Playing Patti Smith’s cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Twelve, Columbia/Sony Music 8888 37 49272) those iconic opening notes are almost sluggish on the ‘standard’ rack, the bass lethargic and blooming with an uncontrolled spread. But transfer the system to the Harmonie-equipped rack and it’s all changed. There’s a deliberate, measured spacing to the notes, the bass is ‘fat’ but far from flabby and the band enter, spread in a coherent space. Smith’s vocal is present and intimate, her diction natural and lacking the hard edge it had previously had. There’s a conscious restraint in the pacing, the tempo deliberate and the notes poised in space and time. As Smith starts to pick up the pace, it’s just as deliberate, generating an inevitable momentum and musical power. What started as something almost deconstructed grows into a track that carries the same or even more emotional weight than the original, the precision in the playing and the space it gives the vocals allowing the lyrics to be heard and understood that much more clearly, giving them that much more intelligibility and impact.
This ability to retain spatial separation and temporal spacing is crucial to understanding music, to fully understanding the performance captured in a recording. Playing Patti on the standard rack, the presentation is still impressive, but there’s no escaping the way in which the recording hardens and congeals as the level and intensity increase. Using the Harmonie footers under the rack allows the system to present more information, both in the time and space domains, but also to arrange that information far more naturally: to make far more sense with and of it. In doing so, it allows the rack and the system a wider margin of control, making more music more accessible, more communicative and ultimately more worthwhile. That’s a pretty fundamental shift, but then the Harmonies seem to operate at just that fundamental level.
Having eight Harmonies on hand, I naturally went the whole hog and fitted tt he rack on its sub-table, with only friction to keep it in place ain’t a brilliantly practical arrangement. Problematic in the case of these comparisons, I’m not sure I’d recommend it in a domestic situation either. It’s stable enough, it just isn’t secure against lateral impacts of the sort generated by pets, children or clumsy adults. Which got me wondering: just how much of the Harmonies’ benefits are provided by each level? Are they, equal, cumulative or exponential? There’s only one way to find out – so back to shifting equipment between racks…
With the PRS cones re-installed between the rack and the sub-table, I repeated the back and forth comparisons, with what can only be described as win-win results. Using Harmonie footers on both rack and sub-table does afford an increase in performance, but it is definitely in ‘icing on the cake’ territory. Using the Harmonie footers only between sub-table and floor delivers between 85 and 90% of the musical benefits. Listening to the Andrew Davis/Bergen P.O. recording of Karelia (Chandos CHSA 5134) the single set of footers still delivers that increase in space, dynamic graduation and flow when compared to the standard PRS set-up. The Harmonies allow the system to capture that tingling anticipation in the opening movement, give the brass real punch, clearly define the percussion and scale the dynamics beautifully. Just when you think the orchestra can’t go louder, it lifts itself through the final crescendo far more convincingly, with almost explosive impact combined with control. The whole orchestra stays put, with no tendency to tumble forward or crowd between the speakers. Adding the second layer of Harmonies does further refine the dynamic steps and brings extra texture and colour to instruments – a worthwhile upgrade if your rack allows it and the option is practical in your situation, but the footers between the rack and the floor are doing the heavy lifting. Which, given that most racks are essentially single piece structures (at least once assembled) is just as well. That and the fact that most racks use three or four posts, means you’ll need half as many Harmonie footers to support your rack as you’ll need for the average pair of speakers, making it a far more cost effective option too. More performance for half the money, what’s not to like.
