Audiophilepure

I placed the Concertino G4 on their stands about eight feet apart, a foot and a half off the front wall, with a toe-in that crossed their main axis about six inches behind my head. Speaker cables were the AudioQuest Rocket 33, and the amplifier was a Benchmark AHB2. Music was almost exclusively streamed in 24/192 from Qobuz. When a sub was used, it was the SVS Micro 3000, though I only used it to see if the added bass extension was worthwhile. They played together well, and adding a sub will give you a more tactile experience in the low end.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2025/5/24/galion-ts-voyager-tl-speaker

I listened to GoGo Penguin’s latest Fallowfield Loops (2025) and the separation of piano, synths, bass, and percussion sections flowed masterfully, with decay done right and fullness in sound dynamics as well. Continuing with Electronica, Zero 7’s song “Look Up” from When it Falls (2004) shone with a center string section at the beginning and synths and drums on the left and right channels. It was a pleasant, immersive experience.  

Classical music can be challenging for some speakers; soundstage and separation are lacking in sound if there isn’t a good mid-frequency, but with the Voyager speakers, the orchestras filled the room with ease. Brahms’s Third Symphony under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Concertgebouw (2025) gave a strong showing. Gardiner’s subtle use of strings (compared to his recording with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique from 2009 with “period” instruments that exploded with sound) was a regal performance.

My initial visual impression of them was fairly wow!—their solid bamboo cabinets and stands are truly beautiful, and bamboo is a great choice in terms of global sustainability. Dustin works with the same cabinetmakers in China that Vera-Fi Audio uses for their loudspeakers; I’ve raved about the seamless appearance of the Vanguard Scout monitors and Caldera subs, and the ONO Tone Labs a3’s are even more strikingly beautiful! The appearance of the a3 cabinets is on par with loudspeakers I’ve seen that retail for many multiples of their $5995 MSRP. The available matching p3 pedestal stands ($995) are manufactured in the same shop; they’re the perfect match to the a3’s in terms of appearance and ergonomics. The speakers and stands are available for purchase individually, but buying them together will save you $500. The stands are exceptionally well-made, and pairing them with the a3’s adds an additional level of coolness to the overall impression. Dustin offers the a3 in satin finish natural or carbonized bamboo; its structural rigidity obviates the need for internal bracing, and the absence of any veneers makes the cabinet exteriors quite durable. The review pair was supplied in the slightly darker carbonized bamboo, which in combination with the matching stands presented a striking appearance.

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0505/magnepan36.htm

This type of tweeter must be experienced in a proper high-end audio system to be understood in my humble opinion. Why? Because it is not just a high-frequency reproducer like a dome or smaller ribbon tweeters. The Magnepan ribbon covers a very wide range of frequencies, from 40kHz to below 2kHz to be exact. Going down to 2kHz is quite low for a tweeter yet it never seems to suffer from breakup as I have heard from lesser drivers. What does this all mean to you? It means incredibly smooth upper-frequency reproduction without all those peaks and dips due to crossover parts or horribly designed crossover networks getting in the way of the music. In fact, the crossover for the 3.6 is extremely well designed and the icing on the cake is that it presents an almost flat 4 Ohm load to your amplifier.

I make no secret that my favorite inexpensive (around $2,400 when new, now available used for under $1,000) dynamic cone speaker is the KEF 104/2. This speaker, like the 3.6 presents a very flat 4 Ohm impedance curve. What seems to happen in Audiophile Land is that once someone buys a speaker with a wide impedance curve they are forever going to Amplifier City buying new boxes. This can also usually be said about speakers that use very complicated crossover networks. If you can not count the individual crossover parts on two hands I try to strictly avoid these designs in general. Maybe my experiences are different than yours, yet in-home auditioning over ten different speakers within this past year has taught me something (I hope). Beware of wide impedance curves and complicated crossovers! This way may lead to Audiophile Neverosa. 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/stenheim-alumine-twofive-loudspeaker

I could just hear the 32Hz tone, which was boosted by my room’s lowest-frequency mode, but I couldn’t hear the 25Hz and 20Hz tones. The half-step–spaced tonebursts on Editor’s Choice spoke cleanly and evenly down to 63Hz, though there was some emphasis between 2kHz and 4kHz. I heard no audible wind noise from the port with the lowest-frequency tones, and the tonebursts and warble tones sounded clean, with no “doubling” (second-harmonic distortion). With the Stenheim speakers toed in to the listening position and the tweeters just below the height of my ears at 36″ from the floor, the dual-mono pink noise track on Editor’s Choice was reproduced as a stable central image. The high frequencies sounded smooth and the midrange uncolored. The noise sounded hollow if I stood up. Moving my head from side to side, I heard very little comb filtering.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/dynaudio-contour-20-be-standmount-speaker

With spring in the air, it was strange to hear the Christmas vibes of ‘Goose Snow Cone’, but Mann’s voice was portrayed so beautifully by the Contour 20 BEs it was worth a bit of cognitive dissonance. As a whole this song came together very organically, without a trace of stress. Moreover, the intimate nature of the album, which despite the title doesn’t feel depressing at all, was successfully conveyed.

English-born but residing in Gambia, Sona Jobarteh is not (yet) as well-known as her cousin, the late Toumani Diabaté. But as the first female kora player from a griot or djali family (the clans of West African musicians and storytellers which play an important social role), she’s been turning heads during a recent European tour. Her 2022 release Badinyaa Kumoo [AGBK22-2] sounded atmospheric and lively through the Contour 20 Black Editions, which not only evoked the richness of the five-stringed kora, but also Jobarteh’s breathtakingly dexterous playing on tracks like ‘Musolou’ or ‘Ballaké’.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1274-audiovector-trapeze-reimagined-loudspeaker

Should you buy this speaker? At nearly $20K, the Trapeze Ri is positioned in a crowded segment of the loudspeaker market and faces fierce competition, but it holds its own with confidence. This is a speaker for those who appreciate bold aesthetics, deep bass, and a rich, non-fatiguing presentation. It may not provide the same level of detail in a complex mix that some other speakers do, nor the same sharpness of imaging, but it offers an engaging musical experience nonetheless.

Whether you love the Trapeze Ri or hate it depends on your musical taste, the quality of your system’s components, and the nature of your listening room. My advice is to take a good hard listen. Try it first at your dealer. If you like what you hear, try it in your own listening room if you can. You may just fall under its spell.

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0625/Avantgarde_Acoustic_Colibri_C2_Hornspeaker_C18_Subwoofer_Review.htm

The Colibri system gave me a front-row seat to the recording session. All of the playing had more urgency than I had noticed before. I could tell every member of the L’Orchestre De La Suisse Romande was sitting on the edge of their seats, focused on Ernest Ansermet at the podium. These pieces, like many of Stravinsky’s, can fall apart if the musicians aren’t in lockstep.

With the Colibri system, I gained new appreciation for Ansermet’s direction as the L’Orchestre De La Suisse Romande meshed like a fine Swiss watch. I also had a pleasant surprise during my listening session with this wonderful disc. When I was absorbing the opening movement of the “Symphony in Three Movements”, I was treated to several bass drum smacks that shook my living room. I had no idea that my 65-year-old piece of vinyl had that hidden in the grooves.