Usher Audio V-604 and V-601 Loudspeakers
A step up from one company’s entry level
January 5th, 2007 -- by Barry WillisSource: The Absolute Sound
Usher Audio designs and manufactures loudspeakers, preamplifiers, power amps, and accessories. In consultation with audio industry legend Dr. Joseph D’Appolito—whose name is synonymous with the “D’Appolito Configuration,” a driver array used by dozens of speaker makers worldwide—the company produces five lines of loudspeakers, from the entry-level “Usher” Series to the exotic “Dancer” Series.
A step up from the “Usher” line, “V” Series products include the two models reviewed here, plus the $620 V-603 center channel speaker, and the V-602, a two-driver/two-way floorstander retailing for $1040. The largest of the line, the $1480 V-604 is an attractive and robustly built column featuring a 1" fabric-dome tweeter flanked by two 7" compositecone woofers, while a rectangular port extends the speaker’s low-end response.
The back panel has a recess with two pairs of binding posts, connected via supplied jumper straps. A nice touch is a small graphic showing three hookup possibilities: single wire/single amp, bi-wire/single amp, and bi-amplified. For most of the several weeks that I had the Ushers, I chose the bi-wire configuration.
On 28" sand-filled Target stands, the $700 V-601s were within an inch of the height of their bigger brothers, but their tweeters were above my listening axis, whereas the V-604’s were right at ear level. With some speakers, the tweeterto- ear height relationship can have pronounced effects on perceived spectral balance, imaging, and detail. That proved to be true with both Usher models, but not to any severe extent. They both seem to have relatively large horizontal and vertical dispersion patterns. Placement wasn’t critical for getting the best sound from either speaker.
Alternating between the two Ushers was a fascinating exercise, in that they appear to use the same drivers—the difference being that the V-604 has two woofers and a much larger cabinet, and therefore better, deeper low-frequency potential, which affects not only the speaker’s musical authority, but also its midrange clarity. The V-604’s better bass extension immediately made it my preference of the two. It doesn’t have world-class bottom-octave impact, but rolls off smoothly below a perceptible midbass hump that makes the speaker especially effective with a bass/baritone voice like Leonard Cohen’s, the moody jazz of Patricia Barber, and rock, pop, and country thumpers—The B-52’s Good Stuff [Reprise], Turkish pop star Tarkan’s Dudu [HITT Muzik], or Guy Clark’s Boats to Build [Asylum]. Rocking out at moderately loud levels, the V-604 is totally enjoyable. Danceable even.
The downside to this is that regardless of the material, the V-604 tends to sound thick in the mids and a bit veiled on top. There’s a laborious darkness about it that lingers over every recording like rain clouds over Nebraska cornfields. It doesn’t have that open, airy, effortless quality that lets string instruments leap to life in your listening room or makes female vocals so hauntingly compelling. “Caracol,” Strunz & Farah’s extravagant guitar duet on Americas [Mesa], lacked the dimensionality that I’ve heard with many other loudspeakers.
Likewise, Kathleen Battle’s small-voice interpretation of the Gershwin classic “Summertime,” from Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall [Deutsche Grammophon], was short on delicacy and shimmer. Nuance was also not this loudspeaker’s strong suit—Steely Dan’s “Third World Man” on Gaucho [MCA] contains details that simply weren’t fully filled in by the big Ushers. The song depends on poignant, fading instrumentals to underscore the impression of a suburban desperado’s hopeless absurdity, but the Ushers failed to deliver the poignancy.
Their smaller siblings were brighter and more open sounding, and especially enjoyable with female vocals—Kiri Te Kanawa’s glamorous treatment of Cole Porter’s “So in Love,” from Kiri on Broadway [London], Bernadette Peters’ lovely cover of “Blackbird” on I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight [Angel], or the echoheavy “Llorando,” Rebekah Del Rio’s a cappella Spanish language version of Roy Orbison’s “Crying” from the Mulholland Dr. soundtrack [Milan].
There’s no downside to bright, open top octaves, of course, but like the V- 604, the V-601’s has a midbass hump, in this case made more pronounced by the sharper low-frequency cutoff. This tended to give bass instruments a lightweight character—Gary Karr’s awesome doublebass on Adagio d’Albinoni [Cisco], for example, sounded more like a cello through the smaller Ushers and more like the real thing through the bigger ones.
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Comments
Although these comments are very late after the review, there are a few points I would like to make as an owner of these speakers - especially since the line was discontinued and these can be had dirt cheap on A-gon. They may be just the ticket for somebody, as they were for me.
It would be good to know what amp and gear was used with the review. If it's listed, I didn't see this vital info. We all know synergy and system matching is key and it's bad practice to fail to try different sources and amps with a pair of speakers before slagging them. A 2-way, 4-ohm, D'Appolito speaker that is, essentially, a giant front-ported monitor that doesn't need stands is definitely not "typical"! Different amps can certainly yield different results, obviously. Perhaps Barry did note his gear and all, but I didn't see it. I ran mine first with a NAD-372 and then Consonance Reference 150 Linear and have to say the difference was immense. They did come off kind of murky with the NAD, but opened up and shined nicely with the Consonance. The differences between different recordings - and even different songs on the same recording - was very obvious w/ the Consonance/604 match, which would tend to suggest a revealing speaker, not one with murky or veiled mids. Lacking in detail or ambient cues, they are not. I've never been left for want for either unless it's not on the recording. I also haven't heard, nor measured, a mid-bass hump, but for those of us interested in acoustics and getting a flat room response, this is often the most troublesome spot and is an area where room problems frequently arise. Did Barry try different locations for the speaker? He stated that it was easy to place the speakers to sound their best, but being that he didn't like the sound, a little more detail about his attempts to find an optimal placement would be nice. How big is his room and how is it treated acoustically? Is it flat in response? This is a 2-way speaker and, in sorts, a very big monitor with two woofers. Does any monitor sound awesome and fail to break up when pushed hard in a big room? None that I've heard, but I haven't heard them all. In fact, this is the Achilles' Heel of many monitors in my experience, which is why I gave up on the monitor/sub combo long ago.
About the power handling - he stated that both speakers are low in efficiency, but I don't think many would find 90db to be all that low in efficiency. For those who've never measured how loud they listen, 90db is pretty freakin' loud and, at least according to the specs, 1 lonely watt is all that's needed to get you there with the 604's. He stated a low-powered amp wouldn't suffice with these, which seems erroneous if you consider that if you feed a 90db speaker 64 of the 100 watts the 604's are spec'd at, they would deliver 108db of sound, which is more loud than most of us would care for. Concurrently, 16 watts should dole out 102 db, which isn't child's play :-) But, perhaps my math is off.
I do agree that the 604's get hard-sounding when pushed too hard, but in my 10x14.5x16.5 ft. room, the hardness was only noticeable when I went well beyond my typical "rocking-out" volume, which generates 95-100 db peaks and I have to fight a lot of glass in my room. I play drums and listen almost exclusively to rock and find that volume very satisfying and visceral in its impact. I would also think that for those of us without stellar acoustics (probably most of us) the effects of the room will kick in well before you come anywhere near concert-like volume. I have found the 604's to sound excellent, as well, at low volumes, so I would certainly not say these have a narrow window of good sound. Made for a massive room they are not, but the specs alone would suggest a medium size room shouldn't pose a serious challenge. Because of their smartly-designed front port, you can place them pretty close to the front wall - even in a small room - without getting the horrible low-end boom of most rear-ported speakers.
Lastly, he says he couldn't recommend them, but what would he recommend at that price? Perfection will not be achieved at $1500 (I don't check religiously, but I haven't seen any move on A-gon for even less than half that) and I have neither heard, nor heard of, any other speaker in the price range that could handily beat them overall - or even beat them in more than one area (i.e. Revel Concerta F-12's had a better midrange to me, but the extension on both ends of the 604's was easily better).
Being that his was the only "professional" review one could find about this speaker (at least last time I checked) and the fact that the line was discontinued AND that people can't give them away on the used market, it makes me wonder how many people were turned-off from the 604's without even hearing them. I'm glad I listened to them and was able to get a decent deal on a demo pair ($900). They do a whole lot right and I would defy someone to find something better (if you consider top/bottom extension, midrange transparency, neutrality, 3-D soundstage, and a high boogie factor as being as important as I do) in that price class. I searched hard and wasted a lot of money trying to find some speakers that could rock out, but with some finesse, and these fit the bill just fine for me and my budget.
It's fine not to like a product, but considering how many people make choices based on reviews, it seems unfair not to get pretty darn specific when you're going to dole out a bad review, which this one clearly was. Oh well, I wouldn't have gotten mine as cheap as I did without it, so I guess Barry did me a favor!
Thank you so much for your assessment of the V-604s. The V Series speakers were a fine group of speakers...especially at the price point. This one review by Mr. Willis proved to be the end of a great Hi-Fi bargain. We've received many calls and e-mails from happy customers who can't relate to the TAS review. Glad to see someone finally rebutted Mr. Willis. One positive: This review is proof of the fact that advertising in an audio magazine doesn't gurantee a good review. ..Kudos to TAS.
just have a look on the scanspeak website if the v601 /604 dont use scanspeak drivers they are patent copys they look the same and its well understood that scanspeak make the some of the best drivers in the world and are often seen in speakers costing 10000+
Reading the article I get the impression that Mr. Willis spent a good, solid, thorough, and exhaustive 5 minutes listening to these speakers. Having listened to the V604's on a high-end tube system with 16 watts of power, I can authoritively state that there is tremendous midrange clarity and neutrality being presented. I can also attest to loud listening levels. Even though the V series speakers are discontinued, the V604s speakers are not just a bargain, but a STEAL.
I just purchased v-601 + v-603, used but new, for "I'm embarrassed to say how much"...
I've heard them once, briefly, and remembered their sound and my surprise.
As things go - I've stumbled upon these accidentally (maybe not) and got them, as I said earlier, more as a gift rather than a purchase.
So far - I've tested (really just kept listening) the V-601's, as a matter of fact, I'm today playing PBarber and some Costello's albums.
Cant get enough of this :)
I've owned and still own some pretty expensive and high-end equipment - e.g. SF, Logans, Kefs, Proacs, Naim, Linn, Haffler, etc. I'm a musician and have spend quite some in recording studios (ok, not recently :) ) - and I think I know a bit about the subject.
This is, without a doubt, a wonderful speaker. Clear, accurate, not harsh or aggressive, and reproduces the recorded material honestly and beautifully.
Sound stage, highs, mids, lows, dynamics, ... liveliness - everything is there - in the right place and in the right way :)
I dont like the context of the 'great bargain' - or search for it. It skews the main point... Music and the joy of it . If you want some of that , this is the right vehicle (not the only one out there of course), and I'll say it... the ride might be almost free.
BTW - Thanks Usher, Stan T, Joseph D, etc - Great work.