Golden Ear Awards
HARRY PEARSON
HP's Workshop: Alón's Exotica Grand Reference Hybrid Speaker System
![]() the abso!ute sound Golden Ear Award |
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.
![]() the abso!ute sound Golden Ear Award |
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.