Lansche Audio

[Diapason]

A little birdie told me there was an interesting pair of speakers in Blackrock, so I popped in to Cloney on Friday to have a listen to the Lansche Audio 4.2. "Never 'eard of 'em!" I hear you cry. Well, neither had I, but they have a very interesting tweeter design, called the CORONA plasma tweeter, that has no membrane and basically just uses light and air to generate sound. I don't know the price, but it's in the "well out of my league" territory, so you can imagine these are pretty serious speakers.

To be honest, it's a long time since I've heard REALLY high-end gear, and you know yourself that it can often be disappointing. The boxy looks and slightly inelegant proportions didn't do much for me (although they're not ugly, they're just not my style) and when the music started it was not the kind of sound that announces itself with histrionics. We started off small scale, and the initial sense was "relaxed". This was not music thrust at you with laser precision, instead it hung in the air and invited you in. I expected something earth-shattering from the tweeter, and what I actually heard was nothing. It was very odd, in that I had come to hear a design that wasn't drawing attention to itself at all. It forces me to think about the colourations we're all used to and don't even think about as getting in the way, and how it's initially quite jarring when they're gone. There was clarity here in spades, but not in the usual way. Instruments and voices (especially voices) came and went in the track in a completely natural way, obvious but never spotlit. You could follow any line with ease, or take in the sweep of the whole if that's what you preferred. Soundstage was large and uncluttered, and while the whole presentation was capable of being MASSIVE, it never sounded unnaturally large. Small single instruments sounded like small single instruments, we weren't dealing with guitars the width of the soundstage here. It was all very impressive.

Bass is quite adjustable in these speakers as they have active subwoofers built in, but Ivan had spent some time setting then up and I thought they were about right. Certainly the bass was heavy when it needed to be, but again you could hear the back end of bass notes just as clearly as the leading edge, and it was very compelling. It's possible they're capable of even more with further setup, but I wasn't disappointed and I don't think you'd feel the urge to tinker having set them up. I had some concerns about a bit of upper-midrange congestion, but interestingly the amp being used for that part of the spectrum was perhaps not ideal for my tastes. The speakers are a very high sensitivity design, and given the active nature of the bass I would love to hear them with a SET or similar. I think that could be absolutely gorgeous, and perhaps bring a little more sparkle and air than McIntosh warmth.

One way or the other, it was with some reluctance that I eventually left the shop, having wandered through a variety of musical styles and noting again and again the chameleon-like nature of the sonics. Every recording sounded unique, and I found myself drawn into tracks again and again, despite my intention to just listen to short extracts.

All told then, a very satisfying listen, and quite unlike anything else I've heard.

[Sloop John B]

Great review. You have the gift of the (hifi) gab without reverting to veils being removed to reveal inky blackness.

.sjb

[Diapason]

Thanks sjb, although I should probably read the feckin' thing back before I press "Submit".

[hudo]

Very nice review!
I don't see that speaker at cloney's website, whats that bird that tells you that, how to capture it, where does it fly!?

[DaveF]

Interesting write-up there Simon. I never heard of these before but they sound very compelling indeed. I didnt know that Cloney's now stock McIntosh amps. I always wondered how they sounded even though I was never particularly gone on the style. They seem to divide opinion too from what I've read. I'd still love to audition one someday but's that's someway off.
Anything else interesting there?

[Diapason]

I don't see that speaker at cloney's website, whats that bird that tells you that, how to capture it, where does it fly!?

LOL. The slightly-less-interesting truth is that I was in asking Ivan about something else and he told me about them, so I had a listen. My reputation as local tyre-kicker is not without a grain of truth! They were traded in, I think, so may not have made it onto the website yet. I can't remember if Ivan told me what they were traded in against, but whatever it was must have been very good!

I didnt know that Cloney's now stock McIntosh amps. I always wondered how they sounded even though I was never particularly gone on the style. They seem to divide opinion too from what I've read. I'd still love to audition one someday but's that's someway off.
Anything else interesting there?

They've been doing McIntosh for a while (6 months? A year? I've lost all sense of time...) and they're very impressive-looking in real life, although probably not everybody's cup of tea in terms of styling. I've heard them powering a few things in Cloney's front room and I like them well enough in a "safe" kind of way, but I strongly suspect they wouldn't be for me as a longer-term solution. I would be far more interested in the Pass or Gryphon that you occasionally see lurking, and would you believe I've still never heard them in anger.

Apart from that there are always a few interesting bits and bobs, and the boxes dotted around suggest some serious gear going through the shop at the moment. To be honest, I generally try to stick to hearing interesting things closer to my budget, so often pop upstairs where the cheaper stuff resides. Trying to avoid the madness.