But speaker design is about more than balancing build costs and dimensions to hit a critical price-point. The Alumine 5 manages to deliver astonishing power and weight for its size and the stand-mounted Alumine 2 can be forgiven a curtailed bass response (especially as it more than makes up for it with an effortless sense of scale) but the 3 is going to stand or fall on just how much of the 5’s musical authority can be retained in the smaller enclosure. At this price – and nobody would describe the Alumine 3 as cheap – it needs to do more (a lot more) than just pretty and precise. Fortunately it does – and if the results aren’t quite as visceral as the A5 delivers, they match their bigger brother for clarity and intelligibility, not least at the bottom end, where they are purposeful as well as quick and clean. However, also like their bigger brothers, they reward care and attention to positioning and set up – a function of their port being directly adjacent to the floor. More than any other speaker I’ve used, it’s crucial to get the two cabinets exactly the same height from the floor. Fortunately, the excellent spikes and accompanying tools, together with the perfectly parallel sides of the cabinet make adjustments to attitude and that ultra-critical distance from the floor both easy and repeatable – which is a good thing seeing as you’ll be down to adjustments of an eighth of a turn or less on each spike if you really want to get the best out of the A3s. Once you’ve settled on a position, the large diameter locking collars and the provided C-spanner mean that it stays firmly locked in. As is increasingly common, the A3s offer a single set of binding posts, although like the other models in the Stenheim range, they can be ordered bi-wired if preferred. That opens up the enticing possibility of bi-amping, but with which amp?
Before we go there, there are a few important caveats to consider. Most important of all is the fact that although the A3’s reduced size and bandwidth allows it to work in smaller rooms, it still likes space and if it can’t have space it gets very, very picky about position. It also needs power – far more power than its 93dB rating suggests. In that regard, this is the least Stenheim of all the Stenheim speakers. Plonk this speaker down too close to a wall, without due care and attention, use the wrong amplifier and you will wonder what the fuss is about. And picking the right amp is far from straightforward, with some of the combinations that look good on paper failing dismally. This is one speaker where you absolutely cannot accept a matching amp on trust and just because the amp’s manufacturer claims it’s a good match don’t necessarily make it so. In this case, listen AND compare. You might be surprise how differently different amplifiers perform when connected to the A3.One particularly pertinent example is the CH Precision I1, an amplifier that loves the Alumine 2, loves the Alumine 5, but doesn’t like the A3 even a little bit!
Size matters…
Having run through most of the in-house options, I used two different amplifiers for the majority of the listening, both with great results. One was VTL’s recently launched S-200 Signature stereo power amp (along with the TL-5.5 pre-amp) and the other was Levinson’s 585 integrated, both capable of delivering 200 Watts per channel into the A3’s supposedly easy 8-Ohm load, the upper end for recommended partnering amps. Given the 93dB sensitivity, they might seem like odd choices, but past experience shows that in the case of Stenheim speakers, that efficiency has more to do with dynamic response than triode amplifiers. This is a loudspeaker that makes the most of the first Watt, but really enjoys the other 199 lined up behind it. The quick and extended bottom end needs controlling if you want to get the best out of the Stenheims – and that’s where all those Watts pay dividends: That and when they face truly outrageous dynamic demands.
Quality counts…
Get the A3s right and you’ll quickly discover that although they do quantity when required, their trump card is the sheer quality of their bass performance. Like any really good speaker, the bass should only be apparent when the music demands it, but when that demand is there, the compact Stenheims react with weight, extension, authority and power that will shock you the first time you experience it. Play Osmo Vånskå’s BIS recording of the Lemminkåinen Suite (Lahti SO, BIS-1745) and the beautifully textured murmur of timps, appearing out of nowhere to underpin the final bars of ‘The Swan…’ are a mere amuse bouche, the sudden detonations that add dark drama to ‘Lemminkåinen in Tuonela’ no more than the hors d’oeuvreleading into the abrupt interjections that punctuate the final movement as it builds inevitably from its pell-mell start into the burgeoning scale and impact of the explosive cannonade that marks the finale. The power is as impressive as the weight, the focus, texture and intensity of the individual beats as emphatic as the urgent but restrained shudder of the rolls – but nothing quite matches the astonishingly effortless ease with which the energy within the soundstage swells, the combination of stability and freedom with which the orchestra and the music breathes. There are speakers that sound bigger than they are – some impressively so. But that very statement gives the lie to their performance. They might sound bigger than they are but you still know that they are small. The sound from the A3s is simply big. It doesn’t seem to emanate from the speakers at all, testament to their ‘silent’ cabinets and deft voicing. Nor – unless you really try to rattle the windows – does it seem to have limits when it comes to depth or scale. Living with full-range systems, I know what’s not there, but the Stenheims are so inherently well balanced that I barely notice it and certainly don’t miss it – which is pretty impressive given the size of their cabinets.
