The Peaks’ presentation – and their ability to shift or adjust that presentation – reflects their innately natural sense of weight and balance, the evenness of their energy output and resolution. These are not the highest-resolution speakers in the world – but they do resolve evenly across their entire range, whether they’re asked to teeter across the top-most notes of Isabelle Faust’s fiddle or capture the woody resonance and body of a baroque Cello, the dull thud of a damped kick-drum or the attack and zing of a pedal steel guitar. Importantly, they don’t go higher at the top than they go low at the bottom: as a result, musical density, and shifts in density – whether between one band and another or within a musical performance – are defined by the incoming signal, rather than limited or gated by imbalances in the speaker or system. It might sound like an obvious requirement, but it is remarkable how many speakers/systems fail this basic test. The Sinfonias navigate it with unusual ease – and that driven by the relatively modest Levinson 585. Step up to the CH M1.1s and the speakers’ ability to portray shifts in orchestral density or build into a pop chorus is seriously impressive, making the musical impact of those shifts explicit – occasionally shockingly so. Just as they should be…
Combine the Peaks’ enthusiastic dynamic response with that sense of even energy across the spectrum and naturally weighted balance and the result is the ability to generate an almost Linn-like sense of musical urgency and momentum. Except that with the Peaks it’s a quality that’s on tap rather than a constant. When the music demands it, they deliver with gusto. But they can back off the pace too, without the music or sense of performance shutting down. So just as they can change density, they can change pace too. Play Víkingur Ólafsson’s recent recording of the Goldberg Variations (DGG 4864559) on the Sinfonias and you’ll marvel at the grace and fluidity in the playing. That’s down to the effortless clarity with which the speaker tracks changes in attack and note pressure, its ability to capture the shape and pace of left and right hands simultaneously, keeping them both separate but related. It’s a master-class in musical coherence, the prioritising of fundamental musical demands over overtly impressive hi-fi qualities.
Hear to stay?
The Peak Consult Sinfonia is a real surprise package. It’s a long way from being the largest, the most detailed or the highest-tech loudspeaker – even in its price band. It doesn’t have the most stylish or striking cabinet – although the quality of fit and finish is exemplary. It doesn’t have that one, knock it out of the park sonic attribute that blows away the competition on the shop floor. It doesn’t scream, “Look at me!” – visually or sonically. Install a pair in your lounge at home and I doubt most of the neighbours will even notice, let alone comment. But the longer I spend with the Sinfonias, the more I suspect that, if you are Peak Consult, that’s kind of the whole point.
