Audition Notes from Hi-Fi Shops｜Part 1: Speakers

【Various Listening Sessions】
Introduction Plan｜Speakers｜Budget Integrated Amplifiers

On New Year’s Eve last year, I wrote about my plan to acquire an integrated amplifier as a stopgap while my main amp was in for repair — and as it happens, I am still very much undecided on which model to go for. That said, I felt it was about time I actually did something about it, so I finally dragged myself out and had a proper listen to a range of likely candidates. Here are my impressions, in brief.

The venue was a certain ○○○○ Camera store in Tokyo. It was the usual setup where many models are connected via a selector switch, so it is hardly an ideal listening environment from a purely acoustic standpoint — but it does at least allow you to get a rough sense of each model’s character, one after another, in fairly quick succession. As it was a weekday morning and there were no other customers around, no shop assistant came to bother me, and I was able to listen at my leisure and at length. ※ I kept the volume modest throughout, so as not to cause any inconvenience.

Before getting to the integrated amplifiers, I first listened to the speakers on display. There must have been twenty to thirty models in all, and I went through every single one of them.

The amplifier used for auditioning was the PUCCINI SETTANTA by Italian maker Audio Analogue. It was the only mid-range model with a sound I like that happened to be connected. I would have preferred to use the AUDIO ANALOGUE PAGANINI 192/24 as the CD player as well, but for some reason it was no longer on display, so instead I used the DENON DCD-1500AE, which is frequently used as a reference source in magazine reviews. Whether it is a cost-cutting measure through shared chassis design or not, the appearance is almost identical to the higher-end DCD-1650AE / DCD-SA11 / DCD-SA1, while its street price sits in the ¥50,000–60,000 range. It is an attractive, affordable entry-level SACD player that seems likely to prove popular.

Given that writing up a full report on every speaker I listened to today would be endless, I would like to pick out only those models that personally struck me as particularly good, and give a brief account of each.

Listed below roughly in order of price and size

AUDIOPRO ALLROOM SAT

Originally designed as a satellite speaker for multi-channel use, this is an extremely compact, palm-sized unit — small enough for desktop PC audio as well. Given its size, the frequency range is of course limited and bass output is minimal, and it will distort at high volumes — but if you accept those limitations and enjoy it at modest levels, there is nothing to complain about. The treble is more rounded and gentle compared to the audiopro Image11. The vocal range is open and natural, with a moist, refined, and traditionally musical quality — orthodox in the truest sense. The tonal character is fundamentally similar to the audiopro Image11, but the ALLROOM SAT has a charming, smoothed-off, analogue-like appeal that is entirely its own.

If I were ever to venture into multi-channel, this natural-sounding speaker would be my top candidate. I would also love to have it as a monitor speaker for the television, should I eventually acquire a large slim plasma display. The ALLROOM SAT rarely gets talked about, unlike the AUDIOPRO IMAGE12, but every time I hear it I am struck by how it is a genuinely hidden gem — on a completely different level of quality from the cheap multi-channel satellite speakers put out by domestic manufacturers.

ALR/JORDAN ENTRY Si

The hugely popular ultra-compact bookshelf speaker from German maker ALR/JORDAN. Just from listening in the shop, I honestly cannot tell it apart from the Entry S — the pre-minor-revision model I used to own. This blog has a detailed write-up of the differences between the Entry S and Si. The frequency range is limited by the size, but ALR/JORDAN’s characteristic sense of spaciousness and ambient reverb, combined with a warm, woody tonal texture, makes for a bright, lively, and thoroughly enjoyable sound.

MONITOR AUDIO Radius 90 → Current model: Radius Series 90

An ultra-compact speaker from Monitor Audio, one of the standard-bearers of the modern British sound. Presumably on account of the metal cone, the tonal character is distinctly unusual and idiosyncratic — perhaps a little gimmicky, one might say. Bright and dry, with string instruments like the violin sounding, frankly, unnaturally strange to a degree that is hard to overlook. And yet it has superb rhythmic snap, and despite not producing a great deal of bass the music feels dynamic and full of drive. It is perhaps not the strongest choice for classical or other acoustic music, but for rock, pop, techno, and electronic music it rattles along with real verve, leaving you feeling thoroughly refreshed. In recent years there have been quite a few Monitor Audio models in the popular price range that have left me personally with a question mark — but the Radius Series 90 is, personally, a sound I find myself rather taken with. It has an odd sort of charm that makes you want it specifically for a secondary system or PC audio setup.

DALI Royal MenuetⅡ

The DALI Royal MenuetⅡ is, in contrast to the Radius 90, a speaker oriented more towards classical music. Like the British QUAD discussed below, Danish maker DALI is one of the rare manufacturers that still strongly conveys the European tradition of acoustic allure, warmth, and delicate nuance. To put it less charitably, there is a certain roughness in the detail, a narrowness of range, and a slightly closed-in quality that one cannot entirely overlook. That is both its charm and its weakness. It has considerable latent potential, but it is a sensitive speaker that is unlikely to reveal its true worth simply placed anywhere — it is very much the type that transforms dramatically depending on partnering equipment and how it is set up. Compared to other inexpensive small speakers, it benefits from a higher-quality amplifier of inherently superior pedigree — even one of modest wattage — or alternatively a valve amplifier. Another quietly noteworthy point about DALI is that even their budget models continue to be manufactured entirely in Denmark, rather than in China.

QUAD 11L → Current model: 11L Classic Signature

Needless to say at this point, the British QUAD-designed 11L is an outstanding bargain. The finish is beautiful, the price is modest, and above all else it is deeply musical. Regarding the sound of the demo unit — when I listened about ten months ago and wrote it up in a previous report, it had a slightly hard, metallic edge to it, but coming back to it this time it had become remarkably mellow, evoking the old KEF sound or the LS3/5A. Whether this is due to burn-in, or whether the display unit has been replaced, I cannot say. It may simply be that it paired rather well with the AUDIO ANALOGUE Puccini Settanta I was using on this occasion. In terms of tonal character, it combines a classically refined, subdued colouring with a modern clarity and resolution — that is perhaps the best way to describe it. Among all the compact and medium-sized bookshelf speakers up to around the ¥300,000 class that I compared by switching between them, I could not find anything that surpassed the QUAD 11L in terms of overall balance. I will spare the details, but there were a few amplifiers that did not suit it at all and produced rather odd results.

QUAD 12L

Whereas the 12L had not struck me as harsh when I heard it before, this time around it was actually the 12L that sounded ever so slightly more edgy in the treble compared to the 11L. Perhaps it simply sees fewer listeners and hasn’t had enough burn-in? It may in the end just come down to amplifier matching. In any case, compared to the 11L the 12L has a somewhat greater sense of ease in the bass. On the other hand, its more settled character does give the impression that the sense of dynamic energy is slightly reined in. That said, I believe the price difference is purely a reflection of the size difference, and not a difference in essential quality — the two are fundamentally on the same level.

DALI Royal Tower ｜Review

The baffle dimensions and depth are close to those of the Menuet, but by going floorstanding there is no need for a separate stand, the proportions are much better, and the bass output is reasonably substantial. Compared to the Royal MenuetⅡ discussed above, everything feels more at ease, and it seems less prone to the fussiness over amplifier matching that can make the Menuet tricky to drive. (Note: the sound is entirely different from the redesigned MENTOR MENUET, just to be clear.) It has nothing whatsoever to do with modern, high-speed hi-fi or the vivid soundstaging of innovative new designs — but being a straightforward, conventional rectangular floorstanding speaker, its gentle, honest, and well-composed manner of playing music inspires a kind of quiet reassurance that is hard to put into words.

This plain and unassuming presentation is fundamentally similar to the audiopro Image11, but beyond that there is an additional layer of musical quality and allure — a fragrance of European culture, in the best sense, that is thoroughly woven into the sound — and that is what makes the DALI Royal Tower distinctively its own. Whatever one might say about sheer scale, qualitatively it sounds unmistakably high-end. At this level of refinement it holds its own comfortably against Vienna Acoustics. To be able to obtain this kind of acoustic elegance for under ¥150,000 a pair is clearly excellent value. If you can afford the Royal MenuetⅡ, you might well find yourself happier in the long run by stretching just a little further and going for the Royal Tower instead. Personally, I found myself wanting it desperately — truly not knowing what to do about it — with nowhere to put it and all.

It suits those who enjoy relatively small-scale classical music, slow jazz, and the like at modest volume levels, so to name its weaknesses: it is probably not the right choice for those who enjoy percussive, metallic electronic music or rock and pop, nor for those who like to play full orchestral classical at high volume. That said, if you have a fondness for female vocals, it is well worth considering. The Royal Tower is a speaker for savouring not mere sound quality, but the more intangible qualities of musicality and refinement.

Unlike the majority of compact bookshelf speakers, it is front-ported, which makes placement straightforward. It is also less likely to cause disturbance through walls, and can be described as a slim, compact floorstanding speaker that will fit without difficulty into a six-tatami room. I would happily recommend it to music lovers with a deep appreciation of acoustic Western music and European music in general — not limited to classical — who are working with a modest Hi-Fi budget and find themselves listening in a small room.

B&W 703｜Current model → 703 S2

At this point it almost goes without saying, but the B&W 703 is in a class of its own for monitor-style sound quality at this price level. Paired with the ONKYO A-1VL + C-1VL, the combination was vivid and realistic to a degree that genuinely astonished me. The B&W 703 is a truly remarkable speaker, but since I hardly need to be the one to shout about it and it can be auditioned everywhere, and as I have also reviewed it before, I will leave it at that. ※ At the end of 2017, a new model, the B&W 703 S2, was released.

B&W 804S 　Current model → 804 D4

The finest-sounding speaker in the shop on this occasion was the B&W 804S. It is the most orthodox and straightforward of the lot — a thoroughly modern hi-fi sound with virtually no odd colourations or conceits. It was the only speaker among those I heard today in which images locked precisely into place with three-dimensionally accurate phase. The B&W Nautilus series is, as one would expect, simply on a different level from other manufacturers in every respect. It is an all-round performer with no weak points — but precisely because the sound quality is so good, it demands equally uncompromising source and amplification of the highest order, and the prospect of getting bogged down in setup and optimisation is the sort of thing that frankly makes this budget-oriented author think twice. It is, in short, an accurate sound that rather intimidates me.

DALI HELICON 800

Among floorstanding speakers in this class, the HELICON 800 is priced even higher than the B&W 804S, yet in terms of sound quality it unfortunately falls just short. Then again, most speakers inevitably come off worse when placed directly against the Nautilus — that is simply the way of things. So while if I were using something as a reference for music-related work I would choose the Nautilus 804S, for the pleasure of listening to classical music in a relaxed way at home I might well choose the HELICON 800 (or the HELICON 400). Fundamentally, the tonal approach is similar to the Royal Tower, but it features a ribbon tweeter handling frequencies above 10kHz — something absent from the Royal series — and that is a significant distinguishing factor. Unfortunately the less-than-ideal listening conditions made it difficult to appreciate the advantage of the super-tweeter, but I have no doubt that connected to a high-end system centred on an SACD player at home, the high-frequency reproduction would be quite extraordinary.

The DALI Helicon 800 approaches life-size scale, with a substantial bass weight that delivers a depth and richness of expression beyond the Royal Tower and Menuet. When comparing the two directly, the Royal Tower’s soundstage feels somewhat miniature — as though it is tracing the surface of the music rather than fully inhabiting it — but that very quality connects to its charming accessibility and is part of its appeal in its own right. The tonal character and overall refinement are essentially the same, and given the difference in price between roughly ¥150,000 and ¥700,000-odd, I do find a part of myself thinking that the Royal Tower is perfectly fine. Unlike B&W, where quality seems to dilute noticeably as you move down the range, DALI maintains its essential character consistently throughout, and that feels genuinely conscientious. Ah — though I should mention that I did not hear the mid-price IKON series on this occasion. My listening notes on the budget bookshelf models, the ZENSOR 1 “Zensor 1” and LEKTOR 1 “Lektor 1”, can be found here.

So that is roughly how things went — out of everything on offer, these were the models that caught my ear. More than half of what made the final cut was the same as usual, but the real discovery this time around was recognising the hidden quality of the DALI Royal Tower, which I had previously been rather overlooking. It is not a speaker that overwhelms you on first listen, but it is musical, reveals more and more with patient listening, and strikes me as a speaker that truly understands what music is about — in the deepest sense of the word.

Continued next time, with the main event: Audition notes on budget integrated amplifiers…

【Various listening sessions】
The plan｜Speakers｜Budget integrated amplifiers