Dropped by Mike's (mtaudio) place last Sunday to grab some Tara and Cardas cables from him and stuck around a while to hear his Spendor A6/ Musical Fidelity M6i/ Musical Fidelity M1DAC/ Cambridge Audio azur 350C rig. This would be my first chance to hear a proper set of "British" speakers (well, I had a brief episode with some big full range Tannoys once but conditions were less than ideal) as well as some very, very nice modern electronics.
First, let me say Mike is as nice and accommodating a person as one could hope to meet and it was a genuine pleasure to sit and talk shop with him. I had a great time and really enjoyed the entire experience.
Now for the good stuff. Set up in a room that must have been a little over 20' wide and about 12' deep with the speakers on the 20' wall and the listening chair set up against the back wall I was very pleased to see Mike had implemented some acoustic treatments in the room (my conviction and belief in acoustic treatments is nothing short of fanatical). He had several absorption panels strategically placed on all walls with a proper cluster of them on the back wall in the proximity of the listening position. The speakers were spread about nine, maybe ten feet apart and toed in almost on axis with the listening position. I was a little concerned about the equipment rack as it looked like it was going to encroach on the outer boundary of the Spendor's radiation pattern to the center but once I heard the center imaging and general sound stage depiction the Spendors were throwing up my concerns were negated. So we'll start there.
Sound stage and image definition were fantastic. I'm used to listening to variety of (big) line source dipoles in a room with extensive acoustic treatments so I'm a little spoiled in the regard of sound stage, imaging, scale, and dynamics. Mike's rig didn't disappoint at all and I was surprised to hear content fleshed out so nicely. No, the life-size scale I'm accustomed to wasn't there but, you know, there is only so much physics a set of small-ish speakers set up against the wall can defy...and the Spendors were already breaking a few rules as it was. :yes: The depiction of images was given proper dimension within its placement in the sound stage in that I could hear an instrument like the snare drum residing further back in the sound stage and having proper scale in relation to the front line instruments/players which were were noticeably more forward in the sound stage but never in your face.
Actually, nothing was ever "in your face" so to speak as the Spendors have a polite, yet deliberate and capable personality to their sonic character. There is a warmth and clarity there that is both musical and detailed. Hearing the horn player gently inhale and exhale while playing very soft, low volume notes was impressive as was hearing very subtle cymbal and hi-hat strikes with all the tonal subtleties that I'm used to hearing from the real deal. Complex tonal textures were accurately reproduced within the context of a single image beautifully. One of my measuring sticks for this is to hear how a system fleshes out a jazz drummer's ride cymbal. In that one instrument resides a complex blend of tonal textures such as the stick tip striking the shoulder, bell, or edge as well as the shank of the stick striking the shoulder, bell or edge, the wash or roar of overtones and undertones produced when hitting the cymbal, the decay, the swell....there's just a lot going on there and with twenty-five years listening to a wide variety of these bronze plates in person I have certain expectations when it comes to accurate, convincing reproduction of the instrument. On this the Spendors and Musical Fidelity electronics did not disappoint. And when we threw in some high energy material ("Jazz Is Dead") the Spendors really came alive and did considerable justice to a recording that really benefits from a rig with strong dynamic capabilities. The only thing a bit deficient with the Spendors is the lowest octave of LF reproduction. But down to around 50-60 hz and up to around 250 Hz the Spendors do a magnificent job with clarity, definition, and speed. Alfonso Johnson's bass riffs and patterns were never buried or subdued and always had a very satisfying amount of body and definition. Mid bass and upper bass performance was just downright fun to experience. And the mid range in general had a beautiful tonality to guitar and voices and when the the slightly distorted guitar of Jimmy Herring kicked into high gear the presentation had just enough edge the polite little Spendors put off some attitude. Drummer Billy Cobham's signature powerful tom fills had a respectable amount of tonality and physicality through the Spendors and rim shots on the snare had the piercing "crack" that should be felt as much as heard.
All said getting to hear Mike's modern rig was a genuine treat and I'm very glad I was given the opportunity. This is the sort of rig I'd imagine a high-end shop might have out on the floor but in conditions that don't really allow an intimate, proper audition. Well, I certainly got an intimate, proper audition at Mike's and have now been exposed to small-medium scale hi-end...something I'd never experienced. Suffice it to say, I'm impressed! :thmbsp:
- Michael
First, let me say Mike is as nice and accommodating a person as one could hope to meet and it was a genuine pleasure to sit and talk shop with him. I had a great time and really enjoyed the entire experience.
Now for the good stuff. Set up in a room that must have been a little over 20' wide and about 12' deep with the speakers on the 20' wall and the listening chair set up against the back wall I was very pleased to see Mike had implemented some acoustic treatments in the room (my conviction and belief in acoustic treatments is nothing short of fanatical). He had several absorption panels strategically placed on all walls with a proper cluster of them on the back wall in the proximity of the listening position. The speakers were spread about nine, maybe ten feet apart and toed in almost on axis with the listening position. I was a little concerned about the equipment rack as it looked like it was going to encroach on the outer boundary of the Spendor's radiation pattern to the center but once I heard the center imaging and general sound stage depiction the Spendors were throwing up my concerns were negated. So we'll start there.
Sound stage and image definition were fantastic. I'm used to listening to variety of (big) line source dipoles in a room with extensive acoustic treatments so I'm a little spoiled in the regard of sound stage, imaging, scale, and dynamics. Mike's rig didn't disappoint at all and I was surprised to hear content fleshed out so nicely. No, the life-size scale I'm accustomed to wasn't there but, you know, there is only so much physics a set of small-ish speakers set up against the wall can defy...and the Spendors were already breaking a few rules as it was. :yes: The depiction of images was given proper dimension within its placement in the sound stage in that I could hear an instrument like the snare drum residing further back in the sound stage and having proper scale in relation to the front line instruments/players which were were noticeably more forward in the sound stage but never in your face.
Actually, nothing was ever "in your face" so to speak as the Spendors have a polite, yet deliberate and capable personality to their sonic character. There is a warmth and clarity there that is both musical and detailed. Hearing the horn player gently inhale and exhale while playing very soft, low volume notes was impressive as was hearing very subtle cymbal and hi-hat strikes with all the tonal subtleties that I'm used to hearing from the real deal. Complex tonal textures were accurately reproduced within the context of a single image beautifully. One of my measuring sticks for this is to hear how a system fleshes out a jazz drummer's ride cymbal. In that one instrument resides a complex blend of tonal textures such as the stick tip striking the shoulder, bell, or edge as well as the shank of the stick striking the shoulder, bell or edge, the wash or roar of overtones and undertones produced when hitting the cymbal, the decay, the swell....there's just a lot going on there and with twenty-five years listening to a wide variety of these bronze plates in person I have certain expectations when it comes to accurate, convincing reproduction of the instrument. On this the Spendors and Musical Fidelity electronics did not disappoint. And when we threw in some high energy material ("Jazz Is Dead") the Spendors really came alive and did considerable justice to a recording that really benefits from a rig with strong dynamic capabilities. The only thing a bit deficient with the Spendors is the lowest octave of LF reproduction. But down to around 50-60 hz and up to around 250 Hz the Spendors do a magnificent job with clarity, definition, and speed. Alfonso Johnson's bass riffs and patterns were never buried or subdued and always had a very satisfying amount of body and definition. Mid bass and upper bass performance was just downright fun to experience. And the mid range in general had a beautiful tonality to guitar and voices and when the the slightly distorted guitar of Jimmy Herring kicked into high gear the presentation had just enough edge the polite little Spendors put off some attitude. Drummer Billy Cobham's signature powerful tom fills had a respectable amount of tonality and physicality through the Spendors and rim shots on the snare had the piercing "crack" that should be felt as much as heard.
All said getting to hear Mike's modern rig was a genuine treat and I'm very glad I was given the opportunity. This is the sort of rig I'd imagine a high-end shop might have out on the floor but in conditions that don't really allow an intimate, proper audition. Well, I certainly got an intimate, proper audition at Mike's and have now been exposed to small-medium scale hi-end...something I'd never experienced. Suffice it to say, I'm impressed! :thmbsp:
- Michael
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