In each case, whilst pulling the plug on the V5.1 didn’t generate the same, dramatic musical collapse that taking the Monster out of circuit does, the loss of life, presence and immediacy deflated and flattened the performance. But it wasn’t just a case of collapsing space and separation. The music lost its vitality and its sense of pattern, its rhythmic coherence and forward momentum. Each time the system changed and the V5.1 stayed put as a constant, I took to playing the same track(s) to check its set up and contribution. It’s weird the way that certain tracks pick up on the performance traits of a given product. In this case, ‘Listen To The Radio’ from Nanci Griffith’s album Storms (MCA DMCG 6066), with its distinctive vocal, double-tracked harmonies and up-beat tempo proved to be the acid test: any diminution in terms of life, tonal or spatial separation, rhythmic articulation or just plain get up and go was clearly and immediately obvious. At the same time the natural warmth and tonality of the recording was a sure-fire guide to optimising support, with different set-ups favouring different couplers. The bamboo blocks fastened onto the rhythm, dynamics and drive in the track, at the expense of some harmonic development and natural warmth – qualities that the Peak Sinfonias were well able to accommodate and exploit. The Sachas preferred the organisation and natural tonal pallet of the Neodio B2s, while the Stenheim and Living Voice both sounded best with the AcouPlex cones, point up. The Liszt Reference, the most tonally accurate of these speakers really blossomed with the V5.1 on the Acouplex cones – but with the cones point down, an arrangement that delivered maximum harmonic texture and development, timing and dynamic/rhythmic integrity. Whatever your speaker, just be aware that the V5.1 isn’t exactly plug-n-play – not if you want to get the best out of it and your system.
But what was a constant was the impact that the properly supported V1.5 had on the system’s musical performance. With the Telos hooked up and blinking away, Nanci stepped up to the plate, positionally and artistically. Her vocal gained presence as well as independence within the soundstage, her phrasing more urgent, her vocal inflexions clearer, her distinctive voice more natural, intimate and communicative. The double tracking of the backing vocal became far more apparent, the attack of the guitars more incisive, the bass line more mobile and motive. Without the Telos, the first spray of notes from the piano seems random and muted. The V5.1 turns them into a phrase, a first theme that the instrument then develops. The whole track takes on a sense of forward motion and purpose, a joyously infectious, toe-tapping, sing-along quality that sucks you into the music.
Perhaps most telling of all, the V5.1 has quickly become a constant in the Reading Room system. Like the racks and cables, it’s an essential part of hooking up any set of components and getting the best out of them. Like the racks and cables, it makes a vital contribution to the foundation on which the music rests, on which the performance depends. Remove it and you diminish the performance. Remove it and you undermine a fundamental footing on which the life and expression in the recording depend if they are to escape the confines of ‘cold’ storage.
