Audiophilepure

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/paradigm-persona-b

The Persona B does things I’ve never heard a loudspeaker do before, although it can sometimes struggle to do some of the things I enjoy about other designs. It’s akin to owning a Lamborghini – a staggering work of high-end engineering with breakneck acceleration and laser sharp handling that’s not ideal for nipping down the shops for a pint of milk. It can depict every molecule of the soundscape, but can leave you wanting a little less insight and a bit more musicality. It’s an addictive listen nonetheless. Play any track you think you know well and it’s like you’re hearing it for the first time. There’s a new vivid ‘air’ around performers as though you’ve pushed right to the front row of the gig. The main challenge is that I sometimes yearn for a touch more warmth and low-end extension to balance the extraordinary midband depth and treble insight. Experimenting with volume and amplification exhibits gains in warmth and bass extension as you add greater power, but only to a point and this is where it becomes clear that the Persona B could be a world beater when allied to a subwoofer, just as it would in a home cinema setup

http://www.10audio.com/magico_s1-mkii.htm

I often move a review along, going from the audition and note-taking step to writing the actual review in a few months. The Magico speakers have been the primary speakers for over a year and have proved to be an excellent tool to understand the particular characteristics of whatever component was being evaluated upstream. In fact, most of the long-term upstream components including turntables, tonearms, phono stage, DAC, preamp and amplifier have all changed in the last year or so, mostly to get the best from the S1 Mk II. The truly excellent Magico S1 Mk II speakers have continued to be completely enjoyable music makers. But as with other gear, they are destined to be welcomed into a new home one day. That day is heavily dependent on me finally making up my mind which of the beautiful Magico S1 M-Coat colors is preferred. Happy listening!”

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

Surely such less-crowded pieces beg for intimacy? Smallness? Absolutely. And yet there was a feeling of all-embracing atmosphere, of presence, of – yes, air on a colossal scale. It happened again with Nancy Wilson’s Just For Now [Capitol Y1T 272; open-reel tape]. Her breathless, edgy take on ‘That’s Life’ was made all the more real by details which attested to the Wilson (Audio) bloodline. I wish Dave were alive to hear what Daryl’s design did with this 1967 treasure. You could sense the studio’s space.

So far, so subtle. But I really needed something that wouldn’t tax my tear glands, so I turned to the fabulous new release of The Crickets’ 1970s canon, A Long, Long Way From Lubbock [Rollercoaster RCCD3075]. It contains that lost masterpiece, Bubblegum, Bop, Ballads & Boogies, with Glen D Hardin, Elvis’ pianist, delivering the finest-ever cover of Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s ‘Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie-Woogie Flu’.”

Wilson Audio TuneTots with TuneTot stands

To wrap up, I believe what the Wilson Audio team has done here is quite special. Have a small space like a flat in London or New York? Otherwise limited on space? Or just have a nice home office and want audiophile sound like your larger listening room? This is a really superb solution. It’s really hard to fault these stands. They improve the mids and highs, are built like a tank and look elegant with the monitors and the isolation bases. And Daryl informs me that the posts on the stands come in all the standard TuneTot colours.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/spendor-d72

All the modifications have brought about a subtle but worthwhile improvement to the performance, without throwing out Spendor’s trademark civilised sound. What we hear is more of the music and less of the cabinet and drivers. The previous model was already pleasingly neutral and open, but the D7.2 goes much further. It’s as if Philip Swift and his team have zeroed in on the weaker aspects of the older speaker and sorted them in a focused and surgical way. The result is a crisp, open and even-sounding loudspeaker that’s now impressively engaging and surprisingly dynamic – especially for a floorstander of this price.

When it comes to tonality, the original wasn’t the most transparent but was well integrated from bottom to top and pleasingly warm. The new model doesn’t wander far from this path, but does sound fractionally lighter and brighter; there’s a little extra sparkle right across the frequency range. The Yamaha DX7 synthesiser on Sade’s The Sweetest Taboo sounds more atmospheric, with a sense that you’re able to hear the harmonics a little better. There’s more space around vocals and a lighter and more spry sound to the cymbals. This is all subtle, but makes for a more lifelike sound – despite remaining smooth and sophisticated.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/fyne-audio-f500

“Much more so than the Revel, the F500 is remarkably sensitive to setup and I play around with toe-in for some time before things begin to gel. This done, the F500 images like a dream, floating solid, three-dimensional images in front, behind and well to the sides of the enclosures, and those in the plane between them are just as well formed and precisely positioned. In this respect it’s better than the more expensive Revel.

I find it lifts the intended impact of all sorts of recordings, from early dense and murky Emerson, Lake & Palmer to Caravan Palace’s studio supercharged Chronologic, not least Leena, the track’s expansion and phase effects bouncing off the walls before the production rolls out a succession of depth-charge synth sweeps to die for.”

https://www.stereophile.com/content/acora-srb-loudspeaker

These aren’t ordinary small two-way monitors. They sound bigger than they are. They are capable of producing an expansive soundstage. They are highly detailed and fast, with a feeling of microdynamic precision and quick-footed effortlessness. They can start and stop on a dime.

Partnering amplifiers should be chosen with care. The VAC tubes worked especially well.

Bass extended deeper than expected and had good clarity and definition—and yet, in my room, the SRB’s tonal balance ran mostly neutral to slightly cool, which makes me think my room was perhaps a little too large for them and/ or could have benefited from more absorption in this setup.