XTZ Sound Bookshelf Speaker Comparison (93, 95 and 99 Series)

[gene]

Swedish audio manufacturer, XTZ Sound in Balance, makes a bit of everything. When they are not making amplifiers, CD players, cables, measurement systems, DSP, and earphones, they are making speakers. Today we will focus on several of the bookshelf speaker product lines ranging from their 93,95 and 99 series of products which look pretty interesting. XTZ focuses on naturalness of sound reproduction, neutral/flat frequency response in their products and based on quality parts and apparent great build quality, we have little reason to doubt their design goals.

Read XTZ Sound Bookshelf Speaker Comparison (93, 95 and 99 Series)

 

[rojo]

Uuuhhh, PriceGrabber's unfortunate opinion notwithstanding, I'd be highly interested to see some fancy graphs and read impressions of XTZ's bookshelfs. Reckon they'll ever send demo units to AH for a thorough review?

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend v1.3.1.

 

[gene]

Uuuhhh, PriceGrabber's unfortunate opinion notwithstanding, I'd be highly interested to see some fancy graphs and read impressions of XTZ's bookshelfs. Reckon they'll ever send demo units to AH for a thorough review?

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Forum Fiend v1.3.1.

Yes we have in a pair of $10k towers from them now. Unfortunately I'm a bit low on writers ATM so it may be awhile before we formerly cover one of their bookshelf speakers.

 

[haraldo]

What is the point of what we're doing, it's about pleasure, it's about enjoying the moment it's about musical pleasure...

I find it weird that you do a comparison between a range of products, without mentioning one word about how they perform, how they play music, how you enjoy the moment listening to Kate Bush ..... how they trick you to believe that it's genuine music and not a recording that you're listening too.

I find this somewhat strange...
I believe that... You can't have a qualified opinion about a product you never listened to...


BTW, there's also a Master M2 bookshelf speaker that tops them all

 

[rojo]

I know, right? Product previews are nice, but they are a tease. They're like a contrived excuse and an awkward hug goodbye when your date has been hinting all night that she intends to test out the mattress.

It doesn't appear that the Master M2 is offered on the U.S. store website, but they do have the M6 (for which Marshall Guthrie did write a more thorough review last year).

 

[gene]

What is the point of what we're doing, it's about pleasure, it's about enjoying the moment it's about musical pleasure...

I find it weird that you do a comparison between a range of products, without mentioning one word about how they perform, how they play music, how you enjoy the moment listening to Kate Bush ..... how they trick you to believe that it's genuine music and not a recording that you're listening too.

I find this somewhat strange...
I believe that... You can't have a qualified opinion about a product you never listened to...


BTW, there's also a Master M2 bookshelf speaker that tops them all

It's called an article preview NOT a review. Please read the page title more closely in the future.

 

[haraldo]

I will make sure I pick up my glasses next time Gene

 

[haraldo]

It's called an article preview NOT a review. Please read the page title more closely in the future.

Gene, you know me very well and you know that I read closely, and you know my attention to detail!

I absolutely love music, I love good music and I like to enjoy listening.... Some of the better moments were a classical consert in Musicverein in Vienna (where they do the new year conserts) and also the Kate Bush concert in London last year.... I want to renew some of these moments sometimes... so I'd like to sit down and listen to 'An Architect's Dream' and 'Aerial Tal' and many other nice songs ..... For this I need a system that can play music and make me forget about time and place, you can't measure musical pleasure. At least I can't

You're detailing a lot of tech specs that doesn't really say so much about how a product will make you enjoy the music, what is these parts in this sense?

Good specs doesn't warrant a well sounding speaker, does it?

Some speakers with really good specs are absolute crap ... Like some of the Marten design speakers, that I just even can't listen to, they give me a headache....

Look to one of John Atkinson's all time high favourites, the Harbeth P3ESR,
Tech specs like this:
Two-way, sealed-cabinet, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) magnetically shielded, aluminum-dome tweeter; 5" (110mm) magnetically shielded, Radial2-cone woofer.
Frequency response: 75Hz–20kHz, ±3dB.
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Sensitivity: 83.5dB/2.83V/m.
Recommended amplification: >15W. Power handling: 50W program.
Dimensions: 12" (306mm) H by 7.5" (189mm) W by 8" (202mm) D, including grille and terminals. Weight: 14 lbs (6.3kg).

They're probably one of the better speakers around when it comes to reproducing music, depending on the requirements of the user, they just don't play everything....
You can't play loud, there's no bass, they're bears to drive ..... but absolute magic !

I admire and highly respect what you're doing but an article with main focus on specs doesn't do that much, at least not for me, but maybe I'm different from everyone else around here. I don't care a microsecond about specs, how impressive bass it is, how loud they can play.... If the system doesn't make me enjoy the music, then it's just a piece of crap .... no matter what the tech specs say. If it makes me enjoy the music it's good ... no matter what the tech specs say

I like what you do, and I think you do a very good job, but maybe there's room for improvement

This is just my opinion, I know a bunch of people here hate me till the end of the world for being who I am and stating my opinion the way I do but that's not my problem. Fire your guns guys

The most important thing is: Sit down and enjoy the music

 

[rojo]

Remember that this is a preview, not a review. Previews offer information supplied by the manufacturer, just as a way of saying, "Hey, I'm here." They don't often include information such as crossover point or slope, the effect of that crossover on lobing or phase matching, consistency in off-axis response, a waterfall plot or indeed any graphed response at all, or any other more technical indicators which would raise confidence that this speaker will probably sound better than another. Just like the brief specs you pasted for the Harbeth speakers, there's little there to express how it actually sounds. It is enough, however, to hint at the target market -- a consumer who will also employ a subwoofer. Two-channel enthusiasts would probably prefer something else.

It's not fair to Gene or his organization to criticize previews which aren't critical in the first place. Yes, the preview could be improved, but that would require physical access to the speakers, which the company apparently hadn't provided for more thorough evaluation. It would probably be more appropriate to criticize the marketing departments of speaker manufacturers for not publishing this sort of in-depth information.

I think many speaker makers would rather not trust the end user with this information, though. Even great speakers have trouble excelling in all measurements. Speakers are a balance of compromises. You can either have a manageable cabinet or extra bass extension. You can either have the drivers match phase at the crossover point, or the cost of the crossover exceeds the target production cost. Within a limited budget, you can either have a speaker with a beautiful veneer and rounded edges, or a dull black rectangular cube that sounds nice. You get the idea. Rather than letting the consumer see exactly what has been compromised, speaker companies would prefer that their customers commit to a live audition, leaving the compromises a mystery.

 

[haraldo]

Remember that this is a preview, not a review. Previews offer information supplied by the manufacturer, just as a way of saying, "Hey, I'm here." They don't often include information such as crossover point or slope, the effect of that crossover on lobing or phase matching, consistency in off-axis response, a waterfall plot or indeed any graphed response at all, or any other more technical indicators which would raise confidence that this speaker will probably sound better than another. Just like the brief specs you pasted for the Harbeth speakers, there's little there to express how it actually sounds. It is enough, however, to hint at the target market -- a consumer who will also employ a subwoofer. Two-channel enthusiasts would probably prefer something else.

It's not fair to Gene or his organization to criticize previews which aren't critical in the first place. Yes, the preview could be improved, but that would require physical access to the speakers, which the company apparently hadn't provided for more thorough evaluation. It would probably be more appropriate to criticize the marketing departments of speaker manufacturers for not publishing this sort of in-depth information.

I considered to consider some of the XTZ products, but only if I can make qualified auditionings where I realize that they improve on what I currently have.

It is not my intention to criticise Gene. Gene is an absolutely great guy and doing a great job, if you read what I write I think Gene and the guys are doing great, but I think they may be too much into specs according to my taste, but that's just one guys opinion.
If Gene is the guy I think he is he will always look for ways to improve AH

Maybe it's possible to do more research on the previews, maybe it's just too uncritical manufacturer's words about products ... these are not facts, just questions and queries on where to possibly improve

If everyone just hails and cheers along nothing will improve, we need to look at what can be done better, yes

I never accept status quo, everything must change ... everything must improve ... by standing still you're going backwards ... always look at what you can improve ... every day, yes