Issue 133 / December 2001 - January 2002

Golden Ear Awards

HARRY PEARSON
HP's Workshop: Alón's Exotica Grand Reference Hybrid Speaker System


the abso!ute sound
Golden Ear Award
II. Golden Ears - Audio

Visually, something to behold. The sonics? A radical departure for a conservative designer, Carl Marchisotto, who got his start with Jon Dahlquist back when. See review, this issue.


ARTHUR S. PFEFFER
Alón Circe Loudspeaker

Alon Circe

the abso!ute sound
Golden Ear Award
I recently (Issue 132) called Acarian's Alón Circe "the current state of the art in basic three-way [speaker] design." Such an exalted status merits a Golden Ear Award. Several significant internal modifications were made to the Circe at the start of 2001. This award applies to the current version. The essentially similar original version was almost as outstanding and still deserves a "Junior Golden Ear." The Circes are pricey - 12 grand the pair - but listeners with the means should compare them with anything else near that level, not only conventional dynamic speakers but planars and other exotics, too. They are a musical speaker par excellence. The Circes are slender towers with cherry wood caps and bases, a dark grille-cloth sheath, and separate crossover boxes. The 1-inch dome tweeter, 5.25 inch cone midrange (both mounted on open baffles) and 10 inch cone woofer all feature Alnico cobalt magnets. The magnets are the Circes' only obviously exotic element; otherwise they seem conventional - until you listen, and then the Circes' uniquely seductive charms take over.

And what are these? An extraordinary gentleness or absence of sharpened edges in producing musical attacks. Uncolored, neutral tonal qualities including deeply extended and commanding bass fundamentals with ample body and weight. Vivid yet liquid midrange, and clear, non-etched highs. A huge and densely-packed soundstage, where solos remain life-sized yet big bands and orchestras spread out on a deep, four-cornered platform within an acoustically lively auditorium. Rounded, finely focused, accurately localized images. Extremely fast transient and dynamic response all the way down through the bass, plus sensitivity to delicate low-level dynamic contours. Superb transient speed. A magically cohesive blend of upper, middle, and low frequencies that redefines "seamless." Inky-black backgrounds exposing brilliant vocal and instrumental colors, harmonic richness, and subtle details.

The Circes, happily lacking quirks or eccentricities, are not particularly hard to drive, but when they are tri-wired with suitable tube or solid-state amplification and the finest analog or digital front ends, something revelatory and pleasing goes on. They are a triumphant statement of classic cone-speaker virtues.