Placement is classic open field or, in other words, a variation on where you’d place a modest floorstander. In my case, that’s slightly further back than the Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Concert Grand – about 4cm. Don’t be tempted to push the speakers too far back or you’ll end up fattening up the bottom end with the result that you’ll rob them of immediacy and agility. Lateral spacing is less critical than it would be for a wider bandwidth design, making it easy to adopt the speakers’ preferred equilateral triangle lay-out. It’s worth paying attention to all three sides of the triangle, making sure that everything is symmetrical about the centre line. Which brings you to by far the most critical aspects of set up: toe-in, rake-angle and azimuth: Toe-in should be right at the listener’s ears; Rake-angle will depend on seated ear-height, so measure it and experiment (again, the ear should be right on the vertical listening axis); Azimuth should be vertical, at least to start with. As soon as one, the other or both speakers wander off of the correct listening axis, you lose first a sense of central focus, then depth and acoustic space. That loss of focus takes the form of a spreading bleeding central image, making a voice or solo instrument the ideal set up tool. Dial these speakers in and the image locks up while the speakers themselves literally disappear. Interestingly, the Greenwich delivered the best result from the LEDR tests on the Nordost speaker/system set-up disc that I’ve ever achieved: tones started way out beyond the speakers and moved with an almost clockwork accuracy across and through the soundstage, demonstrating near perfect symmetry (remember, they’re measuring the room too – which in this case is anything but symmetrical) probably reflecting the absence of crossover related phase and energy anomalies.
Achieving the correct speaker attitude means working with the spikes under the stands. These have nuts to go under the base plate and a cosmetic cap to go on top, which also adds security. You need to work with the spikes until the speaker is positioned just so and then lock everything up. The spikes have allen heads to help tighten everything down without inadvertent adjustment, but somewhat bizarrely (for a UK produced product) the socket size appears to be 5/64 while the nuts take a 14mm spanner! Take the time – and the tools – to get it right. This speaker is accurate and transparent enough to the signal that set-up related errors stick out like a sore thumb!
I used the Greenwich with a number of different integrated amps, but primarily with the Levinson 383, the CH Precision I1 and the Icon Audio Stereo 60/KT88. After trying several different cables I settled on Crystal Cable Future Dream, whose subtle articulation and transparency suited the speaker perfectly (although I’ve a sneaking suspicion that the preternatural textures and tonality of the Brandt cables would be a superb match too). Upping the ante, in terms of system complexity at least, I also used the Jadis JA30s, which proved a particularly engaging and expressive combination, in this case paired with the quick, clean and ultra transparent TEAD The Vibe line-stage setting the gain. Ultimately, it was the Jadis that offered the best match for the Jordan speakers, for reasons I’ll come to shortly. But before that it’s worth noting that in each case, but particularly when switching from solid-state to tube amps, it was essential to shift the speakers forward or backwards slightly, to maintain the optimum balance between weight and warmth, musical life and vitality – something that reflects the musical tightrope confronting the Greenwich when it comes to balancing the benefits of crossover-less design with the potential costs…
Gaining on the swings…
Talking of benefits, it’s not often that you hear the theoretical advantages of a given approach to audio design rendered quite so apparent in practice. A well-designed wide-bandwidth driver should deliver zero phase-shift across its working range and superior dynamic tracking, due to the absence of subtractive crossover elements. I generally start listening to any new product with solo piano and in this case it proved an apposite choice. The sound was crisp, immediate, direct and properly percussive. Claire Huangci’s album Made In USA (Alpha Classics 1071) opens with the transcription of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue for solo piano, a perfect playground for the young pianist’s almost playful approach and effortless rhythmic flexibility. The Greenwich tracks her lithe shifts in tempo and the way she uses note weight and attack to add emphasis, shape and purpose to her phrasing. The lack of hesitation and the crisp leading edge attack reveal the vivacity and freedom in her playing, accentuating the dazzling melodic variation and jazz-like contrasts and shifts in the piece.