Speakers in General.

[Adrian]

Here we go again.......

On a recent visit to Cloney's..............................

Just browsing.... but dropped in to see the lads recently.... and I was invited to hear a speaker which I never knew of before....

The Soltanus Acoustics Virtuoso Electro Static....



Made in Serbia no less... a quick look on their website which seems most professional ( I dare say, even the speaker colour changes when you move the mouse over different veneers).



http://www.soltanusacoustics.com/

There was a NAD CD player feeding into a pre amp which I fail to recall the name of ... but between the pre and the speaker was a Quad 306 power amp.

Whilst I was not familiar with the music, or the equipment... the overall sound was very favourable indeed. However I would prefer to see a nice valve amp in there myself. But hey... one has to start somewhere!!!

These virtuoso's are tall... 1.87m tall, but build quality seemed very good, in addition there was two control dials on the base for adjusting certain treble frequencies ( I think, open to correction).

Definitely worth a listen for any hi fi freak... but for electro static fans you have to get yourselves down there for a look see / audition.

[fergus]

Very interesting indeed Adrian!

[DaveF]

Noel has been telling me about these speakers and how good they are. No idea how they compare to Quads though. Not cheap from what I can remember, I think those ones might be in the region of 8-10k. I'd be a little worried though if that company ever went bust. That could make any future panel replacement pretty difficult.

[Diapason]

I heard them yesterday. I thought they sounded good, very good, but I don't really "get" the panel thing so to my ears they simply weren't worth 10k of my money. Of course, YMMV. It has to be said that they don't have many hours on them, and they are apparently improving all the time.

I also heard a pair of Wilson Maxx, and that was interesting. Finicky to set up by all accounts (and not just positioning, various aspects need to be tuned at installation stage, all detailed by Wilson) but they certainly have something. I'm not sure if it's the kinda sound for me in my current mood, but you'd definitely have some fun with those!

[Adrian]

Good points there Dave.... I think they are in or around the 10K mark.

However.... there are a couple of things to remember... it is in Euro... the value of which has dropped alarmingly over the last 9 months.

So comparatively....against US or British Speakers a European made speaker is now much cheaper... perhaps by 30%, and as Dragi continues QE... British / US products could become 45% more expensive than they were in June 2014.

I'm not a Electrostatic owner... however for a person who desires to go down the electrostatic route... it is nice to see another manufacturer of ES speakers ... other than the old traditional's of Quad, Martin Logan etc etc.

I think for a discerning audiophile.... when on the hunt for a upgrade / change of speaker.... if you were to be given a choice of these Virtuoso's against a ProAc or B&W or Spendor speaker which is 5000 STG in the UK... but is now 7100 euro then it does give one food for thought.

I think we could be seeing more European Hi Fi manufactured goods getting discussed on here / even purchased as non EU stuff gets priced out of the market.

I know myself... if I was interested in a British Speaker... then told it is 2700 Stg.... and then told "Oh... by the way that's 4000 euro".... I would hold off for a two years or so... until the euro started to appreciate against Sterling... Or else start looking second hand on eBay.

God help us when oil goes back up to $110!!!!

[Adrian]

Another thing which I forgot to add... those Virtuoso's are rated for 25 to 300 W!!!!

Is that a lot of power for a ES speaker? I don't know.... but seems enormous power to me... maybe it is because I'm running at 28W!!!

[DaveF]

I heard them yesterday. I thought they sounded good, very good, but I don't really "get" the panel thing so to my ears they simply weren't worth 10k of my money. Of course, YMMV. It has to be said that they don't have many hours on them, and they are apparently improving all the time.

Could you tell at all if they had any of that similar midrange magic that Quad ESLs can give?
I wouldnt have thought that ESLs would require as much breakin time compared to cone speakers given how light and responsive the panel membrane is.

[Diapason]

Could you tell at all if they had any of that similar midrange magic that Quad ESLs can give?
I wouldnt have thought that ESLs would require as much breakin time compared to cone speakers given how light and responsive the panel membrane is.

They certainly sounded superficially similar to Qauds to me, but I don't really hear that midrange as "magical" in the same way that many seem to, so I'm not the best person to ask*. If you want my honest opinion, I'd sooner have a pair of 57s, despite the compromises that come with a pair of 57s. These will play way louder, for example, will probably have more scale, in fact they're probably better in most/many ways, but there it is.

However, it's not fair for me to say anything definitive about new speakers based on a 10 minute listen to strange music on a strange system that had only just been turned on. Basically, you should disregard my thoughts entirely, apart from my unswerving personal view that they could never command 10k of my own money.

*The problem that I keep coming back to with electrostatics is that they don't sound "real", according to my ear and brain's definition of "real". They can sound open, transparent, pure, gorgeous even, but they never seem to fool my ears into thinking I'm listening to a real musician in front of me. I find it hard to get past that, despite the obvious tonal advantages such speakers can bring to the table.

[Audioq]

Heard these at Cloney a week or two ago driven by monster class A Krell. Sounded fairly good, but to be fair with an electrostat it will probably take a fair bit of fiddling with position and associated equipment before they snap into focus. Nice looking speakers certainly.

[Adrian]

Only getting around to posting this now.....

As per my posting above about a visit to Cloney's.... Noel introduced me to the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A2.

Bang & Olufsen would not normally be on my audition list with regard to serious Hi Fi. I'm sure they make great products, but the emphasis seems to be more on contempory style rather than sonic ability.

So it was with great surprise when I heard the A2 unit playing various tunes from Noel's Iphone.

For those "not in the know" .... the A2 is a combined Amplifier / Speaker. About the size of a ladies large purse / small hand bag. It combines a Class D amplifier with a forward and rearward speaker system. Battery operated, with a estimated battery life of 24 hours. Charging is carried out by a mains 230V external charger.

Inputs are 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth. There is also a USB port.

The sound from such a small device was incredible. No.... this portable unit will not match ProAc's or B&W 800's...nor is it ment to. But for portable verstility and given the fact that it was been fed via bluetooth.....it simply sounded astonishingly good.

Controls are simply a On / Off button, Volume Up / Down, Bluetooth Button. The A2 will switch off if left unused after a certain time, perhaps 15 / 20 minutes.

Definitely worth a listen / audition if you are considering a very good quality portable speaker with Bluetooth connectivity at a very reasonable price... sub 400 euro approx.