A speaker dem for the heckuvit

Someone had asked me about the RR2, so I figured it was a good excuse to go to the local hi-fi shoppe. I informed him that I was posting the e-mail here as well, for (hopefully fruitful) forum debate.

I went and did a nice long dem of Allae/RR2/Mystique during Monday morning "dead" hours. I used a CDI (their CDX was stone cold) with a 112/Flat2/250 and CDSII, 82/SC/135s. Everything was warm and all speakers were properly seated on their spikes and placed with due care. I used Hooverphonic, Badmarsh & Shri, Lambchop, Leftfield, some progressive-house sampler and the store's Sheffield "Hi-Fi Goobers!" test disc. As usual, take this with the appropriate dose of sodium.

First up was the RR2. Two words: *extremely* tight (or, lightning fast). If you have a bass boom problem, this speaker will solve it. Said bass goes very low, but you don't quite "feel" it. They are so perfectly even that stuff like acoustic guitar and "real" drum kits sound breathtaking. The singer on Sajanna, from Badmarsh&Shri was just mesmerizing. The next thing I noticed was its rather stiff upper lip. They are so controlled and well behaved, it's like they refuse to let their hair down when it's time to dance. I won't call them sterile, because they're not. Don't get me wrong, they time like crazy; every note of every instrument comes out when it's supposed to- with razor-like precision, but there's a certain conservatism about the presentation that I couldn't get on with. The RR2s are incredibly open and fleet of foot, yet they play raucous music like they don't approve. They also run into problems with heavy electronic bass- I could see their woofers flapping like mad, just on the brink of bottoming out while the volume was *just* short of "involving". Remember volume limitation rears its head only with demanding tracks like Leftfield's "Release the Pressure". While the sound is very tight, lean and pacy, it's not dry- in fact it's quite organic. The tunes flowed much more than they grooved, so to speak. Be warned that they really must have at least 7-9 feet apart, in fact, they sounded best when placed literally in the corners (!) of the room, so as to get about 8 feet between them. No clue as to why this is. Seated thusly, they sound so coherent and unboxy that they are the best speakers I've yet heard in this respect. Certainly not an all rounder, then; more for the jazz, and "real" instrumentation I suppose.

Next was the Neat Mystique. Now, this speaker is *half the price* of the others, but I included it so I could get a handle on what was going on. My reference if you will. They're not as refined and well behaved as the RR2, not by a long shot. Coming straight off the RR2, the Mystiques had a very lively, forward and colored sound- like there was some sort of reverberation (not to be confused with boxiness) added to the tunes. Compared to the Royds, their bottom end is smearier (Egad, adjective crisis!), yet far punchier. Odd, as the Mystiques are the heavier of the two. If the RR2s were tight, the Mystiques are phat. However, their presentation was so propulsive and plain groovy that I didn't care. I hesitate to say this, but the RR2 puts you 2 or 3 rows back- no mean feat; the Mystiques make you the band's beer swilling roadie. Compare Jesus from "King of Kings" to the one from "Jesus Christ Superstar", and you'll get what I mean. They play any type of music with equal verve and excitement. To add, if a song is supposed to be somber and sad, it'll do somber and sad, no questions asked. The rubbery synth bass of the Badmarsh and Shri album was conveyed just as well as its sweet vocals.
Unlike the Royds, I've found these prefer to be much closer together- perhaps 4ish feet, with plenty of space from the side walls.
What I can't reconcile, is that before the serious RR2 dem, I would have considered the Mystique a supremely "uncolored", unboxy and correct speaker. Now, I don't know- surely the unoptimized placement and dealer showroom effected things, but the RR2 was cleaner and much more refined. A healthy dose of perspective, then.
In any event, my personal Mystiques don't sound as crazy as the store pair, obviously due to anoraky home setup and Mana. A proper dem would have the RR2s pitted against the Neat Elites, an interesting matchup. Has anyone done the dem?

Last were the Allaes. A big improvement over the Credo. My impression was that the Allae is to the Credo as the Credo was to the Intro. The highs are much improved, being cleaner and sweeter than the Credo. However, the bottom end is about the same, that is to say, it probably works in some rooms and comes off rather hazy in others- including this one. Unfortunately, even off the CDSII system, I was asking myself "what's so special about these"? They didn't have the precision of the RR2, nor were they as engaging as the Neat. Plus, they haven't quite shaken off that certain messy quality about them that was ever present in the Intro and Credo. Not quite pots 'n pans, but the sound is obviously coming from a box and they didn't invite me into the music like the Royd and Neat. Interestingly, I didn't think they "swung" as well, either. The Allae isn't a poor speaker at all, they don't do anything wrong, there's just nothing that they truly excel at. They're quite underwhelming, especially for the price- think if the cliché "damning with faint praise".

Observations, arguments or perspectives anyone?
Anyone done the RR2/Elite dem?