A visit to chateau Firebottle

[Firebottle]

Balls-to-the-wall BigMutha Tannoys vs Quad 57 stats.

Hmm. -- it's gonna be different for sure.

Perhaps the synergy as I have said Jerry, but I think you would have been surprised just how much the statics rocked.

For me the speed and lack of colouration is the icing on the cake.

Both of us heard things we hadn't heard before in various tracks.

[Firebottle]

I think the AT33 sounds like it would suit my tastes as well Alan?

I rather think so James, detail and smoothness in spades.

[mikeyb]

An excellent write up, well done on making the trip to hear the Vivant and the rest of Alan's system.

Photos really help too, give you an idea of the size of the Vivant and a look at the rest of the gear used. Seems quite a lot of foo on the turntable stand, did you try it without the lamp

I think a lot of people will be looking forward to MiBO and wherever else the Vivant will be heard.

I can't wait to hear it myself

[Marco]

I always think scale / bass is necessary to produce a more realistic representation of live music and micro detail isn't everything. If you listen to live music the acoustic of the environment and the mixing and amplification can do all sorts of sonic nasties to the music. Often much micro detail is lost in the general wall of sound but it is the scale that is always present which gives you that full fleshed out sound of the instruments.

Spot on

Having become accustomed to it now for years, and with listening to a lot of live music at different venues, where scale is a fundamental part of the musical whole, enabling one to 'feel' the music as well as hear it, I simply couldn't do without that effect - and I'd always trade the qualities of a more 'ethereal' view/presentation of the music, in order to obtain the visceral impact/'heft' I desire and consider as fundamentally important for realistic music reproduction.

I also need my system to be able to play loudly and cleanly, when the need arises, without things falling apart... I can't stand systems/speakers that suffer from poor/insufficient headroom, and which quickly run out of steam!

Marco.

[Marco]

Actually Marco, whilst agreeing that self praise is no honour , the similarity of the two systems was quite staggering.

I am using a very well integrated sub along with the '57s. The similarities were, in no order:

Scale. The Lockies major on it, but there was no lack here.
Frequency range. Both fantastic.
Clarity. What can I say, superb on both counts.
Slam or impact. Lockies brilliant, Quads surprisingly brilliant.

Reality. Perhaps an odd choice of word but when the male vocalist came in on a couple of track from the Yello albums it was almost frightening.
I turned to Kevin and asked 'who invited him in?'.

Perhaps the biggest plus for both systems is the synergy between components allowing for such wonderful sound.

Yup, matey, I'd go with all that

Marco.

[User211]

I reckon having the Quads up there must provide an immense sense of scale. Certainly be interesting to hear, I reckon.

[Sovereign]

Great write up, and good to hear about a range of products.

[CageyH]

I reckon having the Quads up there must provide an immense sense of scale. Certainly be interesting to hear, I reckon.

Ha in the Quads suspended in the room is a stroke of genius in my opinion. They have plenty of free space around them and there is no furniture between them and you to add any colouration.

They sounded superb, and lacking scale is not something I would have said the system suffered from.

[The Black Adder]

Super write up, Kevin... Really enjoyed reading it and very interesting.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I own a fully modded and fettled pair of 57's and a very well sorted pair of Tannoy 15" MG's with all the gubbins. They are like chalk and cheese and do things so differently.