The speaker’s unburstable dynamic range and uninhibited dynamic response inject life and energy into the playing, the temporal exactitude keeps things on track and pointed in the right direction. When the score builds, so does the intensity and level, but the instruments never wander on the stage or crowd forward: just listen to the helter-skelter plunge from solo instrument into the full-bore finale of the third movement. Even more impressive, when the music hesitates or stops mid flow – it stops dead, with that special silence that the Wadax reproduces (and the speakers preserve). That, more than anything else, demonstrates just how little smudging, slurring of leading edges or blurring of harmonic tails the speakers (or more precisely, their cabinets) append to the signal. This is a far from great recording, but it’s a fantastic performance, from soloist and orchestra alike – and this system makes that plain, fastening on the musical integrity, simply brushing the compromised recording aside.
In fact, this system makes the musical performance king, the quality of the players and their playing trumping all other considerations. It makes the most of concert recordings or one-take studio tracks so, for instance, while DGG’s Kleiber Beethoven 5 and 7 SACD is undoubtedly excellent, it’s easily bettered by the sheer sense of occasion manifest on the Orfeo live recording (Orfeo SACD C700 051 B) of Kleiber conducting the Seventh Symphony with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.
Talking of 3D – in the more widely understood sense – stereo spectaculars, like ‘True Love Ways” from the Buddy Holly Legend album (MCAD-5540) are, well, spectacular. The control-room speaker that opens the track is wa-a-ay stage-right, the stage itself extends well beyond the speakers, broad with a clearly defined floor and rear wall. The strings, harp and sax are located right, clearly arrayed in space, the Crickets are on the left, even the gently strummed guitar clearly audible in the overall sound: and Buddy’s voice? Buddy’s voice is intimate, present and life-sized, correct in terms of height and with a solid, dimensional physique behind it. You want reach out and touch – this is it.
Personal service…
That physical sense of energy extends across the range. Play the Art Blakey track ‘Moanin’’ (Blue Note UHQ-MQACD-UCCU-40120) and the tonal density of the brass instruments, the attack and action of the piano, the clarity and pitch of the bass notes and the location and separation of the instruments produce a vivid, punchy sense of presence and vitality. When Lee Morgan lets rip in his first solo, Bobby Timmons’ muted, subtle piano prompts are just where and when they should be. Enter the sax and its reedy tonality is so distinct and separate from the trumpet that there’s no confusing not just the instrument but the nature of the sound it produces. Blakey’s drumming has slap, attack and a propulsive rhythmic precision, Jymie Merritt’s bass solo is articulate and fluid, a world away from the limp, muddled stumble that most systems produce. You want live, club levels? You’ve got them. You want to know what it’s like to sit in front of Lee Morgans horn? You will…
