It seems only appropriate to leave the last word to vocal reproduction. That ability to project a solid sound source brings a special presence and communicative directness to voices – and two voices in particular. Raquel Andueza’s impressive vocal gymnastics on Music For A While (variations on Purcell songs by Christina Pluhar/L’Arpeggiata – Erato 0190295250843) exhibit not just presence and astonishing control, but power and a natural, communicative musicality too. The solidity of her voice is such that you can sense shifts in the shape of her mouth, her diction, her breathing, the effort and precision that goes into her delivery. It’s a vocal tour de force from both performer and the amps delivering the performance. Combine that with the sense of body, energy and purpose in the tight ensemble accompaniment and you’ve got an in-room presence that’s as natural as it is convincing.
Moving to the other end of the stylistic scale, Gillian Welch’s vocals (and her harmonies with David Rawlings) on Woodland Studios (Acony ACNY-2416LP) might lack the astonishing range and technical virtuosity of Ms. Andueza, but she wrings every last ounce of feeling out of the heartfelt lyrics – emotional communication that’s underlined and deepened by the body and shape, vocal nuance and solidly drawn lines of the Trilogy amps. Once again, the sure-footed pace and timing they deliver binds the accompaniment into a single, intimately connected unit, further accenting and reinforcing the sense in the songs. This is a simply superb recording, natural and unforced, deriving its musical and emotional power from the sheer musical integrity in the performance itself – integrity the 995Rs are right at home with.
Aside from musical and emotional impact, the thing the Trilogies bring to both of these recordings is the same sense of concentrated energy and ‘mass’. That physicality means one thing when you are talking about the body of an instrument: it means quite another when you talk about the body of a singer, the body behind the voice, the body that is powering that voice. We talk about systems that allow the music to breathe. The Trilogies leave you in no doubt that not only is that body there, behind the voice, but that it’s a living, breathing thing. These amps are not the most immediate sounding amps I’ve used. They don’t let you hear the spit hitting the microphone. They communicate the action of singing, the way in which a singer works his or her voice in a different, more condensed and holistic way.
Stereo is an interesting term. When people talk about stereo systems, one of the first topics of conversation is often the sense of space or location, the sound-stage and instrumental spread. Yet the word stereo derives from Greek and the straight translation is “solid.” If only Trilogy also derived from Greek: I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that it too, translated as “solid.” If you crave a walk-in soundstage, ultimate separation, depth that disappears beyond the audible horizon, this probably isn’t the amp for you. It’s not that the Trilogy 995Rs don’t stage: they’re capable of prodigious width and height, even if their depth perspective is relatively limited. That’s because they’re more interested in bringing the elements in a recording together, as opposed to pulling them apart. That sense of musical and rhythmic integrity is as powerful as it is engaging. From the thunderous solidity of a full orchestral tutti, to the engaging, toe-tapping attraction of a well-turned pop tune, these amps are never, ever less that musically committed. That commitment encompasses space and nuance just as it does, towering dynamic demands. The sheer presence with which they invest instruments or voices, their musical and communicative coherence, makes the most of small-scale works, just as it invests larger scales pieces with their proper weight and impact. But perhaps most interestingly of all, the 995Rs strengths seem to be cumulative in a system context. Combined with a speaker like the Stenheim or Göbel, they certainly put meat to the musical bones. Hook them up to speakers that already offer a natural warmth and weight – like the Peak Consults or Vienna Acoustics – and they double down on those qualities, with seriously rewarding results. It helps explain why the Trilogy/Wilson marriage is so impressive and potentially enduring.
