I applied a few other niceties in setting up the system: every power lead wasn’t just the same type, it was the same length; all of the interconnects between the crossover and amplifiers were also matched for type and length. Unfortunately, while I have two sets of identical speaker cable, regularly used in bi-amp set ups, three sets was stretching even my stocks of Odin 2. A direct comparison quickly established that it was better to run a longer set of O2 than a length of V2 the same length as the other two pairs of O2 speaker cables. After that, it was simply a question of allowing the system to warm up and settle down, adapting the crossover settings as the amps’ sound developed – mainly in terms of bass depth and weight as the CHs are wont to do. It’s a process that tells its own story. Such is the clarity and temporal coherence of the Auditoriums that even subtle changes in the spectral balance of the driving amps are immediately apparent in terms of musicality and the sense of ‘event’. It’s a double-edged sword. If it’s wrong then it’s obviously, definitely, seriously wrong. But when it’s right – and that’s just as obvious – then it’s glorious.
That “whole new ball-game” feeling…
As much as the warm up and settling in process affects the performance of the system, the impact of going active is instantly obvious, even from stone cold. The increase in precision and control, the ability of the amps to direct the drivers is as apparent as it is musically significant.
For all its emphasis on subtlety, expression and emotional range, the world of the arts is brutally Darwinian and never more than in a ballet company. See the Royal Ballet dance at Covent Garden and the dancers in the corps de ballet are some of the finest dancers you’ll ever watch. Yet when the soloists appear, the difference in the quality of the dancing is immediately apparent: Quicker, more precise movements and finer lines, better timing and ensemble pieces with a symmetry that sees all the dancers not just in step but in shape too. Which is impressive indeed, until the Principal dancers take the stage. As wide as the gap is between the corps and the soloists, the Principals are on another level entirely. With them comes a poise, a grace and an effortless precision that leaves even the soloists looking halting, clumsy and strained. It’s breath-taking. It’s also exactly what you hear when you step up to the active Auditoriums: poise, grace, expressive range and effortless headroom. The precision and artistry in the playing, the purpose and control in a conductor’s direction, the emotional intent in a lyric: suddenly these are the things you are hearing, rather than the sound of the system or the recording. The active option simply moves you closer to the performers and their performance – and significantly so!
As I write this, Alina Ibragimova is playing the Passacaglia from the Shostokovich 1st Violin Concerto (with Jurowski and the State Academy Symphony Orchestra of Russia, a Hyperion 192/24 file stored on the Wadax Ref Server). The power of the brass and percussion fanfare that opens the movement is enhanced by the subtle layering and texture of the instruments, especially the skin and pressurised volume of the timpani which pulse portensiously below the trombones and beside (but separate from) the tuba. Ibragimova’s entry is fragile and winsome, delicate yet with a deliberation of line that builds into the intense demands of this most difficult of violin passages. As I’ve remarked before, her instrumental voice, so suited to chamber works, might not be the natural choice for the dramatic scope and searing emotional intensity of the Shostakovich, but her native affinity for the music and connection with it shine through and never more clearly than on the active Auditoriums. The pauses, the deliberate pacing, the teetering upper register lines of the Cadenza are captivating as she navigates those heights with surefooted, note-perfect grace, articulation and focus. So vivid is the tonal and textural picture, the musical energy generated by the speakers so naturally dimensioned and proportioned, that there is an almost ghostly sense of presence, not just bow on strings but the action of her bowing itself. You feel the musical energy coming off of the instrument but also a vivid impression of the astonishing physical energy she is putting into her playing. The performer and her performance are everything, the system and speakers completely forgotten…
