Exposure releases the ‘no-nonsense’ 3510 CD player
Date: 2024-03-19
If the CD is a dying format, why are so many hi-fi manufacturers introducing new CD players? I’ve been pondering this question whilst perusing Exposure’s lastest press release. The British manufacturer has just announced a new CD player called the 3510.
The top-loading-plus-puck model puts a Burr-Brown PCM1704 chipset in a dual-mono configuration for analogue signal exit via a pair of rear-panel RCA sockets. Already have a DAC? The neighbouring coaxial and TOSLINK sockets allow the 3510 to be used as a CD transport. Exposure asserts that the 3510’s high-stability crystal clock and the transport mechanism’s power supply regulator ensure low-jitter performance.
Just as important as the DAC chip/s themselves is the 3510’s fully discrete output stage that also comes with “multiple stages of [power] supply regulation”. That power supply is overseen by a large toroidal transformer that has separate windings for the transport mechanism and the audio stages.
The 3510 is wrapped in an aluminium chassis with an extruded front panel. Interestingly, Exposure claims that turning off the front panel display with the supplied remote control can elevate the unit’s sound quality.
Back to our opening question. The CD remains the most practical and most affordable physical format available right now. That makes it the most easily collectible. Furthermore, unlike a download, the CD allows us to get hands-on with the format with the option to rip it to a hard-drive in minutes; that is, should we want to stream its contents across our home network or out in the street with Roon ARC or Plexamp. Lastly, what we listen to on CD isn’t tracked by a mega-corporation.
Exposure’s 3510 CD player is available now. Your can choice of black or silver.
呈現真實之美|TIDAL Grand Piano
Date: 2024-03-18
輯錄自《HiFi Review》
這次試聽TIDAL Grand Piano揚聲器,就證明了兩件事,第一,一個熟悉的場地與系統,還有各種同樣熟悉的線材、器材可以使用,將變數大幅減少,才可以真正了解一件器材;第二,德國TIDAL揚聲器的真正聲底,不同於先前所聽到的,更不是所謂的「陶瓷聲」。
新漢專屬
是次主角Grand Piano,未有在TIDAL官方網站出現,因為它是特別為新漢建業而設的獨立型號。
Grand Piano基於第三代Piano(G3)發展而成,從2/2.5路變成三路,單元亦增加了一隻。之所以說Piano G3是2/2.5路,因為它有三種設定,第一種是純二路分音,為細小房間而設;第二種是2.5路設定,適用於中型空間;最後一種同樣是2.5路,但低音有增益,明顯是為了應付較大空間。
起步點夠低
Piano G3建議功率為30W、最低,阻抗是3.2Ω,Grand Piano減至15W、阻抗不會降至4Ω以下,即是對擴音機的門檻下降了,不過,在聆聽時很輕易就察覺,Grand Piano擁有強大潛能,亦受得起力,可以由沿用組合起步,然後慢慢升級,感受當中變化。事實上,Grand Piano不算難推,算得上較為容易得到出色表現,只是距離上限還有很遠路程而已。
試音配套
鑑於TIDAL Grand Piano的身價,大房在身價上能夠匹配的器材並不多,dCS Rossini APEX Player+Clock、Boulder 1110+1160是最正路配搭。
反而其他配套就可以更加靈活,將兩台數碼訊源經Analysis Plus Power Oval 2 MK2電源線、一條Analysis Plus Silver Apex電源線(時鐘)取電;前級用Burmester Power Cord,取其高音比較柔順甜潤,中音相對飽滿。它們全數在inakustik AC-4500電源處理器上取電。
可動可靜
在搜集資料時,看到網路上有發燒友稱以前的TIDAL揚聲器,聲音太斯文,而且過分修飾。
不知道那位師兄聽過TIDAL哪個型號,而場地和配器又是如何,得到了這種印象。
高音修飾是可能出現在其他陶瓷和鑽石單元,令女聲變得嬌美甜潤,高音空氣多而悠長,令人聯想到高貴,甚至仙氣。
如果想要這種聲音,Grand Piano是可以做到的;不想要的話,亦可以輕易辦到。只因為Grand Piano可塑性高,固有取向不強,而且對於配套內每個環節,都十分敏感,想要甚麼聲音取向,取決於用家口味,以及有多少器材、線材可以嘗試。
Grand Piano實在反應敏銳,想要仔細調校的話,可以玩得不亦樂乎。但假如你只想簡單地享受高質素音樂重播,那麼利用高質素而中性的器材、線材,再加上一條相對飽滿圓滑的接線,就足以令Grand Piano表現出全能與寬容,對於不同音樂種類都有良好適應力,當然也是動靜皆宜,不會偏向斯文、修飾,或是粗獷、狠辣。
連貫而完整
在上文提到的配搭之下,Grand Piano聲音厚度與密度俱佳,而且不會過濃,厚薄距離大,中間層次亦細密,漸變十分線性,而沒有任何鋸齒式變化。
需要強調的是,現在聽不到任何所謂「物料聲底」,全頻非常連貫,個性一致,沒有斷層或是兩截聲,只有完整又貫穿所有頻段的TIDAL之聲。
綿密、細緻的變化,音色闊度,仔細的對比,還有強烈立體感,都顯出了Grand Piano身價。
Grand Piano不算很難推動,對擴音機要求在同級來說,下限出奇地低。然而,就算不會用慵懶去令你知道它可以承受更大、更高質素的功率訊號,但還是可以感受到,雖然聽得滿足,卻還是意猶未盡,可以更加盡興。
此外,Grand Piano雖然附有氣孔塞,不過由於低音雖寬鬆但收控速度很快很線性,所以只要空間不是小於450呎,或是後級控制力特別差,用得着氣孔塞的機會並不大。這顯出了Grand Piano的寬容度是全方位的。
點擊閱讀全文: https://reurl.cc/dL4MjD
釋放家庭劇院的全部潛力 |StormAudio ISR Fusion 20 環繞聲擴音機
Date: 2024-03-15
StormAudio 最新款 ISR Fusion 20 有望成為您能買到最好的 AV 擴音機。從卓越的 ISP MK3 和 Core 16 型號的性能來看,這款一體化環繞聲擴音機已經推出香港市場,如想購買或安排示範,可致電 2489 2269 本公司陳列室預約。......
PMC invests in Evovinyl™ to help bring a sustainable future to vinyl records
Date: 2024-03-13
PMC has invested in Evolution Music Ltd., the UK based company spearheading the development of Evovinyl, a plant-based alternative to the environmentally damaging PVC that is currently used to press vinyl records. The investment will assist in the quest to move the music industry toward a more sustainable future.
Peter Thomas, PMC’s founder and chairman, and keen environmentalist, was introduced to Marc Carey, CEO of Evolution Music, by a mutual friend and record producer, Bill Gautier (Paul McCartney, The Cure, Fleet Foxes). “I met with Bill and Marc at Evolution Music’s office where we talked about our shared passions for music, vinyl and the environment. Our conversation made me realise that while we are making products to replay music, and we love the sound and experience of vinyl, the creation of millions of records each year is very bad for the environment. Marc’s quest is a worthy one, of which I was keen to be a part.”
Global production of records accounts for around 30,000 tonnes of PVC per year (source - Disc International), and while that is a small percentage of the 40m tonnes of PVC produced each year, every sector has to do its bit to help reduce the damaging effects of this plastic.
PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, to give it its full name, has been described as the ‘most environmentally damaging plastic’ (source - Greenpeace), due to its production, use and disposal, all of which result in the release of toxic chlorine-based chemicals which build up in the water, air and food chain.
“Our main driver is a genuine concern for the environment. It is not greenwashing, but a real desire to try and do something to remove PVC from our industry,” says Peter. “We’re also going to be looking at this technology to see if we can use it to replace the plastic parts in PMC loudspeakers.”
“Everyone in the hi-fi industry should get behind this project. It’s not about PMC or me, but something much, much bigger than that. I have heard the latest test pressings and am able to confirm that they sound every bit as good as traditional records. Getting us on board, and hopefully bringing other members of the industry with us on this journey, will bring audiophile acclaim to the new product.”
The new material that has been developed is manufactured from sugar cane. It is a compostable product with no environmental impact upon disposal and has a sustainable ethos throughout the production process.
Marc Carey explains, “We needed this project to be as sustainable as possible, from production to disposal, and so the life cycle analysis is very important to us. Evolution will be working with an expert team as part of our R&D to complete a full LCA, to ensure that the people who grow the cane are working in a good environment and not using toxic fertilisers. This is not the case with some other so-called environmental alternatives to PVC.”
“It also potentially enables the record presses to run at a lower temperature than is required for PVC. Testing to date has shown a 30% energy saving if a plant switches entirely to this product. And it takes 50% less time to press a record, so big energy savings are possible.”
After five years’ R&D the Evovinyl product is finally ready for entry into the market place. The sound quality has been assessed by industry professionals such as Rob Cass, in-house producer at Abbey Road Studios, who was speechless when he learnt that it was made entirely from plants; and Peter Thomas, who confirms that its performance is indistinguishable from traditional vinyl. Like existing vinyl, it can be pressed in any colour in addition to black, and an added advantage of this new material, for audio use, is that it naturally dissipates static, preventing the attraction of dust.
Peter Thomas sums up his feelings, “So with the product finalised and the major record labels keen to get involved, with one that has pledged to move all production over to the new material; and a number of established artists, including a multi-Grammy winning artist who has expressed interest in their next album being pressed using Evovinyl, we are in a good position to make a positive change to the audio and music industries’ impact on the environment.”
For more about Evovinyl™, click here
VUMETER Review|PMC PRODIGY 1 BOOKSHELF LOUSPEAKERS
Date: 2024-03-12
Founded in the early 1990s by Peter Thomas (BBC) and Adrian Loader (FWD Bauch), and since then an essential reference for monitoring loudspeakers for the most renowned recording studios such as the BBC and record labels (notably Decca and Harmonia Mundi), the PC Audio (Professional Monitor Company) brand is now expanding its range of loudspeakers to offer home and consumer models offering the same expertise as its studio and audiophile models such as the Fact Fenestria. Presented at this year's High End trade show in Munich, the Prodigy range, the brand's new spearhead, comprises the Prodigy 5 floorstanding speaker and the Prodigy 1 bookshelf speaker. We had the pleasure of testing the latter for several days.
Dsigned and built in Great Britain by engineers Oliver Thomas and Elliot White with the same meticulousness as their other references, such as the more high-end Twenty series, PMC's new Prodigy 1 speakers are designed with versatility in mind. Compact and rectangular, they are made of MDF (medium-density fiberboard composite) approximately 25 mm (1) thick, and available only in a smooth black silk finish to great effect. Prodigy 1 can be installed on support feet (not supplied) to maximize their performance, as they position the drivers at an ideal height while offering enhanced stability. Magnetic fabric grilles are not supplied with the speakers, but are only available as an option. As for connectivity, there's no surprise: a simple terminal block is offered, placed in a small notch on the rear, and as for design, there's nothing revolutionary but a search for sobriety and finesse that blends easily into any environment. The Prodigy perpetuates PMC's technical heritage by integrating a 27 mm (1.1") soft dome tweeter, identical to that of the brand's renowned Result 6 monitor speaker, and a 130 mm (5.1”) long-throw natural fiber bass woofer, the aim being to «bring the studio home», says Oliver Thomas, PM's sales director and head of design.
But what really makes these loudspeakers stand out are the two technologies they incorporate, PMC's speciality Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) mounting and the use of a laminar port. Far from being fanciful, these technologies deliver deep, fast and punchy bass reproduction that's quite impressive for speakers of this size. Neither closed nor bass-reflex, an acoustic transmission line is a long duct that acts as a guide for waves emitted backwards to a vent. The line is covered with materials with a high capacity for selective wave absorption, reducing the effects of reflection and resonance, as well as the speed of propagation inside the loudspeaker enclosure, enabling finer, more precise adjustments. Complex to build and less widespread on the market, this type of assembly has proved its worth, enabling better highs and midrange control, while considerably improving performance at the lower end of the spectrum compared with a conventional assembly. The resonant frequency of the assembly is directly linked to the length of the line, which is 1.91 m for the model tested. Remarkable on paper, this principle remains very difficult to master, which is why very few manufacturers use it. The second technology used, again a PMC classic, is the integration of laminar aerodynamic vents (two for the Prodigy 5). Their special shape, incorporating a blade structure, helps to even out the air flow by dividing it into several channels, thus limiting any disturbance that might generate resistance. On the other hand, the vent increases efficiency, eliminates airborne noise and delivers bass with supreme synchronization and the widest possible dynamic range.
SET UP
Presented and heard in Munich, the Prodigy 1 aroused our curiosity and we were eager to examine them in greater depth. Weighing in at just 4.5 kg (9.9 lbs) each, the Prodigy 1 are light and compact, easily fitting alongside our equipment and requiring minimal space, making them ideal for placement on stands or furniture. Tested over many hours, these were paired with the Cyrus One HD amplifier and Esprit Beta cables. For sources, we used a selection of sonically demanding vinyls, such as Craft Recordings' recent reissues of Miles Davis' Workin' and Bill Evans' Waltz For Debby, as well as the new Silent Angel Rhein Z1 v2 audiophile music server for high-quality digital sources such as the latest Melody Gardot recording, in order to push these speakers into the most delicate segments of the sound spectrum.
THE SOUND
What immediately flatters our ears is the exceptional clarity offered by the Prodigy 1. Particularly transparent, as monitoring loudspeakers generally are, they bring the various vocal and instrumental performances to life with soft, open highs that do not lapse into excessive brilliance, and natural, lively midrange, developing a lively, immersive listening experience. A wide, fairly deep soundstage combined with agile, coherent and dynamic reproduction plunges us even deeper into the music, for an immersive listening experience that is particularly impressive for this type of loudspeaker. The quality of the bass produced by the speakers thanks to the active transmission line is also incredibly precise and well-damped, both faster and deeper, and above all with less distortion. The richness of detail is particularly striking, immersing us in intense, long-lasting sonic pleasure. This is striking when listening to vinyl, demonstrating incredible rigor in the rendering of Evans' crystalline piano notes, or Davis and Coltrane's savory descents of notes. The smooth, swaying notes of Melody Gardot's voice are also reproduced in a warm, energetic soundstage, giving the impression of being right there with her.
OUR CONCLUSION
The quality of the PMC Prodigy 1 loudspeakers is more than astonishing for this price range, with clarity, dynamics, precision in the placement of the musicians and, above all, a realistic, lively sound of the finest effect, while retaining the essence of the brand's studio and audiophile models. Resolutely transparent and particularly affordable, the Prodigy 1s are more than judiciously positioned in the entry-level audiophile speaker market. Even if this transparency may not suit all music-lover's ears, their performance and ability to fit into most listening spaces make them more than serious contenders with other speakers of the same price, and even with some of the higher end. PMC strikes hard with its new range, and the Prodigy 5 column version is even more impressive.
Appreciation of music on Burmester Reference Line 218 Power Amplifier reported
Date: 2024-03-11
德國柏林之聲以其器材名貴,聲音Hi-end級而著稱,是世界最頂級的發燒音響品牌之一。它的聲音包圍感強烈、清澈剔透、泛音特別豐富,尤其聽交響樂有一種金碧輝煌的感覺,讓你完全沉浸在音樂之中,你已經不用再去考慮聲音是否平衡,兩端延伸是否到位,這才是發燒級音樂重播的真諦所在,因為這種聲音已經令你無可挑剔!
Burmester Reference Line 的新一代 218 立體聲後級,上星期六在本公司陳列室舉行了一場音樂欣賞會,參加者深深體會到這款新後級的卓越聲音表現。218 是一款立體聲功率放大器,在 8Ω 喇叭負載時每聲道輸出為 165W。輸出遠高於其低一級 216 立體聲功率放大器(100W)。你可能認為它的輸出偏小。但明確的是即使這樣的輸出水平,驅動家用揚聲器也完全不會問題。同時,它在 4Ω 時每聲道輸出為 275W,在 2Ω 的每聲道輸出可以去到 400W。儘管 2Ω 對於功放來說是一個非常苛刻的負載,但 Burmester 很有信心地公開了這種情況下的輸出功率。
218 是旗艦 159 單聲道功放的衍生產品,因此,在各個方面都繼承了 159 的技術。首先,展示了X-AMP 超線性大動態的 A 類輸入設計和左/右聲道全對稱平衡架構,同時各級訊號放大採用 Direct-Coupling 設計。Direct-Coupling 的意思是「直接耦合」,是一種在訊號輸入不使用任何電容器的設計。雖然輸入的電容具有阻隔直流輸入等優點,但就音質而言,可以說是一把雙刃劍,它降低了聲音的純度,是造成失真的罪魁禍首。Burmester應用並完成了只對音質有利的訊號直接耦合電路,彌補了訊號經過電容器的失真和相位漂移缺點,展現了純粹為音質而設計的概念。
喇叭方面選用 218 同廠的新型號中價喇叭 B28 三路座地,展現出現代簡約的氣質。它採用一枚 AMT 氣動高音,能發出清晰、透明的聲音,而且反應快速。中音是一隻170mm身輕質硬的玻璃纖維振膜,搭配大尺寸的磁力系統與大音圈,能以再生精緻的細節且不失真。低音單元有兩隻同樣是170mm的玻璃纖維振膜長衝程設計,讓 B28 可以發出深沉的低音,強大磁力驅動具有更寬廣的動態。此外,218 的前級選用同廠 088 和 089 CD機 及黑膠盤 217。器材連接由Siltech Ruby Crown 系列線材組成。Siltech 紀念成立 40 週年而推出的 Ruby Crown,採用最新 S10 單晶銀導體。
這對整個系統聲音的第一印象就是難以言喻的幸福感,音樂表現出來的個性和表情變化,當中藏著無窮的樂趣。流水般的琴聲輕輕地產生波浪,但間又可以表現出冰雹般的強大衝擊力。強弱音區分清晰,對比非常明顯,提供清晰乾淨的臨場聲音,沒有參雜任何元素。活動中兩位主持 Raymond Chan 和 Andy Yu 各自準備了許多珍藏 LP 和 CD 作音樂示範,其中播放幾乎絕版的《蔡琴民歌》黑膠最為人受落,熟悉的曲目「被遺忘的時光」和「恰似你的溫柔」,以及《林子祥佐治地球40年》的限量版頭版黑膠,在這套系統中表現得淋漓盡致。其它的樂曲亦散發出「明亮」與「溫暖」的聲音,讓大家享受了一頓豐富多變的聽覺饗宴。
透過 159 項目的成功,使 Burmester 得到再次進化。就 218 功放而言,它實現了非常嚴謹的製造技術和任何人都難以模仿的獨特音色,但它並不是那種即使是真空管功放的追棒者也會接受的類型。它是強勁且反應迅速的固態擴音機之縮影。現在的Burmester已經演變成聲音更加平衡、音色更精緻、音樂性更強大的放大器。而且在立體空間表現上,就像除下一副舊眼鏡後再戴上新眼鏡一樣清晰明亮,在此感謝參加的所有朋友,有您們的支持使我們對音響的投入更專注!
THE SPEAKER SHACK review|Chord EpicX Speaker Cable
Date: 2024-03-06
The Chord Company keeps on pushing the envelope of performance from its range of speaker cables and interconnects with advances in the materials and the composition of their cables. Having used a wide range of Chord cables over the past 20 to 30 years whether it be for AV usage or my HiFi I have always found benefits with every upgrade and the Chord Epic cables have been in their range for quite some time now but with this latest iteration being the EpicX, derived from the award winning OdysseyX cables the EpicX features the XLPE dielectric insulation with a further PVC outer jacket and with 12 AWG silver plated oxygen free copper wires, the advantages of the EpicX is that it allows for excellent shielding from high frequency noise entering into the cables and affecting your music listening pleasure.
The Chord Company sent me custom 5M lengths for my evaluation and review fitted with the new Ohmic plugs, this is a fairly thick cable compared to my Rumour cables that I have been using in my system but it is still easily manipulated and flexible enough for such a high quality cable. The build quality and fit of plugs is exceptional and at £70 per metre and £120 for the Ohmic banana plugs you can easily see where your money has been spent with the build and quality to such a high standard.
Connected to the AVID HiFi EVO Four’s that I have just reviewed and settling down for some serious listening it is quite apparent that the soundstage has opened up and listening to Robert Lens excellent album Fragile on the 2xHD label Instruments have greater clarity with excellent separation in the soundstage, bass is more defined with excellent texture and solidity, the dynamics on track 1 Amoureuse have improved and imaging seems to be more focused than with Rumour cables. Track 3 Fragile the trumpet is projected centre stage and the timbre of the percussion and instruments sound more natural in their delivery and with track 4 Homage to Q the dynamics and impact is simply stunning, the EpicX cables allows the music to be heard fully and the AVID speakers to perform flawlessly, this is a beautiful album and with the EpicX speakers cables in place they have improved my listening pleasure of this wonderful album.
Keeping with the brilliance of Robert Len my next album is the beautifully composed Hope again on the 2xHD label and a 24bit 96kHz version, track 3 Lover Man (Oh Where can you Be) has a laid back sound yet the resolution and musicality that it is presented in is just wonderful, with the trumpet having a smooth and relaxing sound yet the percussion and guitar having a great ambient sound to this track, the level of detail in the higher frequencies is improved with shimmering cymbals in the background and the snap of the drums at even lower levels with good impact, bass also feels tighter than before. Track 6 Lets Stay Together shows how well my system with more or less a full loom of EpicX cables have upped the levels of performance, as I have Interconnects and a digital Coaxial EpicX and now the speaker cables connected, to provide a more detailed and defined sound stage. Track 11 Hallelujah sounds sublime with beautifully rendered piano notes and powerful trumpet, the EpicX speaker cables have managed to elevate the performance of my system with significant benefits to the sound and musicality of my system.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Considering the price point the EpicX speaker cables are better suited to my systems performance elevating the musical pleasure with superb detail retrieval and a more defined and solid bass delivery, ambient sounds can be heard more clearly with layers of detail that can be fully heard, they were not missing but not as clear sounding than they are now with the EpicX speaker cables in place.
一次精彩的聆聽體驗|OCTAVE Jubilee 家族迎來極緻新成員 Jubilee Ultimate
Date: 2024-03-05
儘管 AudioNec 已在高端音響行業發展了一段長時間,但最近 OCTAVE 老闆兼總設計師Andreas Hofmann 帶著他最新開發的兩台 Jubile Ultimate 單聲道後級作品前來拜訪。Ultimate 每台採用 8 支KT170 膽做推挽,每聲道輸出功率達 440 瓦。Jubile Ultimate 的到來,AudioNec 說:給我們帶來了重大啟示,將我們的 Evo 3 和 Diva XL 揚聲器提升到了前所未有的音樂聆聽水平, 這次精彩的聆聽體驗讓我們一聽難忘永記於心!
stereophile Review|Burmester 216 power amplifier
Date: 2024-03-04
When I was offered the opportunity to review a Burmester product—the 216 stereo power amplifier—I accepted immediately, mainly out of curiosity. Berlin-based Burmester is an important hi-fi brand, but I knew very little about the company and their products. What better way to learn more than to review one of their products?
Burmester's creation story
When you're building a hi-fi system, there's something right about starting with the preamp. It just makes sense. It's what Dieter Burmester did in building a hi-fi company.
The preamplifier is the operational hub of any hi-fi system (not counting systems that don't have a preamplifier), but that doesn't fully capture the preamp's import. The preamp is the brain but also the brainstem, the spinal cord, possibly the heart. Its impact on a system's sound may be less obvious than that of the loudspeakers, but that impact is nonetheless fundamental, with emphasis on the root word, "fundament": ground, foundation. ("Fundament," I've just learned from an online dictionary, can also mean a person's buttocks. Please try to forget that.)
Burmester started up in 1977 with the 777 preamplifier, which, as you can tell once you know Burmester's nomenclature, came into existence during July (the seventh month) of that year. Dieter Burmester, an engineer and the company's founder, was working in the medical equipment field as a consulting engineer. Dieter was also an audiophile. He was impressed with the performance of certain op-amps used in his test instruments. He assembled the 777 out of medical-equipment parts.
That's a piece of the Burmester origin story: The preamp came first, was fundamental. But every interesting story can be looked at from different points of view. Looking at it from another point of view, the history of Burmester goes back to an earlier point in Dieter Burmester's history. Dieter Burmester was a guitarist. His first instrument was electric bass. His tubed bass amplifier failed frequently. He studied electronics to figure out how to fix it. In time, he qualified as a radio and TV repair technician. Then he built his own, more reliable bass amplifier to take to gigs—and that was the start of his career in sound and electronics. If my math is right, this would have been around 1962, when he was 16 years old. You could trace the company's history back to that. Bass, then, is fundamental: the second fundament.
Returning to that preamp: Dieter was happy with the 777. He decided to set up a company. But the bank he approached for financing was skeptical. It doubted a lone engineer with little business experience could compete in a space dominated by big corporations. They chose not to give him his loan. So Dieter went ahead and built some preamps—20 777s—with his own hands and soldering iron. He sold them to friends at what was, for the time, a high price; online sources say the 777 cost as much as a car. Apparently, Dieter had wealthy friends, quite a few of them. The friends who bought the 777 were happy. That preamp must have been good.
Those 20 preamplifiers funded the company, no bank required. One of them made its way to a prominent Berlin hi-fi dealer, where a prominent critic for a prominent hi-fi magazine noticed it. (Getting noticed by a critic for a well-known hi-fi magazine is, as we all know, the key to success in this industry.) The following year—1978—Burmester GmbH was founded.
Told from this perspective, the next theme of the story—Burmester's third fundament—is the high-end thing. When it comes to luxury-class hi-fi, Burmester is no Johnny-come-lately. Burmester products were always expensive.
For a while, preamplifiers remained at Burmester's core. The company's second product, the 785, was also a preamplifier. It was quite different from its predecessor, smaller and simpler. The 777 had many knobs—tone controls, which could however be bypassed for those seeking purist sound. The 785 had separate left-and-right level controls—a balance control, in effect—plus the essentials: volume control and source selection. It was a bare-bones preamplifier.
From the 777 to the 785, the change with the most long-term significance was aesthetic: The 777 had a striking gold finish. The 785 was silver with a mirror finish. That finish became the company's aesthetic signature. I've never asked, but I suspect the finish was intended to send a message. "Transparency" isn't quite the right word—mirrors aren't transparent—but it's close: Burmester products reflect back at you whatever is on the recording.
Those early preamps, then, established the company's value system.
What about amplifiers?
Burmester's amplifier legacy is newer and less well-documented than that preamp-based origin story.
The first Burmester amplifier I recall knowing about was the 909, introduced in 1990. The 909 was quickly followed by the 911. Both were stereo. Simon Pope, who handles press relations for Burmester, told me that two amplifiers preceded these, both monoblocks: the 828 and the 850. The 850 was unique in that it came in two versions, one for speakers with nominal impedance of 4–8 ohms, another for 10–20 ohms. In an email, Pope described these early amplifiers as "aesthetically quite quirky" and said they "bear little resemblance to current products in the way that the 909 does."
The 909, then, was the origin of modern Burmester-amp DNA, while the smaller 911, introduced two years later, is the obvious ancestor of the amplifier under review, the 216, although there was a model in between, the 956.
The immediate predecessor of the 216, though—the 216's daddy—was the Burmester 159.
The kick inside
What this means in terms of technical design—circuit topology and so on—isn't completely clear. Pope took several of my more technical questions back to Burmester's engineering department, which sent back answers. Those answers are informative even if they don't quite add up to a whole, simple, technical story. Certain design principles are clear. Burmester believes in balanced/symmetrical design, direct-coupled input to output. The 216 possesses those attributes.
When I asked what had changed from the previous generation—from the 159—the first point made by the engineering team had to do with the "thermal concept," referred to elsewhere as the "cooling concept." In the 216, "there are now universal heat pipes that allow us to keep temperatures constant and low at any point within the cabinet. These allow for better thermal management, which gives us more freedom in design and helps [increase] the lifespan of the power amplifiers."
Other changes have resulted from the availability of new technologies, such as the microcontroller used in the protection circuit, which allows operation to be monitored from outside the signal path. "This allows us to achieve the operational reliability expected from a Burmester power amplifier that can easily handle difficult loads and creates effortless power delivery." Documentation I received includes a few other interesting details, such as "silver cable in the input section." Silver has higher conductivity than copper, but the difference is very small. Many claim that silver has a characteristic sound; some like it, others don't. Certainly silver is consistent with the Burmester design aesthetic.
Other points from the design brief apply to both the 216 and its 218 big brother: They must be bridgeable to mono. They must remain short enough to fit on a standard component rack, since that's where many customers will want to put a stereo amplifier, in contrast to monoblocks, which can happily sit on amplifier stands.
The new amplifiers incorporate Burlink, which, the internet says, is either the shuttle service run by Burlington County, New Jersey, or Burmester's proprietary system for interconnection and control. I'm betting on the latter. A remote-control On/Off function was implemented with the new amplifiers, as was an Auto-Off feature. Features like this are at once unimportant and, in the new world we live in, obligatory.
What else should I say about the 216 before I start listening to it? It doesn't heat up my listening room much at idle, and it doesn't run up my electric bill as much as some other amplifiers have, even with two of them running, bridged for mono. I conclude from this that the output stage operates in class-AB.
The Burmester website lists basic specifications, like power output; some others appear in the owner's manual. I've placed these in the Specifications sidebar. Here are some of the important ones. In stereo, the 216's maximum output power is 100Wpc continuous into 8 ohms, 165Wpc into 4 ohms, and 245Wpc into 2 ohms. Continuous power when bridged to mono is quoted only as a maximum: a formidable 490W—no load impedance mentioned. In response to a query, Pope told me it was safe to report that when bridged, the 216 is capable of doubling the stereo output. For more on the 216's technical performance, see the Measurements section.
Regarding that relatively modest power specification: Experience convinces me that power needs are consistently overestimated. As I write this, I'm listening with a different amplifier, which possesses an accurate power meter, with the same speakers I have used to audition the 216, the Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx Vs. I'm achieving 80dB average listening levels with less than 10W. The "cruising" level for this system for serious listening—not background levels—seems to be around 30W, with slightly higher peaks. At 100W, I'm consistently exceeding 95dB; I would not want music any louder. At this level, with nominal 4 ohm speakers like these, the Burmester 216 has power in reserve.
On the other hand, these Wilsons, while not an easy load impedance-wise, are quite sensitive. With less-sensitive speakers, it is possible you'd need more power.
There's a second way in which power requirements are overestimated. Even when you have, on paper, too little power, the results can still be satisfying.
A frequent misunderstanding is that maximum power affects bass response even at modest listening levels. Theoretical power limitations have no effect on the sound until the power runs out.
Setup
There's not much to say in this section except that Burmester sent along two 216s. With the assistance of Pope, who stopped by for a visit, I installed them in my system this way (as monoblocks) in place of the previous monoblocks, two Pass Laboratories XA60.8s—and cabled them up. I had at least one (and often two) Burmester 216 amplifiers in my system for the better part of a year, removing them occasionally to listen to a different amplifier for a while or to send them off to a Burmester dealer for an event. I became very familiar with the sound of these amplifiers, in stereo and monoblock configurations. Everything else you need to know about setup, you can find in the Associated Equipment sidebar.
Listening
There's an irony inherent in high-end power amplifiers: You pay a lot to get as little as possible—as little character, that is. This is how it should be in principled hi-fi, and it's often how it actually is. That's one of the things I respect about this hobby. Sure, some folks are aiming to impress their friends with something that catches their attention, but the true enthusiast—and there are plenty of them out there—wants a system that gets out of the way of the music, and they're willing to pay to get it.
For an audio reviewer, too, this presents a challenge. What do you write about when the component under review has no sound? That said, every audiophile has particular sensitivities, things that especially bother them — and also insensitivities, things other people hear easily and avoid that they are more or less immune to. I know that's true of me.
I won't talk about my insensitivities—not here—but a particular sensitivity of mine—and it is a useful one for a reviewer—is to the electrical character audio equipment can take on. Every amplifier—indeed, every element of an active hi-fi system—sounds like what it is: an electrical/electronic means of reproducing sound. But some components sound more electrical, some less.
Even if you were to completely eliminate electrical sound from your reproduction system, you wouldn't be rid of it. It remains on most recordings, which, after all, were also made electrically. If the electrical sound is there, your system should reproduce it, even if you don't want to hear it.
One of my main goals, as audiophile and reviewer, is to eliminate that electrical sonic overlay or reduce it as much as possible. I share this, probably, with many listeners and at least a few hi-fi designers. I'm convinced I share it with whoever at Burmester designed this amplifier.
In the strictest sense, this is only relevant for recordings of acoustical instruments. Anything else will sound electrical because it is electrical.
The absence of that electrical sound can greatly benefit any instrument, but I find it especially important on piano, acoustic double bass, and human voice. Still, I've found that the reproduction of electrical instruments—even synths—can be improved by banishing the electronical overlay. I rather enjoy listening for the sound of the microphone on vintage vocal recordings—a good example is Ella Fitzgerald's Let No Man Write My Epitaph, songs from the film simply recorded with voice (and microphone) and Paul Smith on piano (24/96 FLAC, Verve/Qobuz). Add an extra electronic overlay from the reproduction system, and the distinctive sound of Ella's mike becomes more diffuse and troubling.
The more I can banish that electric sound from the best recordings of acoustic instruments, the happier I'll be. These Burmester amps do it as well as any amplifier I've had in my system. One could almost imagine them being powered not by electricity but directly by a windmill or something—maybe a monkey on a bicycle. I have no idea how that would work.
This is what I noticed first and most about the 216s after a bit of break-in, when I got serious about listening.
An album I've listened to a lot since its early-July release is Mozart Recital by Su Yeon Kim on the (obviously) piano-centric label Steinway & Sons. I'm enjoying it mostly for the music: It's a fascinating program with some unfamiliar Mozart, and this young pianist has a definite point of view, in the best way. Her touch is simultaneously warm and precise, and she plays with humor. The first thing that caught my ear was the opening Gigue, "Eine kleine Gigue" in G, K.574. The way she plays it, it took a while for me to recognize this as Mozart; at first I thought it was by some modernist.
Joshua Frey, the recording engineer, has endowed the piano with a lovely sound but a perspective that's difficult to judge. It's a blend of up close and a few rows back. Notes are arrayed over a space that suggests the piano is perhaps 30' away, but the texture of the notes suggests close miking.
What did the Burmester 216s bring to the party? (footnote 1) Piano notes sounded weighty, full, dense. This is definitely a piano, with warmth and wood—none of the fortepiano sound one hears on some piano recordings. The leading-edge transient was fully there, to a degree I found quite natural, but the emphasis was on the rich core of the notes.
Scrolling through my most frequently played tracks in Roon, I chose The Window by Cécile McLorin Salvant (24/96 FLAC, Mack Avenue/Qobuz; later I listened to the LP, Mack Avenue MAC1132LP). This has become one of my reviewing standards; I've heard it many times on many systems. I have a good idea of what it sounds like.
This is a very fine recording. Cécile's voice is embodied, corporeal, present. The vocal mike is fairly neutral, so you don't notice it as much as you notice Ella's mike on Epitaph, though the microphone does take on an edge when her voice goes loud in her upper register. Sullivan Fortner's piano sounds very much like what it is, a piano in space, sounding mellow on some notes, percussive on others, depending on his touch.
Apart from the fact that I'm hearing reproduced music, which I would not be doing if there were no amplifier, I'm really not noticing the amplifier at all.
As good as the studio tracks on this album are, I think it gets better on the live numbers, recorded at the Village Vanguard. (My son was there for one of these performances; I should have been.) On Buddy Johnson's "Ever Since the One I Love's Been Gone," Cécile's voice is especially dynamic—edgy and in-your-face loud, which, naturally, you notice more at higher volume. The microphone is tangible; you're hearing not just the voice but voice plus microphone. The piano sounds a touch more solid and real on this and the other live tracks than it does on the studio tracks—more like Su Yeon Kim's recording of Mozart. Then comes "À Clef ": Why is it that Cécile, whose voice often sounds aggressive and strange—that's a compliment; it's a big part of her talent—always sounds so lovely and feminine when she sings in French?
One of the great pleasures of a really fine music system is how it—or rather how the music, via it—can take you by surprise. I should leave this album and move on, but I'm finding that hard to do, because as I listen more, even this recording that I know so well continues to deliver surprises. On "Obsession," after Fortner's short introduction, Cécile's voice is exceedingly simple, soft, almost but not quite spoken word. It sounds a bit further back on the stage now, surrounded by space, including front to back; the space surrounding her voice has space of its own.
An audio system is a facilitator. It's the music that affects us. The system has to let it affect us, and sometimes it doesn't. It's that disappearing thing again, and the 216s are doing it—disappearing, leaving lovely music in their wake, except that there is no wake, or none to speak of.
It's time for me to rip myself away from this lovely album and move on to something else—but not far. I'm moving to another album by Cécile, who followed up three consecutive Grammy-winning albums on Mack Avenue by moving to a new label—Nonesuch—and going more experimental. For Ghost Song she put together a band with fascinating instrumentation: voice; exotic plucked strings (plus guitar); three varieties of bass (electric, synth, acoustic); flute; piano and Rhodes; percussion. The result is a totally new sound that, when I first heard it, just sounded strange. It took several listens (and three live performances: one at Princeton's McCarter Theatre Center and two at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater) to adjust to this new soundscape. I am now well-adjusted.
Using Roon's remote—my laptop—I clicked on the first track.
Many people of a certain age fell in love with Kate Bush when she was young and we were, too. She released her debut album, The Kick Inside, when she was 19. "Wuthering Heights" is the last track on side 1 of that LP, and it's the first track on this album. It was brilliant there. It is better here. Cécile's take is profoundly different—how could it not be—yet similar in spirit. We hear Cécile's distant voice in an echo chamber, growing ever closer, singing Baroque style with much ornamentation, then she starts into the first stanza. At the refrain, Paul Sikivie's synth bass starts up and her voice snaps forward—cue the goosebumps. Just now I played it twice—goosebumps both times. Then I let the album keep playing.
Listen to "Until ...," by Sting, from the soundtrack to the movie Kate & Leopold, and tell me this song doesn't belong in the great American songbook. This recording is so rich yet so chalk-dry—dry in the sense of the total absence of that electronic overlay I mentioned earlier—that it made me look up and smile big. Really good hi-fi can make you feel foolish.
It's happening again: I'm being distracted by the music. That could be this review's take-away.
One amp or two?
The last thing I did before finishing up this review is cue up the fourth movement of Mahler's Symphony No.2, "Resurrection." I cued up the fourth movement because I wanted to hear the fifth but didn't want to dive right into it. The start of V is one of the most sudden and intense musical climaxes I could think of. (I love that this climax comes at the beginning—the beginning of the last movement, the beginning of the end.) The five-minute, 48-second fourth movement ("Urlicht") was just a lovely lead-in to the fifth. I had just one amplifier playing in stereo, so the specified maximum power into the Wilsons, a nominal 4 ohm load, was 165W. I listened to IV and V all the way through. I listened especially carefully to the climax just after 11:20, which is a little bit louder than the one at the beginning but not as broadband. And because I listened through to the end, I also experienced the fifth movement's cataclysmic last few minutes. I listened loud, with peak levels in excess of 95dB.
Then I bridged the one amp, added the other one (also bridged of course), matched the volume electrically, and listened again.
I had already written this section in my mind. I was convinced by the analysis presented early in this review—that a single amplifier had sufficient power to drive these speakers to completely satisfying levels. Sure, I realized power isn't the only technical advantage to monoblock amplifiers. The amps no longer share a transformer, and the circuits are farther apart and separately shielded. All that boils down mainly to a single measurement—channel separation, or crosstalk. Presumably the channel separation is already excellent—so how much difference could this really make?
What I heard surprised me. Playing this powerful, broadband music very loud, with a single stereo amplifier, it sounded louder, more compressed, less controlled. With two amplifiers, bridged, the music spread out more and seemed more relaxed. It didn't seem as loud. The difference wasn't subtle. Listening with two amplifiers was a more satisfying experience.
What's going on? I don't know. Subjectively, I'd describe it as a relative absence of congestion. Was it the channel separation aiding imaging, better separating the various orchestral parts? I have noticed with certain "spatial" or immersive-audio formats that by better separating images in space, a greater sense of relaxation can be achieved. Maybe it's the channel separation. Maybe it's the power. Maybe it's some other thing.
I should add, this isn't the only time I noticed an improvement with these amplifiers bridged. Bridged often offered small advantages in image separation—images spread out further, side to side and front to back, within a larger yet more precise soundstage.
Conclusions
Criticisms? The Burmester visual aesthetic will not please everyone—you know who you are. It grew on me over time. It's not that I became a bigger fan of mirror finishes; it's that I came to notice the small, mirrored part less and to appreciate its classical form more. It has a bit of a Parthenon look.
The limitations of the Burmester 216 are those you can read about in Specifications. Do they have enough power to drive your loudspeakers? There's a good chance they do, since they are fairly powerful, though more powerful amplifiers are available, including the Burmester 218. Or, if you need more power and can pay the price, you can buy two 216s and use them bridged.
This may be the most self-effacing amplifier I've reviewed. Its utter lack of electronic character is a huge plus. It's a musical chameleon. I wrote a lot about music in the paragraphs above and not so much about amplifiers. It's the best I could do. Because of its reticence—how it consistently refused to take center stage—to not write about this amplifier is perhaps the best way to write about this amplifier. Highly recommended!
Footnote 1: I listened to this music over a rather long period of time via three different amplifiers: The Burmester, the Pass Labs XA60.8, and the CH Precision M1.1, which is in for review. My conclusions about what the Burmester brings is based on those comparisons.
Description: Bridgeable, dual-channel power amplifier
Power output (stereo, IEC 62368-1): 100Wpc into 8 ohms (20dBW), 165Wpc into 4 ohms (19.2dBW), 245Wpc into 2 ohms (17.9dBW)
Power outputs double when bridged for mono: maximum power output as a monoblock, 490W continuous. Power consumption in standby: 0.46W
Dimensions: 19.5" (496mm) W × 7.5" (191mm) H × 18.8" (479mm) D
Weight: 77.2lb (35kg)
Finish: Brushed aluminum and mirrored glass
Analog sources: SME 30/12 turntable; Ortofon Windfeld Ti cartridge.
Digital sources: CH Precision D1.2 D/A converter with X1 power supply. Roon Nucleus + Roon server; Synology DS918+ 4-bay Network Attached Storage device with 16TB.
Preamplification: CH Precision L1 and Pass Labs XP-32 line preamplifiers; Pass Laboratories XP-27 phono preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: CH Precision M1.1 stereo amplifier; Pass Labs XA60.8 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx V.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Carbon & Cinnamon & Coffee (all USB); Nordost Valhalla 2 (Ethernet). Interconnect: Burmester (XLR), Nordost Valhalla 2, AudioQuest. Speaker: AudioQuest Thunderbird ZERO. Power: Burmester, Nordost Valhalla 2, AudioQuest Tornado High-Current C13, NRG-X3, and Monsoon.
Accessories: PS Audio Power Plant P10 power conditioner; Melco S100 and Silent Angel Bonn N8 Pro Ethernet switches; Butcher Block Acoustics RigidRack, IsoAcoustics and Magico footers.
Feature of March 2024
Date: 2024-03-01
尖端而卓越的技術|Burmester 088 前級 & 216 後級 + PMC fact.8 signature
推薦一套高級音響的組合,最為重中之重就是前級、後級和揚聲器之間的配搭。 這種配搭貴在適宜,習性趨同或將互補的器材組合在一起,讓它發出優美動聽的聲音;如果配搭得不恰當,即使是每一件器材的質素都很不錯,但最終的結果也許會與令人滿意的聲音背道而馳。
什麼是合理的搭配? 個人覺得無論是同品牌的組合或是不同品牌的混搭,只要配搭起來的聲音不違和即合理。配搭得好的聲音聽感是聲音平衡、清晰透明、層次感良好、聲音之間分離度高、音場立體流暢耐聽。首先,高、中、低三頻的平衡度,應該是音響正確配搭的第一要素,簡而言之,三頻平衡,不能偏亮、偏暗,或者中頻太突出,無突兀頻段。 其次,音色上的搭配,最好風格互補,如聲音溫暖的前端,適合配搭聲音稍為偏冷的揚聲器。 再者是輸出功率、阻尼系數等參數的合理匹配,而今次介紹的音響組合以 Burmester Top Line 的 088 前級和剛新推出的 216 立體聲後級成為一套西裝最合襯,配搭 PMC 發燒級座地揚聲器 fact.8 signature ,它們之間的聲音融合度高,能夠實現自己理想中的美聲。
Burmester 088 前級
隸屬 Burmester Top Line 的 088 前級,結合了高一級 Reference Line 的大部份技術特點和更緊湊的外型設計。內部設計結合了Burmester獨家的X-Amp MK2放大模組,採用全平衡A類放大,搭配直接交連的電路設計,在訊號路徑上去除電容的干擾以免造成音染的狀況,提供用家純淨的音質。音量控制方面,使用了與 077 前級放大器一致的操控系統,令音色更趨完美。此外,為了提高連接方面的靈活性,088 配置了「相位轉換」功能,以配合不同器材的平衡輸出標準,確保音源的正負相位一致性。內部放大電路採用「雙重單聲道」設計,並設立分層隔離,避免出現相互干擾及串音的情況,令聲音表現更傳神動人。
Burmester 216 後級
新加入的 Top Line 216 以及 Reference Line 的 218 立體聲後級,都是從新一代旗艦 159 單聲道放大器中汲取其技術與美學靈感,被認為是品牌中聲音最快的大功率放大器之一。 它始終堅持手工製造,並按照音響世界中很少有人可以抄襲得到的廠方標準,而且大多數聽起來同樣快速的放大器,通常是以犧牲動態(或在某些情況下,以低頻性能)為代價。 雖然 216 與於旗艦 159 差別有一段差距,但還是可以體驗到 159 可以做得到的超卓功能與音效。
216 每聲道 100W (4Ω) 是採用全對稱平衡放大設計,並使用 159 所採用的 A 類“X-Amp” 技術和無電容直接耦合信號路徑,而且信號路徑上也沒有任何保護電路所造成的干擾。考究 X-Amp 的歷史,最早是應用在 870 DAC 前級與 877 前級,由創辦人 Dieter Burmester 親自設計,歷經十多年的演進,大約在 2000 年代中期,進化到 X-Amp 2,依然是 Dieter Burmester 操刀修改,而最新一代 X-Amp 3 呢?Burmester 沒有說明是哪一年換上的,但可以想像現在新的 Burmester 器材,應該都是配備 X-Amp3。從外觀上來看,216 後級機箱周圍的鋁合金鰭片都是散熱片,但內部同樣採用了來自 159 旗艦後級的散熱導管技術,在機箱內部加上了特殊的金屬散熱銅導管,圍繞著金屬機箱,銅管內部加入冷卻液體,均勻地將功率晶體工作時的熱量,傳送到鋁合金散熱片,維持機器穩定的工作溫度。
PMC fact.8 signature 座地揚聲器
PMC 最著名的 ATL 傳輸線式音箱設計,依然是fact.8 Signature座地揚聲器的重點,ATL 傳輸線是在音箱內部建造一條很長的低音傳輸通道,強化低頻量感與延伸,以fact.8 Signature來說,其內部傳輸線有效長度為3公尺,讓其低頻延伸可拉到28 Hz。所有Fact.8 Signature使用的單體,都是PMC與挪威SEAS合作設計的專屬高音與中低音單體,高音單體採用SONOMEX軟半球振膜,而單體框架則選用鋁鎂合金。
Fact.8 signature 可以自行調整高、低頻補償,在喇叭接線柱上方設有兩個小小的撥桿,分別負責高音(+2dB、Flat、-2dB)、低音(Flat、-3dB、-6dB)作調整,畢竟每一位用家的聆聽空間大小、吸音、反射條件都不相同,有了這個增減補償的功能,讓fact.8 signature更容易融入聆聽空間,也讓用家更容易調整出自己喜歡的音色,節省許多力氣。
fact.8 Signature改變最多的地方都藏在內部,尤其是分音器的設計與被動元件選用,都效法旗艦 fact.fenestria 而做出改變,而外觀上則有石墨色與絲絨白烤漆與 Walnut 木皮,讓fact.8 Signature看起來更具有現代時尚設計感。
聲音表現
剛開聲就能感受到這套組合的濃郁卻不失清新的質地,聲音生動悅耳、氣定神閒,其氣勢並不像是由 fact.8 signature 一隻高音加兩隻低音所能夠產生的。力量與質感適度調和,豁達的表現力優秀,而且音色略帶光澤、不好強、無過之與不及,自然的解像力可細心注意到每一點平衡良好的聲音,濃厚、輪廓深邃也是它的絕技,是一款能欣賞到好聽的音色和個性溫和的聲音。高音和甜美的中音銜接平順,低頻的質感豐富和具有很高的分析能力。聽鋼琴和爵士樂時,聲音的鮮明感之高,讓人可以感受到低頻鋼絲的顫動狀況,而且和低音大提琴之間的重疊狀況也有強烈的實體感。Cassandra Wilson 的歌聲沒有過於乾燥的傾向,始終都帶有適度的濕潤感,餘韻悅耳,音像定位準確無誤。管風琴演奏的 Holst《惑星》,逼真地重現出洶湧而至的超低音頻,即使是用小音量也可以均衡良好地還原出超低音的狀態。而同時出現的鋼琴之高音部份也顯得極為晶瑩通透。樂曲的音場寬闊,不僅從水平方向而來,同時也從垂直方向形象地展現出來。
PMC launches Twenty5i Active speaker range at the Bristol Show
Date: 2024-02-27
PMC has launched a new Active Twenty5i series of speakers at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2024. The brand has a rich history of making active studio monitors, but this is the first time that consumers at home can enjoy that same studio-grade sound.
Mirroring the existing Twenty5 series of passive speakers, the Active Twenty5i series features four speakers – two standmounters, two floorstanders, all two-way designs – with built-in amplification inside. The models include the Twenty5.21i and Twenty5.22i Active standmounters and Twenty5.23i and Twenty5.24i Active floorstanders.
You'll still need to add a source – your choice of streaming, vinyl, CD, etc – but it does mean fewer boxes in your set-up as there's no need for external amplification.
Each drive unit has a "dedicated and perfectly matched" 100W amplifier, resulting in 200W of power per channel. PMC says the direct coupling of amps to driver allows for superior control and increased transient response. There is a custom-designed analogue crossover, which "splits the frequency bands of the incoming line-level signal, from the balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA inputs, and ensures each amplifier is only amplifying the signals appropriate for its drive unit". Each crossover is specific to each speaker model, ensuring seamless integration, wide dispersion and low-distortion. Additionally, the active crossover allows for tighter tolerances in components and higher precision.
All in all, it should allow for greater clarity, transparency and a more natural sound from the speakers, says PMC.
What's more, PMC is also offering an upgrade kit for existing owners of the passive Twenty5 series speakers, to also benefit from the "higher resolution, control, and transparency" the active module brings. The active upgrade module is available separately, and slots straight into the back panel of the same two-way speaker models from the Twenty5 range (21, 22, 23 and 24). PMC says the kit is easy to install for retailers and owners alike by replacing the back panel and integrated crossover with the new active module – PMC claims it should take all of five minutes.
PMC says the upgrade module's "crossover network has a unique setting for each model, ensuring the flawless integration of the drive units. A simple ‘model selector’ connector is plugged into the socket that corresponds to the model of speaker to ensure the correct crossover settings are applied".
For home cinema fans, we've been told that there's no active version of the centre channel yet, and any digital input isn't currently planned either.
Oliver Thomas, commercial director and head of design, says, “Our active studio monitors, used to create much of the world’s best music, have been built around our in-house designed amplifiers and active crossovers from day one and with over 30 years experience. It is the best way to power a speaker and we know our audiophile customers are going to love the huge improvements in performance they will experience when they make the switch.”
The new PMC Active Twenty5i speakers and upgrade kit are available from March/April 2024.
GY8 Review|The Peak Consult Sinfonia Loudspeaker
Date: 2024-02-26
Given the generational change in audio (both in terms of manufacturers and customers) an old name but a new company is not an unusual scenario: Established names are being snapped up by incoming money or upwardly mobile industry members, hoping to leverage the reputation (and any residual parts or technology) from the previous owners/founders. The plan is always to reinvigorate the acquisition, but continuity is a tricky path to follow and all too often the result is either a slowly fading echo of past glories or a complete volte face that takes the company in an entirely new direction. You need only look at what has happened to most of the old and storied brands in the UK industry (and what is currently happening in the US) to understand that financially viable or not, when it comes to names like Quad, Audiolab, Leak or KEF, things are definitely not the same…
But occasionally – just occasionally – things come good and the revitalised enterprise climbs to new heights of performance and market presence, recognisably the same beast, just better: possibly, much better.
In the beginning…
Peak Consult was another of the slew of Danish loudspeaker companies that hit the market in the ‘90s. Founded by Per Kristoffersen in 1996, I remember the brand’s arrival in the UK, mainly in the shape of the El Diablo, cited at the time as a competitor to Wilson’s Watt/Puppy. Similar in size and driver line-up, somewhat similar in shape, that speaker (like so many before it, in the UK) failed to challenge that firmly established model, or make much of a market impact – although the brand achieved considerably more sales and greater recognition in the USA.
The speakers I remember were stolid and somewhat understated or ‘traditional’ in appearance (if you are being kind – ‘old-fashioned’ if you are not). With their leather wrapped baffle, Audio Technology drivers and solid wood cladding there was more than a hint of Sonus Faber about them – albeit without the exaggerated curves that seem somehow, quintessentially Italian – while the flat sides and kinked, sloping baffle supplied their own Wilson-esque impression. Caught between two-stools? Quite possibly. Either way, those original Peak speakers lacked the gorgeously rich tonality of the better Sonus models, the dynamic slam of the Wilsons that worked. They certainly had their own attributes, but those tended to be eclipsed by the familiar characteristics of the then dominant brands. The Danish invaders duly retreated from British shores and settled elsewhere. Which might be all she wrote – except that the company changed hands in 2021 and Peak Consult experienced a significant rejuvenation, culminating in their appearance with three, floorstanding models at the first post-Covid Munich show.
The second coming…
The identity (and roles) of the new owners is a big part of Peak Consult’s resurrection. Lennart Asbjørn has assumed responsibility for production and logistics, while design and development has passed into the hands of Wilfried Ehrenholz, the one-time owner and co-founder of that Danish audio engineering success story, Dynaudio. That’s a lot of audio specific experience and business horsepower to bring to the table – which helps explain how the company was able to show three new/revised floorstanders in 2022 and an ambitious new flagship in 2023. Outwardly recognisable as Peak Consult products, with essential characteristics and even names that related to earlier models, looking a little closer quickly established just how comprehensive a redesign they’d undergone.
The devil is in the details…
Back in the day, Peak’s (none too) original pitch was the combination of high-quality drivers with high-mass, low resonance cabinets, built entirely in-house. The well-respected Audio Technology drivers were certainly a visible sign of serious intent, while word from the scales supported the high-mass claims, perhaps explained by the thick, laminated HDF carcass and the additional stiffening and dissipation of the solid hardwood outer layer. Those features remain in essence, but significantly refined in execution. Three-layer laminated panels are still used, but these days three different HDF/MDF materials are layered using soft-setting glue to create a heavily damped substrate 36mm thick. Over that is added a hard-wood layer, pared back to a ‘mere’ 14mm thick, for a total wall thickness of 50mm or 2”, with acrylic inserts breaking up the side panels. At first, you might think these changes are a money-saving or retrograde step, but as well as helping to save the planet, it’s evidence of an evolving understanding of the cabinet’s mechanical behaviour.
Take three layers of HDF/MDF and glue them together with a lossy adhesive compound and you end up with that familiar construct, a constrained layer – or, in this case, layers. The idea is that the multiple layers of material and interleaving damping create a stiffer, non-resonant structure. What is less widely appreciated is that constrained layer construction can’t kill resonance (unless the damping layer is efficient enough to convert all of the stored energy into heat – and for that you need a lot of material: think the high-volume sandwich used in the Rockport speakers). Instead, what most simple constrained layers do is concentrate the remaining energy that they don’t dissipate at a single, dominant frequency. Consider that in the context of a wide-bandwidth loudspeaker and it’s not a good thing – unless you do something about it.
Which brings us to the third member of the Peak Consult team. Few small companies can afford to invest in the latest, most sophisticated measurement devices and analytical tools – the facilities necessary to really refine the mechanical behaviour of a cabinet. The answer is to contract with someone who can – in this case, loudspeaker design ‘gun for hire’ Karl-Heinz Fink, a man with so many speaker designs and consultancies to his credit that his drawing board is more notch than surface. If you want access to the very latest and most powerful analytical tools (and someone to drive them) then Karl-Heinz is your man. The beauty of the Peak Consult cabinet construction is that by simplifying the resonant behaviour, you make it easier to deal with, in this case through the time-honoured practice of critical bracing. What Karl-Heinz brings to the party is greater insight into the mechanical behaviour of the cabinet (and drivers) creating the ability to calculate precisely the position and size of any brace, controlling rather than adding to the problem – as well as input to other aspects of the design.
The Sinfonia (€45,000 inc 20% sales tax) is the current incarnation of an earlier speaker dubbed the Empress. It is the middle model of the three compact floorstanders. A straight 8” three-way design, it sits one down the range from the twin bass driver El Diablo mentioned above. The first thing that strikes you about this speaker (after you’ve come to terms with its near 80kg weight) is its unusual shape. The bass driver occupies its own, vertical baffle that extends to two-thirds of the speaker’s height. Above that, the mid and treble drivers share a tapered and heavily profiled sub-baffle that cants back, in what has become a familiar arrangement designed to deliver a measure of time-alignment to the three drivers. That baffle is constructed in two parts, from the same three-layer sandwich as the carcass, then wrapped in thick, leather-loo vinyl, which adds a further (admittedly minimal) degree opf mechanical damping.
But it’s the radically tilted top plate and forward sloping rear baffle that afford the Sinfonia its distinctive looks. I’ve seen more than a few speakers in my time, but I don’t recall any that look like this – although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That forward leaning stance gives the speakers an eager, alert posture, that actually echoes their sonic character and which (somewhat to my surprise) I find quite attractive. The acrylic inlays on the side panels update the looks and further accentuate the tapered profile of the cabinet, while the ‘leather’ clad rear baffle sports a heavily flared reflex port whose angle of elevation and calibre seem more akin to a trench mortar than an audio application. Internally, separate enclosures for each driver contribute to the extensive cabinet bracing, while the crossover enjoys its own, mechanically and acoustically isolated space. Peak Consult state that, internally, the cabinet has no parallel faces, although the side panels are perfectly parallel. What they are referring to are the front, top and rear panels – in other words, those panels perpendicular to (rather than parallel with) the driver axes. Hence the sloping top and rear panels.
A modern take on tradional virtues…
As well as the hard-wood surfaces, the driver line-up is another facet of the Peak speakers that contributes to what some might consider a ‘dated’ or old-fashioned appearance. I’ve already mentioned the 8” bass unit (so visually different to carbon or Nomex drivers) and both it and the midrange unit use modified polypropylene cones, a material that may have gone beyond “no longer fashionable” into the realms of “deeply unfashionable”, but one that continues to give excellent results in speakers from the likes of Wilson Benesch and Vienna Acoustics. Like everything else in audio, it’s not what you use, but how you use it that counts. The beauty of polypropylene is that it has inherently good self-damping. Judicious additives and careful profiling of the cone can produce superbly smooth mechanical behaviour within the pass-band, with an equally smooth natural roll off. The traditional downside is that it can sound ‘soft’ and ‘slow’. Well – yes, if you get it badly wrong. But working closely with Audio Technology (another spin-off that shares the Dynaudio DNA) has allowed Peak Consult to not only tailor the drivers to their own system requirements, but to optimise the fundamental elements to minimise perceived shortcomings. Engineer a good cone and generating dynamic range comes down to the power and capabilities of the motor driving it. A lot of companies expend effort on the magnet structure in order to generate more power (it is the most visible part) and Audio Technology is no exception. But the drivers in the Peak speakers take things further and look at the voice-coil properties too, augmenting the contribution of the magnetic structure with a denser and far more tightly wound construction in the coil itself. If you think the Peaks are going to sound dynamically sluggish, think again.
Tweeter is a ’regulation’ 26mm coated-silk dome sourced from Scanspeak (why mess with success), and completing the image of a ‘classic’ 8” three-way is a 110mm midrange unit. These days, when 7”/175mm midrange drivers are more or less de rigeur, it looks like a saucer when you are expecting a soup-bowl! Crossover points are ultra-traditional too, at 450Hz and 3.1KHz, employing gentle 2nd order slopes and impedance compensation to arrive at a far from frightening impedance profile for the driving amplifier. Taken together, that’s a line up that might well have stepped straight out of the 80’s so, if customers start by looking at products long before they get to touching or hearing them, the Sinfonia could have some catching up to do – at least with the fashion conscious customer.
Peak’s specs list a bandwidth of 25Hz to 30kHz -3dB, with a 5Ω nominal impedance (±1Ω). Combined with a realistic 89dB sensitivity (in this case, Danes really don’t lie!) that makes the Sinfonia a seriously amp-friendly load, at least on paper. Maybe not the speaker for 15Watt tube amps, but it shouldn’t give your half-way competent power amp any trouble at all. However, as is so often the case and as will become clear, those numbers only tell part of the story.
Two other specifics are worthy of note. Firstly, the WBT binding-posts that graced older Peak speakers have been replaced with far superior Argento models. Sonically a very good move, it’s not without its associated challenges. The Sinfonias are bi-wirable. The Argento binding posts accept a 4mm banana plug OR a spade (but not both simultaneously). Nor, in my experience (and I own a few products that use them) do the Argento terminals like accepting two spades at once. Peak Consult are clearly serious about you bi-wiring or better, bi-amping their speakers, to the point where they don’t supply jumper cables. I concur wholeheartedly with the sentiment but, if you do want to run the speakers single-wired, fitting separate jumpers is a pain in the proverbial. Speaker cables fitted with short flying leads to bridge across the terminals are by far the best option. Failing that you can resort (like me) to a lot of frustration and not a little swearing.
In one of those ying/yang experiences, the Peak Consult outriggers and feet are amongst the best executed and operationally the easiest I’ve used. The outrigger beams are damped with inlaid strips of rubber that press against the cabinet plinth to prevent them resonating, while the footers run on smooth, large diameter threads, incorporate a captive ceramic ball for single-point contact and lock from above. You even get post-holes in the adjustable feet and a tool to turn them with – important because turning the ‘cone’ doesn’t necessarily adjust the foot. The blunt cones with their flat bases aren’t going to penetrate carpet, but with speakers this heavy and with this footprint, achieving stability shouldn’t be a challenge. Equal loading of all four feet is another matter…
One particularly nice touch is the supplied single-setting torque-driver, which fits the outrigger bolts and the bass and midrange driver fixings. Getting all of those driver bolts not just tight, but exactly the same tightness throughout makes a surprising contribution to the overall musical coherence of the speakers. Surprising that is, until you consider the effect that even, regular contact with the baffle will have on the resonant behaviour of the driver’s basket and surround. Other manufacturers (notably Wilson) do supply torque settings for their driver mounting bolts. Peak is the first I’ve come across that actually supplies a torque driver with each pair of speakers: A moral victory for the Viking invaders? Definitely.
Three steps forward…
Setting up the Sinfonias is either going to be simplicity itself or a prolonged, patient, gradual struggle. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. The deciding factors? Space and amplifier matching. Give the Sinfonias enough room to breath and enough power to grab a hold of their generous bottom-end and it should be plan sailing, helped enormously by the ease of adjustment of those excellent outrigger feet.
In the larger Music Room, this was the nearest thing to a PNP speaker (that’s “plonk-and-play”) that I’ve used in a very long time. After the requisite run-in period (Peak Consult recommend 300 hours of continuous use – and they’re not kidding) I was rewarded with a musically performance so potent that it quite took me by surprise. Effortlessly rhythmic and dynamic, positional shifts were limited to optimising bass weight and speed. Driven by the CH Precision M1.1s in bi-amp mode, the results were infectiously engaging and entertaining, to the extent that I started wondering whether we’d maybe missed a trick with the earlier models? Instead, what I should have concluded was that I’d chanced on the secret of success – at least as far as setting up the Sinfonias is concerned.
One thing it was impossible to miss was the essential rightness of the Sinfonias’ tonal balance. On the basis of a quick listen, it would be easy to conclude that they veer to the warm side of neutral. Listen longer and it soon becomes evident that that isn’t the case. The pace and musical momentum that the speakers deliver with such obvious enthusiasm tells you that they aren’t burdened with the clogging affects of the second-order harmonic distortion or intermodulation artefacts that so often generate that familiar, warm and rounded tonality. Instead, the combination of a naturally weighted balance, with enough body exactly where it should be, together with a total absence of glare, edge or harmonic clipping creates the easy instrumental and harmonic warmth of genuine neutrality. It’s the foundation on which all other aspects of the speakers’ performance rest.
However, moving the speakers upstairs to the smaller Reading Room was a real Jekyll and Hyde experience: speakers that had been so eager, alert and musically enthusiastic suddenly turned recalcitrant and grumpy, sluggish and reluctant. Running the Sinfonias with first the TEAD linear B mono-blocs (80 W/Ch tube output hybrids) and then the VTL S-200, I persevered with endless positional shifts and subtle adjustments to the low-frequency absorbency in the room, but struggled to spark the speakers into life. Their powerful bottom-end, so impressive in the large, well-vented volume of the Music Room, with its excellent bass linearity, might have been made for the Peak speakers. In the Reading Room, with its more domestically typical dimensions and acoustic characteristics, the speakers’ bottom-end interacted with the room’s peaks to present a string of challenges. It wasn’t until I swapped out the tube amps for the resolutely solid-state (and significantly more affordable) Levinson 585 integrated, that the speakers woke up and regained their former enthusiasm and musical energy. Suddenly, re-positioning them ceased to be a fight. Instead, it was as if the speakers were working with me – again. Set up wasn’t quite the walk in the park it had been downstairs, but the Sinfonias were quickly restored to their impressive best.
All that time spent working in the Reading Room was far from wasted. Two things quickly became apparent: take a well-behaved cabinet of this size and combine it with a massive reflex port and 89dB sensitivity and (not surprisingly) you’ll generate significant bottom-end weight and power – sufficient to get you into serious trouble in smaller or less well-behaved spaces. Secondly, the Sinfonias are far more sensitive to lateral placement and height off the floor than they are to fore and aft adjustment (at least in the Reading Room). The post holes in the speakers’ footers, along with the rod-tipped driver makes precise height adjustment a welcome breeze. But if you do want to shoe-horn the Peak speakers into a smaller space, power and control from the amplifier are going to be just as crucial to success as careful placement.
Rolling these various set up experiences together, the conclusions are straightforward. The Peaks have a clear preference for well-behaved rooms, space to breathe and plenty of solid-state power. Bi-amping or at the very least, bi-wiring should be high on the agenda too. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use them in smaller rooms or with simpler systems and lower powered amplifiers, but it does suggest that if you take that path, you’ll struggle to maximise the musical return on your not inconsiderable financial investment. As the saying goes, “Why fight City Hall?” Give the Sinfonias what they so clearly want and they’ll repay you in kind – with interest!
Getting down to business…
I’ve owned the Wilson Sasha DAW since its launch, and still consider it the high-water mark for the Watt/Puppy family and, in many ways, Wilson’s speakers as a whole. It is a genuine benchmark performer, while my limited experience with the Sasha V suggests that the loss of 3dB sensitivity, its lower impedance/more awkward drive characteristics and higher price are retrograde steps. Yet the Sasha (in whatever guise) really is a natural mirror for the Sinfonia – as well as the slightly larger El Diablo, with its twin bass drivers – in terms of both performance and market position. I’ve used the DAWs extensively in both the Music and the Reading Room. Stand it alongside the Sinfonia and the two speakers are so uncannily similar in size and frontal aspect that I suspect comparisons are almost inevitable. In my case, the fact that the Peaks actually replaced the DAWs in the Music Room was as convenient as it was instructive, allowing direct comparison of these two, similar loudspeakers.
With the Sinfonias installed and optimally positioned (slightly forward and slightly narrower than the DAWs) height off the floor and rake angle (measured across the caps of the front/back outriggers) both proved critical to the presence and immediacy in the musical picture. With those details attended to, both the similarities and differences between the two speakers were writ large. The Sasha (and its Watt/Puppy predecessors) has traded on the ability to project convincing scale and dynamics from a cabinet volume and footprint that remains just about manageable. The Sinfonia is cut from the very same cloth, matching and even exceeding the Wilson’s sense of weight and scale. Both speakers present a coherent soundstage and both manage surprisingly well with double-bass and timps. But these are also the points at which they start to diverge. The Peak Consults offer a fuller, weightier and richer tonality than the DAWs, with slightly shut-in upper registers that limit the air and extension at the top-end. The slightly rounded warmth that results is far from unpleasant, but there’s no missing the fact that the DAW’s greater high-frequency extension and life deliver a more transparent, spot-lit and focussed soundstage with greater intra-instrumental space. In contrast, the Sinfonia offers a more developed and coherent overall acoustic, with greater depth, more dimensional images and more clearly defined side and rear walls. Voices have more chest behind them and orchestras are able to swell more convincingly.
One of the first discs I played on the Peaks was the Sony Music SMH-SACD re-issue of the Leontyne Price/HvK Carmen, with the Vienna Philharmonic, State Opera Chorus and Boys Choir (SIGC 41-2, originally released as an RCA Soria Series box-set LDS 6164). The broad stage of this live concert performance is an acid test of both the extent of a system’s soundstage and its ability to locate instruments or voices within it. The first Act offers plenty of examples, from Carmen’s stately, menacing advance on Don José (Habanera) to the various arrivals and departures (the girls from the cigarette factory, the guard, the street urchins…). The Sinfonias can’t match the locational precision of the DAWs when it comes to the bugle calls that herald the guard’s arrival, but the entry of the guard itself and its movement across the stage has greater substance and is far more convincing, just as Carmen herself carries greater poise and conviction. It all adds up to a greater sense of presence and drama. The DAWs might be more startlingly spacious, with crisper dynamic jumps, but the Peaks offer more presence, more impact and with their sure-footed sense of musical ebb and flow, a greater sense of performance.
Going solo…
Switching in scale to Anastasia Kobekina’s Ellipses (Mirare MIR604) the Sinfonias invest her cello with a greater sense of shape and body, bolder colours and her playing with a more explicit sense of direction and intent. Her bowing is more purposeful if less incisive, with a greater sense of motion, energy and sheer vigour in the performance, making the four Siciliennes and two Folias more obviously dance-like in rhythm and tempo. Throughout the different pieces, the Peak speakers convey the energy, body and substance generated by the instrument – and the challenge and effort that presents. The final Gallardo is a spectacularly physical experience, as impressive for the sheer gusto in the playing as it is for its musicality. The solo instrument (with occasional accompaniment) really underlines the Sinfonia’s ability to bind the elements in the recording into a single coherent, purposeful whole. In contrast, the DAW’s presentation zeros in on the agility and dynamic tension in the performance, but is less impressive when it comes to presenting the overall shape and direction of the pieces.
That sense of instrumental weight and substance is especially effective with piano. The peaks present Víkingur Ólafsson’s instrument on his recent recording of the Goldberg Variations (DGG 4864559) with greater weight, body and dimensionality. His playing seems more poised and reflective, lacking the sparkle generated by the DAWs but with a greater clarity to the structure and phrasing. The overall impression delivered by the Sinfonias is one of unhurried and total control, utterly appropriate to the music.
But in some respects, the most telling comparison of all involved the track ‘Skateaway’ from Making Movies (Dire Straits, Vertigo SHM-SACD UIGY-9636). Knowing that I’d be using it to dial in the bass weight and speed on the Peaks, it was the last track I played on the DAWs. Sure enough, it duly demonstrated its value when it came to really dialling in the Sinfonias’ height off of the floor. But at the same time it also clearly demonstrated their greater depth, weight and sheer dynamic heft. From the opening, treated drum pattern, advancing inexorably from a seemingly impossibly distance, through the building intensity and sharp dynamic contrasts, the Peaks impart an almost irresistible motive force to the music, propelling the song, the vocal, the conjured image with vivid energy and purpose. If you want a system that injects life and vitality into recordings (especially rock or pop recordings) you could do an awful lot worse than investigate the Peak speakers and a suitable amplifier. Given the proper encouragement, their powerful sense of musical momentum, rich tonality and irrepressible enthusiasm produce exactly the sort of emphatic musical results that (even huge) audio systems so often struggle to deliver.
Reaching out…
Longer term listening to the Sinfonias in isolation and in a range of systems throws their musical merits into even sharper focus. Whereas comparative listening naturally fastens on specific differences, it’s general listening that really underlines the holistic qualities of this speaker. The combination of Isabelle Faust and Giovanni Antonini is a frequent and familiar one from the Tonhalle Zurich. Their recent recording of Locatelli pieces (Il Virtuoso, il poeta, Harmonia Mundi HMM 902398) featuring Antonini’s small, original instruments, baroque orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, is a real joy, full of the vigour and vitality that characterises not just recent such recordings, but the music of Locatelli itself. It also dovetails perfectly with the musical qualities of the Sinfonia. The speakers’ musical enthusiasm and sense of momentum give a sense of substance and a purposeful, emphatic quality to the rhythms and phrasing. Their broad and beautifully proportioned soundstage doesn’t just give space around and dimensionality to the instruments, it accentuates the complex structure, layering and counterpoint of the compositions.
But the real beauty here is how the Sinfonias allow you to delve into the performance without ever losing sight of the whole. Faust’s playing is beautifully fluid and articulate, despite the virtuoso demands of the scores. Locatelli was not just a famous virtuoso violinist, he was famous for extreme fingering and playing to the inner limits of the fingerboard (once famously getting his fingers stuck in the bridge of his instrument). The harmonic substance and musical body that characterises the Sinfonias extends right to the top of their range, so that when Faust explores the extreme upper registers of her instrument (as in the Andante from Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 3 No. 11) you get none of the thin or scratchy sound that so often afflicts loudspeakers. The instrument’s tonality and the harmonic structure and body of even these extreme notes is beautifully preserved, the soaring lines beautifully articulate, played with immaculate poise and control. It might just be the ultimate musical high-wire act, making what could be a purely technical exercise into a captivating musical event, full of grace and tension, the physical action of the bowing as apparent as the controlled pressure it demands. Meanwhile, the swoop down to the other extreme of the instrument’s range underlines just how seamlessly Peak Consult has engineered the transition from treble to mid-band, while the clean, effortless clarity of the trills and double stopping further reveals the textural and tonal resolution of the speakers. There’s none of the edgy discord you hear so often, just cleanly defined fundamentals and harmonics in perfect harmony.
Faust’s playing is as beautiful as it is breathtaking, but there’s so much more to admire here. The body and weight that the Sinfonias bring to the orchestra’s bottom end, especially the left hand of the harpsichord (and you won’t see that written very often!). The single double bass and thorbo combination is imbued with just the right, rich roundness to give a planted foundation to the performance, the celli have astonishing texture, the harp continuo (!) is as surprising as it is deftly incorporated. The sheer quality of the musicianship here is remarkable: the Sinfonias render that quality remarkably apparent. Just as apparent as they make the shifts in orchestral composition and musical density as the programme moves from one piece to the next.
Hidden voices…
In the same way that these speakers bring substance and body to violin or cello, they bring chest and an identifiable character to voices, enlivening performances with the sort of incidental detail and nuance that brings them to life. Shawn Colvin’s Cover Girl (Columbia 477240) is a great example on one album that contains a number of different ‘voices’. Play the opening track, ‘Every Little thing (He) Does Is Magic’ and you hear Colvin run through her expressive range, mixing up breathy intimacy, slurred syllables to stretch rhythm and phrasing, hitch kick changes of pace and curling, spoken emphasis to bring a personal feel to this familiar lyric. The whole vocal firework display is delivered with an effortless clarity and stable sense of substance that allows the lyric to command the song and dictate musical terms without you even noticing that that is what’s happening.
Then there’s the ease with which you can separate Colvin’s and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s vocals on the duet, ‘One Cool Remove’. It’s not just about the certainty with which you know who is singing what: it’s about appreciating the arrangement of the vocal parts, the way they add to the song, the beauty and intimacy of the harmonies, a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts – and why.
And finally there’s the live tracks, instantly identifiable through their distinctly different acoustic, but also through the change in the character and quality of Colvin’s voice, partly down to the change in venue and microphone, but also due to the added power she needs to project in a live environment. It’s not just that it is instantly and obviously different: the reasons for that difference are equally obvious, testament to the natural expressive range of which the Peak speakers are capable. It’s not about neutrality – although the Peaks are certainly neutral, in the classical sense. It’s about the ability to track signal and dynamics, density and musical emphasis. So when Colvin sings ‘(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night’ she does so almost deadpan, the rhythm and emphasis in the song injected entirely by the attack, shaped notes and phrasing of the acoustic guitar. The result is at once yearning but also desperate, emotional qualities the Sinfonias capture without you noticing them doing it. It’s indicative of the ease with which the speakers incorporate and reveal such musical nuance and performance detail, information that all adds to the creation of an engaging and convincing whole.
A wholesome approach…
Roll all this together and what does it add up to? I’ve talked before about products (and particularly speakers) that separate instruments tonally as well as or instead of spatially. The various Vienna Acoustics speakers are a perfect example. They throw a huge soundstage, but don’t populate it with the pin-point, etched or spot-lit images that are so characteristic of high-end, high-resolution audio systems. Instead, the clarity and separation of musical strands is a function of the speakers’ ability to define the tonal distinctions between individual instruments. The Sinfonias follow that musical path. Their bandwidth pretty much guarantees a spacious acoustic and they deliver a natural perspective with good instrumental spread or spacing across the stage. What they don’t do is give you the mic’s-eye view of the space between individual instruments. It’s not that the layout of the band isn’t defined in space, it’s a question of degree. The Peaks simply don’t portray the ultra focussed and extreme separation that you hear in certain systems.
You pay your money and make your choice, but it can be (and frequently has been) argued, that what the Peaks deliver is more akin to what you actually hear in a live, acoustic performance. Or, to put it another way, that the pinpoint location of instruments on the stage is a stereo artefact. Listening to the Locatelli Concerto Grosso in C Minor Op.1 No. 11, I hear enough natural, spatial separation between Faust’s instrument and the second soloist to be convincing, while the distinctive character of each instrument separates their musical contributions with complete clarity. That clarity of musical purpose certainly contributes to the engaging vitality of the recording, but the natural, unforced perspective also underpins its ability to convince.
The Peaks’ presentation – and their ability to shift or adjust that presentation – reflects their innately natural sense of weight and balance, the evenness of their energy output and resolution. These are not the highest-resolution speakers in the world – but they do resolve evenly across their entire range, whether they’re asked to teeter across the top-most notes of Isabelle Faust’s fiddle or capture the woody resonance and body of a baroque Cello, the dull thud of a damped kick-drum or the attack and zing of a pedal steel guitar. Importantly, they don’t go higher at the top than they go low at the bottom: as a result, musical density, and shifts in density – whether between one band and another or within a musical performance – are defined by the incoming signal, rather than limited or gated by imbalances in the speaker or system. It might sound like an obvious requirement, but it is remarkable how many speakers/systems fail this basic test. The Sinfonias navigate it with unusual ease – and that driven by the relatively modest Levinson 585. Step up to the CH M1.1s and the speakers’ ability to portray shifts in orchestral density or build into a pop chorus is seriously impressive, making the musical impact of those shifts explicit – occasionally shockingly so. Just as they should be…
Combine the Peaks’ enthusiastic dynamic response with that sense of even energy across the spectrum and naturally weighted balance and the result is the ability to generate an almost Linn-like sense of musical urgency and momentum. Except that with the Peaks it’s a quality that’s on tap rather than a constant. When the music demands it, they deliver with gusto. But they can back off the pace too, without the music or sense of performance shutting down. So just as they can change density, they can change pace too. Play Víkingur Ólafsson’s recent recording of the Goldberg Variations (DGG 4864559) on the Sinfonias and you’ll marvel at the grace and fluidity in the playing. That’s down to the effortless clarity with which the speaker tracks changes in attack and note pressure, its ability to capture the shape and pace of left and right hands simultaneously, keeping them both separate but related. It’s a master-class in musical coherence, the prioritising of fundamental musical demands over overtly impressive hi-fi qualities.
Hear to stay?
The Peak Consult Sinfonia is a real surprise package. It’s a long way from being the largest, the most detailed or the highest-tech loudspeaker – even in its price band. It doesn’t have the most stylish or striking cabinet – although the quality of fit and finish is exemplary. It doesn’t have that one, knock it out of the park sonic attribute that blows away the competition on the shop floor. It doesn’t scream, “Look at me!” – visually or sonically. Install a pair in your lounge at home and I doubt most of the neighbours will even notice, let alone comment. But the longer I spend with the Sinfonias, the more I suspect that, if you are Peak Consult, that’s kind of the whole point.
This is a speaker that does everything at least really well. Its absence of stand out qualities is what allows it to do the thing it does best of all – which is get behind the music. It’s not that the speakers are sonically invisible, but they refuse to intrude or draw attention to themselves, instead standing firmly behind the performers and the performance, the recording and the event. What they don’t do, you don’t notice, which is what allows them to engage your musical attention and hold it. Few speakers that I’ve used are as effortlessly enjoyable and satisfying as the Peak Consults – and those few are the ones that I return to again and again.
I have never understood the audiophile fascination with ‘studio monitors’. I get the attractions of the ‘pro’ association, but it overlooks the fact that studio monitors do an entirely different job and play by a different set of rules. What has that got to do with the Peak Consult Sinfonias? I suspect that all those people buying ATCs think that they are somehow investing in ‘the musical truth’. But if you want speakers that are true to the music, but also deliver it without fear or favour – and without pulling it apart – then it is the Peak Consult Sinfonias that are the real deal. The concept and appearance might have stepped straight out of the late ‘80s, but the musical integrity and overall coherence is as timeless as it is consistently enjoyable. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously stated that, “The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.” This particular ‘fiddle’ has been a long time in the making – and it’s all the better for that.