First Listen: Nola Boxer Loudspeaker
Contrary to urban-audiophile legend, I don’t get to keep every component that strikes my fancy. Manufacturers and distributors keep close tabs on their precious gems and tend to come a-calling rather quickly (sometimes too quickly) after the review is published. Fair enough–business is business. This is all a way of saying that the superb Magico V2 loudspeaker has shipped out. However there is no better cure for taking one’s mind off a loss of this scope than the appearance of an exciting new speaker. First things first. The Nola Boxer is no $18k floorstanding Magico V2, nor was it meant to be. It’s a modest, blue collar two-way compact, roughly fifteen inches tall in a bass reflex enclosure with a rear firing port. Totally non-descript visually. It incorporates a low-mass 6½-inch bass/midrange driver with a laminated pulp cone. The high frequency driver is a high-resolution silk dome tweeter. Sensitivity is 90dB and its nominal impedance is 8 ohms.
But my oh my does this Boxer play music. Bass is solid and tight and surprisingly extended in my room. Enough to convey orchestral-style weight, soundstage cues and immersion. It's also notable for what it doesn't do–first and foremost it doesn't "come at you" like some mad Chuckie-style mini-monitors of the past. It has a forward, midrange weighted sound with lively presence but it doesn't veer treble-ward toward the agressively dry, thin or etchy. But the key thus far to what makes the Boxer so special at this early moment in my evaluations is the extent to which Nola president and chief designer Carl Marchisotto has transposed the qualities of his flagship dipole designs (like the four tower 1200 lb total Grand Reference IV.1) into such a petite box enclosure. Given Marchisotto’s track record designing iconic dipole speakers for Dahlquist and Alon I probably shouldn’t have been surprised but I was. It ‘s not just the Boxer’s even balance, it’s the sense of spaciousness and ease in the way it reproduces acoustic space and dimension. The sound is open as if it had a backless cabinet. I still have a few more rounds to go with this Boxer and it might yet reveal a couple weaknesses– but so far it's a knockout. nolaspeakers.com $1500.
Comments
Right on Neil! Long time no speak. As stated in my review of the Boxer in Positive Feedback Online - I LOVED this little speaker as well. As musical as a two-way gets, and gets the hell outta the way! BRAVO mate, BRAVO
Michael Mercer
Positive Feedback Online
Trash Menagerie
Great to hear from you. Good to know you're hearing what I'm hearing.
Neil Gader Associate Editor The Absolute Sound
How was the wine? Were listening sessions conducted with the aid and stimulus of the grape?
That is a stunt bottle, meant only to demonstrate the size of the Nola. In general I have occasionally sipped a bit while listening casually-but only in moderation naturally.
Neil Gader Associate Editor The Absolute Sound
I love the sound of the Nola Vipers we have on the floor. Of course the Reference stuff is amazing... but $1500 from Nola. I have to admit my skepticism. We have been pushing Carl for a couple years now to come out with a more affordable speaker. Carl has always said he can't build an inexpensive speaker and not to expect one soon. Then out of the blue... The Boxer. Mercer has been telling me that we have to get these little gems in. But I kept hearing Carl's voice in the back of my head telling me he couldn't do it. I finally told him to send a pair, but that if I wasn't TOTALLY happy with it's performance, he was going to pay the return freight!
We got them in and my sales staff, eagerly unpacked them and set them up. “Sure they look great. But how do they sound?” 2 minutes into the first cut of the first song I knew. Carl had lied to me. He can make a great sounding modestly priced speaker. Our demo pair is still being broken in, and if you haven't figured it out by now...... We are keeping them. The check was in the mail the next day.
The Boxers present very nice detail and depth of stage. The bottom end is remarkably well extended for such a small box. Pace and timing is also far better than many so-called audiophile speakers costing thousands more. Add a modest sub to the Boxer and you'll be convinced your listening to a speaker system closer to ten grand than two.
I know this sounds like an add from a dealer looking for more business, and maybe it is, but I'm an hour north of San Francisco in the middle of the Sonoma Wine Country, so it's not like you'll be visiting my store anytime soon. But seek out your local dealer and see if what I'm saying isn't true. Go on prove me wrong. I dare you.
Right on Neil! You were, after all my first roomate at my very first CES, back in 1996!! Remember we stayed at the Nugget when I was workin for Hp and TAS???
So psyched to see Marc's response here, he's been in the business as long as I've been alive - and as my former boss I can say with authority it is not the easiest job to please him! That was a good thing, as it drove me to work even harder. However, for those of you who don't know about Marc Silver and Soundscape - if you're in Northern Cali, around his area (Santa Rosa) head on over to experience the last TRUE Hifi store up in wine country!
Then - you won't need stunt bottles! I thought it was a great shot though - Neil.
Peace,
Michael
Michael Mercer
Positive Feedback Online
Trash Menagerie
I'm so pleased to see this mini-review. I've been a huge fan of Alon/Nola for years and years, and my Centris LCRs and Thunderbolt II have brought me much joy.
I'm also really glad to see some more affordable gear from Marchisotto. His ultimate gear is, I'm sure, to die for, but in my case it actually would take my death (and associated life insurance) to buy them.
Well I certainly do not want you to die so I just wanted to mention that we also have the Viper IA at $4000 and the Viper IIA at $6000.
Thanks for the kind words.
Cheers
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