Issue 143 / August-September 2003
hp's Workshop
II: Additional Notes to Last Issue's
List (Recommended Systems)
hp's Workshop
II: Additional Notes to Last Issue's
List (Recommended Systems)
A point I didn't make and should have the last time around in Part I:
The Alóns, like so many speakers designed around tubed
electronics (think Arnie Nudell's Infinitys, et. al.) sound at their
best only with tubed amplification. Fooling around the other day,
with the Lotus Elites as part of a music surround system, we came to
realize this as that special magic of the Plinius Odeon in the upper
octaves disappeared. Carl Marchisotto himself, the designer, smiled
an I'm-telling-you-so-smile and said something to the effect of
imagine how this might sound with five Antique Sound Lab Hurricane
amplifiers driving the speakers. And yes I could well imagine, since
one of the surprises in store for reviewers who listen to the classics
in well-recorded DSD is just how obvious sonic differences become in a
big five-speaker setup.
And so, if you want to audition these speakers, keep in mind that you aren't going to hear them as I reported on them unless you have a good tube setup. Another caveat, one I did mention, is to use these speakers in a smaller room, like Music Room 2 here in Sea Cliff, which is oddly shaped with a closet in the rear and a bay window in front. The systems "sees" a room of approximately twelve feet wide by fifteen feet deep with an eight foot ceiling.
These things done, you'll see why the Signatures are special and a true lineal descendant of the Super Exotica Grand Reference. (Both, I say, with tongue not quite in echoing cheek, are departures from the Alón "house sound" of yesteryore.)