Playing the recent Sony recording of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Ferrández playing the Brahms Double Concerto (Sony 19658741101), the body and attack the B2s bring to the Cello, the way they allow the system to reveal the vitality and intensity in Ferrández’ playing sparks the relationship between the young cellist and Mutter’s sumptuous fiddle. I keep coming back to the term ‘purpose’ to describe what the B2s bring to the party, but in this case they bring a dramatic creative tension too. Mutter has a reputation as a great and generous collaborator and the B2s reveal just how willing a partner she has found in the young Spanish cellist. Suddenly, those muttering (no pun intended) about a “new Casals” don’t seem quite so crazy.
With the B2s bona fides well and truly established, it was time to start spreading their application. Neodio suggest that the next place to use them is on the floor in front of the speakers, followed by under the speaker cable behind the speakers and then under the mains distribution block – so that’s what I tried, in that order and on a couple of different systems. How many different systems (and how much I used the B1s) you can tell from the scuffs and scrapes on the bases and top discs of the units in the photos. These are no prima donna products. They will definitely be working for a living…
Long story short (there was a lot of chopping and changing, with repeated listening, involved in this process) a clear pattern began to emerge. The first and most important conclusion relates to how you use the B2s – in a wider, strategic sense. There’s no doubting the fact that it’s a great (make that “spectacularly good”) equipment support. But long term listening across those different systems and situations demonstrated time and again, that the scale of the musical and sonic difference the B2 makes in what could loosely be described as an “absorber’ role is such that this is the most cost effective starting point. Or, to put it another way, a pair of B2s placed on top will treat a pair of speakers. You’ll need six, or more likely eight, of something else to support the speakers from underneath – and I’d bet that in most cases, the single B2 on top is going to make a bigger difference. Of course, you could put four B2s under each speaker and that works, sure as shootin’. But that’s a big cost differential, especially given that if you place B2s under the speakers, you’ll still need the pair for the tops!
First things first…
So, whereas you’d normally think about placing ‘footers’ underneath all your different bits and pieces, figuring where they work best and whether you are going to use three, four or even five, in this case the approach is different. With B2s, you start by placing individual pieces on top of or around equipment and ancillaries. Neodio’s recommendations are a good place to start, but exposure to a wider range of equipment (especially speakers) leads me to suggest a few modifications. So my order of priorities is as follows:
