Mid-Priced Loudspeakers From Harbeth and Salager Sonics
Some shows have really good sound, others less so. This year it was the latter for me. My overriding impression is that I heard a lot of tweeters–I mean both many tweeters and too much tweeter. Contributing to and inseparable from it is the dominance of compact two way speakers in various configurations, whether boxes or small floorstanders.

I appreciate the virtues of compact, high performance two ways as far as they as go. But I encountered so many of these at the show that I frankly got tired of listening to them: Whatever their merits, as a group they lacked deep and sometimes midbass (and often warmth), had projected presence and too many highs, and in general did not sound like music to me.

When you consider the quite extraordinary advances in driver technology and materials, to say nothing of digital signal processing, it’s puzzling that so many manufacturers in the $3k–12k category continue to go for designs that by definition cannot produce the full frequency spectrum necessary for natural reproduction of music.

 

For these reasons and others, I am choosing to concentrate on the heavy hitters in this category, beginning with two of audio’s most distinguished designers. Harbeth’s Alan Shaw, the keeper of the BBC flame, debuted a new version of his Monitor 40 (the reference these last several years of our own Robert E. Greene), forced on Shaw when his woofer manufacturer abruptly stopped producing it (without informing him!). The changes, which involve more than just the woofer, aren’t retrofittable, but I’m happy to say that the new version ($11.5k) remains arguably the definitive large monitor, a speaker of matchless accuracy and authority.

 

Jorma Salmi, the Finnish auteur of the Gradient Revolution and long one of audio’s most original thinkers, has at last come out with a new version of the Gradient 1.3. Called the Helsinki 1.5 and priced at $4500, this is a three way open baffle floorstanding configuration of strikingly modernistic styling. The sound was beautifully clean, clear, and open, with, always a hallmark of Salmi’s designs, a solid soundstage of very precise imaging.

 

Speaking of original thinking, there were two outstandingly innovative designs, both employing digital signal processing, from new American companies. Salagar Sonics out of Illinois introduced the Sonnet S207, a slightly larger than usual two way, superbly engineered and built, with a sealed enclosure that contains both amplification and a choice of four DSP curves to compensate for the effects of boundary or freestanding placement.

It can be used with or without Salagar’s Sonata S112 subwoofer (also amplified). The ensemble with dedicated stands comes just under $12k–bear in mind, this includes all necessary amplification and eliminates speaker cables. The curvy enclosures are nothing if not high style statements, but it was the sound that really caught my attention. With the Minnesota Symphony playing Rimsky Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers (in Reference Recordings’s superlative sonics), the Salagar ensemble threw a huge soundstage of Cinerama width, depth, and quite eye popping height.

The dynamic range, weight, punch of the presentation were breathtaking–one of the most convincing renditions of a large symphony orchestra at the show. Equally convincing was Diana Krall and company, rendered life-size with great articulation, control, and nuance. For all their dynamism and ability to project size and scale, the Salagars were always musical and natural sounding, never “hi-fi.â€?

Next: Emerald Physics, Kunhap, Rethm, and Westlake Audio

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