Using the €89K Marquis with those €10-15K pocket battleship integrated amps might seem like a mismatch, at least in budget terms. But musically? Musically it was astonishingly successful. The 585 delivered a more stable, arguably more restrained, more refined and dimensional presentation. The Diablo (as always) majored on attitude and energy. You pays your money and takes your choice, but that’s exactly the point: the money required for Marquis ownership might not be as much as that €80K ticket suggests – simply because the matching amplification can be so much more affordable, without diluting the musical appeal. Naturally, stepping up to the M1.1 or S-400 transformed the performance, but just as the Marquis covers its tracks when compared to its bigger brothers, it covers it tracks when driven by capable but lesser electronics. Although all of the amps listed here deliver well over 100 Watts/Channel (and most of them at least twice that) and the Marquis displays a clear appetite for power, its easy load and high efficiency make the amplifier’s job easier. Although you might assume that opens the door o low powered amplification, what it actually does is enhance the control exerted by the driving amp, making the maximum use of the speaker’s clarity and articulation, timing and rhythmic integrity. Yes, you can use the Divin’s with flea-powered amps: you just won’t be getting the best out of them…
As previously noted, I also shifted the Marquis into The Studio, our smallest listening space. At 6m by 5m and firing across the room, this is a much smaller space than you’d think would comfortably accommodate a speaker the size of the Marquis, but it proved an eminently successful installation. The forward firing ports and vertical rear cabinet wall meant that the speaker could be pushed back close to the wall without damaging bass linearity. A (pretty severe) 1.2 degree forward rake was also required – but easily achieved – due to the low-ish seating position, high tweeter placement and short listening distance. But with those things attended to and the M1.1 or 585 doing the driving, results were spectacularly immediate and impactful, the smaller space compensating for any perceived lack of scale in the bigger listening room. Listeners looking for presence, power and a musically communicative speaker to work in a smallish space shouldn’t overlook the Divin Marquis. It might well surprise you.
Versatile and effective, potent and powerful yet subtle, delicate and intimate too, the Divin Marquis is an unlikely looking all-rounder. It’s bluff cabinet and large drivers are the antithesis of the multi driver columns so popular these days, remarkably reminiscent of ‘old-skool’ speakers. But that’s no bad thing. Many of us grew up with large boxes, with large bass drivers, sat on the floor. It’s more than just nostalgia that makes us hanker after those halcyon days. There IS no substitute for bandwidth and if I’ve spent a long time discussing how little bandwidth the Marquis possesses compared to its bigger and much more expensive brethren, it still has more (and far more potent) bass than the vast majority of the competition. The problem is that, such are its musical capabilities that it ends up getting bracketed with and compared to far more expensive designs. With speakers like the Wilson Alexx V, Stenheim Reference Ultime 2 and Magico M6 cluttering the 150K market sector, it’s easy to see or position the Divin Marquis as an alternative to those high-profile models. And it gives hem a run for their money. But the Göbel model that should stand toe-to-toe with those large floor-standers is the Noblesse! The Marquis is half their price and far more forgiving of amplification. For anybody seeking serious high-end performance combined with consummate musical quality, that makes the Divin Marquis a surprisingly compact, capable and affordable option. Along with Stenheim’s similarly surprising Alumine 5SE, this Göbel loudspeaker is re-writing the rulebook – and doing it in one of the most competitive market sectors in the whole of high-end audio.
