Nor are the benefits of that clarity and immediacy confined to the classical repertoire. The Cure’s Head on The Door (Fiction FIXH 11) gains drive and attack, separation, a greater sense of the pattern and layers in the production. Simon Gallup’s characteristically pulsing bass lines have a new clarity of pitch and purpose, his subtle shifts in attack and spacing adding shape and progress to tracks that can easily overload lesser systems. There’s a greater sense of separation in the mixes, with Smith’s vocals gaining intelligibility, detail and expressive range. The results are more powerful, with more momentum and intensity – just as they should be. The cascading, edgy guitar riffs and stacked chords that pour forth to open ‘Push’ pile across the soundstage with an energy and abandon that constantly verges on wonderful chaos, the speakers giving them their head but without ever actually losing control.
The complex, insistent rhythms and close harmonies of ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ (the Fun Boy Three – Waiting, Chrysalis CHR 1417) flow easily, realising the track’s full ear-worm potential. The same sure-footed confidence extends across jazz and dance, from the captivating quality with which the speakers invest the elongated lines and relaxed group dynamic of Gentle Ben (Ben Webster, Analogue Productions APJ 040) to the infectious, pile-driver beat that propels The Pet Shop Boys’ floor filler, ‘Always On my mind/In My House’ (Introspective, Parlophone PCS 7325). The dynamic precision with which the speakers map the sequenced rhythms and graduated drum beats brings a whole new, motive force to the music, propelling the music ever forwards.
Musical clarity and communication will out, whether the music being played is heavily processed, minimalist, electronic or acoustic. Adding the SX base to the Alumine 5 takes a great speaker – one that has set the performance benchmark for its size and price for nearly a decade – and lifts it to a whole new level, allowing it to communicate with more clarity and authority. Familiar recordings take on a body, presence and vibrant energy that add purpose and intent to the playing, intensity and focus to the performance. This is everything that made the A5 so musically communicative and satisfying – squared!
That an inert lump of metal can inject so much extra life and focussed energy, artistic expression and emotional range into recorded music seems somehow counter-intuitive, but inject it does and the performances improve, a bit like a cyclist or middle-distance runner mainlining EPO. There might be no (legal) short cuts when it comes to athletic potential, but if you own (or are considering owning) Alumine 5s, you should consider the SX base an essential upgrade. Once you hear them you’ll want them. Even those who hate the way they look come to terms with the appearance once they appreciate the musical impact. Me – the more I listen the more used I get to the way they look. Having lived with them, the price seems almost modest in comparison to the musical results.
