When it comes to partnering electronics, I was able to run the Comtesse with CH Precision amplifiers (one or two A1.5s or M1.1s), the TEAD Linear B and the Trilogy 995R. Although the speed and transparency of the linear B and the solid musical enthusiasm of the Trilogy monos certainly had their appeal, the power of the M1.1 brought a special kind of authority and an emphatic dynamic grip to proceedings, especially when used to bi-amp the speakers (albeit at a considerable cost penalty over the alternatives). Looking at a more affordable, bi-amp option, I find the notion of four of Trilogy’s 994 mono-blocs an intriguing, if untested alternative. Göbel often use the (not dissimilar) hybrid, Class A Riviera amplifiers… And getting really basic, it would be interesting to try a pair of Neodio HQA power amps – at a combined cost that doesn’t hit five figures. The point is simple: the Comtesse might like power (but she doesn’t demand it); she’ll play nice with whatever you choose – just choose carefully. You’ll want an amp that can match the speaker’s in terms of musical integrity (rather than price) – an even sense of top-to-bottom balance being the key factor.
The Göbel speakers follow fast on the footsteps of the Stenheim A5-SX and Peak El Diablo, speakers that offer a fascinating contrast – and collectively, an interesting cross-section of available performance. In that company, the Comtesse is smaller, with considerably less low-frequency driver on show. Numbers don’t tell the whole story – not least because there are so many different ways to achieve them – but on paper the Göbel speaker appears to offer broadly equivalent bandwidth to the Stenheim, broadly equivalent sensitivity to the El Diablo. In practice it sounds quite different to both.
What the Divin Comtesse is, is fast. That’s not all it is, but it’s what the sum total of its considerable virtues adds up to. Amongst those virtues you’ll find focus, transparency, neutrality and an absence of additive colouration, sudden dynamic response, instrumental harmonics, bite and texture, structural clarity and an explicit sense of musical purpose and energy. This speaker will never leave you wondering. In many ways, its lack of boxy colouration and wide-open soundstage are more reminiscent of a really good electrostatic – but coupled to a greater sense of presence and instrumental substance.
Isabelle Faust is a violinist who let’s her instrument do the talking, a vessel for the concentrated energy and purpose in her performance. Even live, she never distracts from the music and plays with an intensity and focus that’s devoid of the showy or flamboyant. She also brings that talent to an extraordinary range of material, from Locatelli to Ligeti, composers that place dramatically different demands on a soloist. Those differences are, in part, summed up in the titles of two of her Harmonia Mundi recordings, il virtuoso, il poeta (Locatelli concerti, with Antonini and Il Giardino Armonica, HMM 902398) and the starkly explicit Ligeti Concertos (with François-Xavier Roth and les Siècles). The first binds the soloist in the formal structures of the baroque, with a rigid framework within which to display grace, fluid continuity and purposeful rhythmic insistence. It’s a field of subtlety and nuance, counterpoint and formal, almost mannered exchange. It’s a world that Faust embraces fully and generously, leaving space for others amidst an equality of exchange. It brings depth and vitality to the small group performance as a whole, rather than spotlighting the soloist – while at the same time releasing the leader to lead with brilliance.
