Speakers Audition 2017 - My first in 20 years
Posted by: SongStream on 02 June 2017
..or thereabouts. A friend and I entered the Signals 'church' for the first time today, and thrashed some speakers. Thanks to the wonderful chaps at Signals for putting up with the incredible (but highly musical) din we were making for 5 hours.
Using laptop and Qobuz sublime, we hooked up to an SN2, a Chord 2 Qute, and first off some Russell K 100s. These were possibly a little overwhelmed by the room size. They were highly revealing, and easy to listen to, but I didn't find them particularly engaging. Not the punchiest of sounds, and a little bass light in that environment, but a reasonable starting point. In a smaller room I suspect they would have been much more attention grabbing
We then moved on to the Focal 926s that I had become rather curious about. We both found these very impressive and easy to listen to, despite the obviously apparent huge scale of the sound they produce. Animals they are, but controlled, focused, and really fast. I was particularly surprised at the way they maintained real bite in the high frequencies, but without irritating or dominating proceedings. Voices and individual instruments of all kinds were really there, with fantastic solid presence, and sounded not necessarily super natural, but full bodied and immersive. Everything seemed to have its own space, and no matter how complex things got, they never seemed to blur anything together, maintaining real insight and resolution throughout everything we played. Refined? Yeah, I think they are, kind of. Subtle? Hmm, no, not really, but exciting and enjoyable. Great party speakers I would think, but certainly a lot more than that too, and if you have enough to room to properly accommodate them (sonically as much as physically), I think they would be great. Despite my room being border line too small, it is roughly the same volume as the room we were demoing in, a home demo of the 926s was beginning to become a must. I feared they would be over powering, but prepared to take the time to find out. Really impressed by them, but in the back of my mind was the fear they would be too much for my room.
Next we tried some PMC Twent5.23s. These were notably brighter, not offensively so over a short listen, but tonally I didn't really like them from the start. They also seemed laid back and a bit slow by comparison. Flat is another word that comes to mind. Separation and harmonics didn't seem to be anything to challenge the Focals either. After 4 or 5 different tracks, we were both a bit 'they're ok, but nah!' about them.
The Focals came back in for a while and again impressed, but still sounding like they could ultimately do with more room.
Deciding it would be best to home demo the Focals as they offered much of what I wanted, there was just the question of room compatibility, I was thinking of giving the guys at Signals a break when they suggested, if we could stand any more listening (which we easily could), try the Kudo X3s. In they came and........we both liked them straight away. I personally really really liked them. There was something just right about them. They had body, a big sound, though less in your face than the focals, and remarkable musical insight and resolution. As with the Focals, individual voices and instruments had solid presence and their own space, but in a small-ish room, it all seemed much more manageable and comfortable. They were agile and punchy, and yet still refined, which gives them a +1 vs the Focals. The bass depth was impressive too, seeming to reach lower than anything else we had heard in the demo. They sounded natural and had me forgetting about the idea that I was supposed to be judging speakers, and just listening to music. While the Focals impressed with their talents, the Kudos X3s did not, instead it was the music that impressed, and that's probably the biggest compliment I've given in this rambling write-up. They somehow did not cover-up imperfections in a recording to the same degree as the mighty Focals, but didn't scream, shout, and point at them either. It all seemed like a really good match for my own tastes, the room, the equipment, and the type of music I typically listen to. Therefore, these became the speakers i will home demo first. And if they work as they did in the demo today, they'll probably be the ones to stay.