Of course, it’s all to do with how the low-frequencies arrive, rather than how deep they really go. The Stenheims marshal their resources masterfully, going deeper than you expect but also delivering that bass with a speed and intent that keeps pace with their open, articulate mid-band. It’s an object lesson in generating effective bass, rather than simply lots of bass, while also using that bass to good effect, underpinning and propelling the music’s all-important midrange. The impact on voice is immediate (in every sense) while guitar is imbued with enough shape and panache to make involuntary air-guitar antics an embarrassing likelihood. Play Aimee Mann’s Bachelor No. 2 (Mobile Fidelity MFSL UDSACD 2025) and you’ll get the full affect from a single album, the solid presence and propulsive power of the drums and bass, the poised delicacy of the acoustic or the sheer intensity of the fuzz guitar, the deftly constructed backdrop to the sardonic bite of those enigmatic vocals. It’s a musical and emotional tour de force, both the performance on the disc and the performance of the speakers, the latter built on power and clarity, presence and purpose. The Alumine 3s manage that neat trick of being both controlled and expressive, a foot planted firmly either side of the musical middle ground. There’s no missing the wicked edge to the lyrics on Bachelor…just as the Stenheims also breathe life into the flawless technique of Zinka Milanov, the flamboyance of Leontyne Price’s Carmen or the almost painful intimacy conjured by Janis Ian. The music and the performance step away from the speakers, independent of the system, the storage medium or the room. Whether you play vinyl or optical disc, physical media or files, the Alumine 3s have that uncanny and invaluable knack of not just fastening on the music’s essential message, but manifesting it in almost physical form. Whether it’s girl and guitar, the Basie Big Band or a full orchestra, these speakers put the performers and the performance in the room with you.
In a few short years, Stenheim has risen to the top-table of high-end speaker design, considered alongside the likes of Wilson and Tidal when it comes to conventional cabinets and dynamic drivers. That’s no happy accident. At a time when high-end audio seems once again to be losing sight of its core values, obsessed with sonic resolution and a new numbers war, these Swiss speakers seem to cleave effortlessly to what really matters. Many products claim to put music first but all too often those words are an empty cliché. Listen to the Alumine 3s, with the right amp and the right care expended on set up and you’ll appreciate just what those words really mean. The smallest Stenheim floorstander ticks all of the sonic and hi-fi boxes – but it does music too, without drawing attention to itself or getting in the way, which places it in a very select group indeed. More affordable than the Alumine 5, as engaging and expressive as the Alumine 2, but with considerably more bandwidth, carefully handled on the end of a carefully matched system, the Alumine 3 could (and should) become a classic.
