Well, despite the 3 degree weather, I did my speaker auditions on Saturday. First stop was Saturday Audio Exchange, where I listened to the Monitor Audio S6 on an NAD T763. I brought two mix CDs of a wide range of songs I'm very familiar with. Charlie Parker's "A Night in Tunisia" and Charles Brown's "Black Night" were brought to life without the limitations of the 1940s recordings being too distracting. Charles Mingus' "II B.S." was a revelation -- I could the shuffling of feet, someone breathing, and the scrape of fingernails on the bass strings -- details I had only heard before on my Sennheiser headphones. James Brown's "Funky Drummer" was kind to the crisp snare drums without sounding shrill. They handled the distorted guitars of The Creation's "Making Time" very well. But on The Stooges' "Down on the Street" and Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On," they were starting to feel strained. And I hadn't even begun to truly torture them. They coasted through Curtis Mayfield's "Little Child Runnin' Wild" nicely, handling the range of the strings very well. The dubby 70s reggae bass of Cedric Brooks' "Free Up Black Man" and The Congos' "Congoman" was satisfyingly groundshaking and warm. The more pristine productions of Steely Dan and Rush sounded near perfect, and the razor's edge guitars of The Buzzcocks and Gang of Four were sharp without being painful. I was struck by another revelatory moment in Mission Of Burma's "Learn How" -- I've never heard it sound so intense. The acoustic guitars on Big Star's "Watch the Sunrise" filled the room with gorgeous ringing tones, while Prince's "Kiss" sounded perfectly tight. Fugazi's "Waiting Room's" bass was lean as it was meant to be. However, the real torture laid ahead. Slayer's "Raining Blood" started abruptly, and the speakers sounded like they were hanging on for dear life. Entombed's "Seeing Red" was just too much -- I was hearing some distortion. Public Enemy sounded a little flat (though I think they're overdue for a remastering job), while the Beastie Boys' "Shadrach" fared better. The rest of the songs held up well enough, from Laika to Tricky, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Radiohead, Squarepusher, Flaming Lips. Amon Tobin and Four Tet sounded particularly rich with details. But again, Mars Volta and Mastodon were a little too much. They're definitely worth the money ($629), but not quite what I wanted.
Next was Midwest Stereo Pro Sound to demo the Paradigm Cinema 330 and Monitor 9, again via a NAD. I heard bad things about the Phantoms, because they cut corners on the cabinet construction and it literally rattles. That's why I couldn't find anyone who carried them. Overall the Cinema 330 sounded nearly as good as the Monitors, except when it came to the metal tunes, in which it performed even worse. And of course they had less bass, but the subwoofer would make up for that. For their price and size, I was actually pretty amazed by their performance. For someone looking for primarily home theater in a small room for relatively cheap, I'd recommend them wholeheartedly. But since 90% of my time is spent on music, I need more *oompf*. The Monitor 9 certainly had it. They surpassed the Monitor in every way, and were particularly enlightening with The Stooges, Nusrat & Asian Dub Foundation's "Tao Deem Remix," Entombed and Four Tet's "Hands." Rich and powerful. Too bad I simply don't have the room for those suckers. Additionally, their design is pretty ordinary, e.g., the WAF (Wife Approval Factor). I'm not married, but were I to move in with a S.O., I wouldn't want them banned to the office. I'm no audiophile, and really I'm just looking for an overall tingly feeling from speakers that is not altogether logical -- kind of like music in general.
Last stop was Promusica, where I sampled the Rega R5. On a previous visit I briefly listened to the bookshelf R1. Since I didn't have my own music with me, I planned to come back when I decided I needed to hear something more substantial (though they were really impressive for little buggers). I appreciate all comments and advice, but I had to take the bloke's above blanket dismissal of Rega with a spoonful of salt. He never specified which model he heard and when. I did a lot of reading on all these speakers, and I know that Rega had had somewhat inconsistent results since they started making speakers in 1980. But by all accounts the R3 to R9 series are a real breakthrough. They're the only speakers that are proven to sound just as good placed against a wall (per my requirements) as 3 feet away, due to front firing port. Granted, the comparison is a little uneven because these were driven by a high end Naim pre-amp and amp combo, but just the same I was really pleased. Compared to the Rega, the Paradigm Monitor 9's bass sounded a little sloppy. I liked the neutral, dry, crisp sound. My overall impression was this was the closest approximation to how the music was meant to be heard. Indeed, despite having heard parts of all 37 songs at least three times within the last two hours, I found myself getting lost in the music, caught up in simply enjoying the songs.
I was sold, and ordered a pair of R3 (they didn't have a pair in stock to demo...I know the side-firing 5" bass driver won't match the 7" on the R5, but my space is that limited). I'm confident that with my upgrade to the Sunfire Dominator D-10 subwoofer, they'll be perfect for my needs. The listening area of my apartment is a relatively modest 2,725 cubic feet. Not small, but not a McMansion basement either. Reading more reviews and history, I really like Rega's philosophy of aiming for real music lovers, not audiophiles. Hear hear. I mean, what's up with nearly every audio review using Diana Krall as a reference? And Manhattan Transfer . . . what the ****? They need to realize that a $15,000 system will never make that **** sound good.
