – delivering a huge and expansive presentation that still has instruments and other sounds locked solidly in place. These PMCs dig up so much in the way of low-level detail that it’s easy to hear the acoustic clues that describe the scale and characteristics of the recording venue, making it a breeze to place the orchestra within that space.

These floorstanders are astoundingly good in the way they render dynamic shifts too. Forceful crescendos are rendered with conviction, which is no surprise given the price level. More impressive and unusual is the way the Fenestrias handle the nuances, the slight changes in intensity that communicate, say, the emotion in a voice or change in emphasis in the way a piano key is played. This is brought home when we listen to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and find it comes through with a level of authenticity that’s rare in hi-fi. We can’t recall testing another speaker that reproduces the harmonically rich sound of a full-size piano with such realistic dynamic expression and accurate sense of scale. There’s an authority in the Fenestria’s presentation that’s hugely appealing.