Voxativ 9.87 Loudspeaker $49,990 Review
January 15, 2019 § Leave a comment
“Now you might think this frequency/horn glitch would be a disqualifying flaw. But it isn’t. The problem simply isn’t large enough or pervasive enough to matter that much. (And I’ve discovered that it vanishes almost completely with Voxativ’s own 805 integrated amp, which has been voiced expressly for the 9.87.) Compared to what I’ve heard from every other horn speaker, this is a smooth, neutral driver in a superior horn enclosure. Moreover, the Voxativ’s smidgeon of cupped-hands coloration in the upper mids is more than counterbalanced (as already noted) by the terrific dynamic energy and astonishingly high resolution of detail the speaker brings to every kind of acoustic music. The 9.87 makes instrumentalists (including Chet Baker, whom the Voxativ—and the Voxativ alone—tells me was recorded by a separate mic on vocals) sound so alive and present, so “there,” that I’m perfectly willing to forgive it its slight touch of, uh, horniness.”
