Kudos S20 One month and Final Review

Early evaluation of the S20s was impacted by the throughput of people visiting over the Xmas/New year break but they have now been installed for over a month and have probably 150 hours on them so whilst the run-in period may not be complete we can reasonably expect any changes from here on to be nuanced. I’m therefore confident that I have a good understanding of what they are capable of.

Conduct of Run-In

Full system in my profile. I chose the following as my reference points returning to them on a regular basis over the run-in period to seek to identify changes in performance and of course characteristics that weren’t obvious in early listening.

On Vinyl:

• Mediterranean Sundance (Elegant Gypsy) – Al Di Meola
• Coolsville (Ricki-Lee Jones) – Ricki-Lee Jones
• Double Trouble (Just One Night – Live at Budokan) – Eric Clapton
• Famous Blue Raincoat (Famous Blue Raincoat) – Jennifer Warnes
• Planet of New Orleans (On Every Street) – Dire Straits
• Flamenco Sketches (Kind of Blue) – Miles Davis
• Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Brush with The Blues (Performing this week..) – Jeff Beck

CD

• This is Hip (Mr Lucky) – John-Lee Hooker/Ry Cooder
• J S Bach Goldberg Variatio 15 – Murray Perahia
• New One (re-foc) – Rodrigo Y Gabriela
• Long Road Out of Eden – The Eagles
• Beethoven Symphony No 3 (Eroica) – Klaus Tennstedt LPO
• Malted Milk (Unplugged) – Eric Clapton
• Equinox (Coltrane’s Sound) – John Coltrane

All other listening was random choosing and occasionally going more left field. For example one evening I spun Elephant by The White Stripes and it was arguably the most fun moment of the whole period. Equally Kirsty and The Pogues on Radio 2 on Xmas Eve was a moment of great family frivolity. Otherwise Radio 3 on FM was played extensively.

Summary

The S20 is a highly capable genre neutral speaker delivering consistently high performance across all elements of the music played. The bass is deep and well defined, middle registers are open and airy, and the treble genuinely sweet without shrill. Voices are expressive – truly emotional. Perhaps most importantly there are dynamics on a level I have rarely experienced with recorded music.

System and Room Integration

I understand that the S20 was “voiced” with the Naim NAP 300 amongst other equipment. As a Naim user I can confirm that it is absolutely in its element with the Naim NAP 250DR but would I imagine perform the panoply of musical tricks with everything from a Naim SN2 upwards. It is configured for active operation with Linn systems so this could well be an attractive option for many. Due to its porting arrangement, I understand, it is relatively easy to integrate into most domestic environments. In my lounge each speaker is 12” from the rear wall facing across the narrow side of the room, 7’ apart with slight tow-in. The design is clearly intended for a medium sized room but I should imagine with suitably powerful performance in larger rooms would be just as good. Clearly the S20 is going to be increasingly used in digital and streaming applications and I was keen to see how what I refer to as digital glare was managed. Put simply it manages both digital and analogue with equal ease simply exposing the musical performance. Like any other speaker some experimentation with speaker cable could prove beneficial but for the purposes of the run-in period Chord Odyssey has proved to be an excellent partner.

Musical Characteristics

A view put to me before I seriously auditioned was that the S20 could be harsh in the treble and certainly when first plugged in top end guitar, violins and piano did appear to be bright. In addition there appeared to be a nasal timbre to Eric Clapton’s voice on Malted Milk which I had hitherto never noticed. However, subsequent listening has transformed his vocal to the emotional plaintive cry intended of Robert Johnson. Similarly Murray Perahia’s interpretation of the Bach Goldberg was tonally correct and not in the least bit shiny. And on the point of emotion I’ve commented on this before but it’s almost unreal that something can sound as expressive and outright sexy as Jennifer Warnes on the Famous Blue Raincoat. Soundstage is large. On the Beethoven Eroica the full range of the orchestra is captured and presented as a coherent piece whilst at the same time recognizing the sheer dynamics the LPO deliver combined with exposure of all the intricacies of the strings and woodwinds. A feature of this speaker is the ability to go from relative piano to fortissimo. On the Jeff Beck Ronnie Scott’s set the relatively serene introduction to Goodbye Pork Pie Hat acts as a great pre-cursor before the crushing transition to Brush With The Blues and sheer power that comes from 4 albeit amplified musicians. Textures – whether the complexity of Long Road Out Of Eden or the relative simplicity of Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia timbres are apparent and involving. But perhaps most of all it’s groove and timing which are the stand out features and really grant the music its impact as evidenced on Planet of New Orleans when Mark Knopfler concludes the chorus and steps aside for Chris White’s sax.  Equally on the John-Lee Hooker/Ry Cooder track the groove is utterly infectious.

Conclusion

There is much more I could report on how the S20 has performed the music but I’ll conclude by just saying that the ultimate test must be that I just want to go back to my music collection and listen more and more. If anyone is in the market for a compact floor standing speaker at any price the S20 is worthy of a serious and prolonged audition.