Jim had shipped these speakers to my coffee shop in NYC a while back. I was supremely impressed by this well designed system. The conditions were not ideal as our space is very large (1600sf), but we did have bass traps and a lot of pro acoustic blankets covering most harsh surfaces. Nevertheless, I was impressed that a speaker of this size -with built in amplification- sounded so great.
I had about 5 employees hang around for a listen. They were shocked that 3 little boxes were making music that was so involving, i.e., the 2 speakers and the Linux server from the basement that had all of our music.
Emmylou on Tulsa Queen sounded phenomenal. I threw on Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing which dropped a few jaws (for such an older recording) at the incredible sound stage thrown from left to right. Someone asked for Coltrane and we threw up the HD Tracks 24/192 FLACs I had on hand. More jaws on the floor. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here 24/96; Nirvana In Utero 24/96; Pixies Doolittle (16/44); Screaming Female's Ugly (16/44); various Doors track in 24/96 all brought huge smiles and jockeying for the listening chair.
No fatigue with the tweeter. The bass was very respectable for such small speakers playing in such a large space. I think it would be even more impressive in a smaller room for which this speaker was really designed for. I'm pissed that I didn't get a chance to bring these back to my apartment and listen to them in my 12x16 living room. The remote worked flawlessly. The USB input, connected to our Linux server running an old version of MPD, worked flawlessly with FLACs from 16 bit to 24 bit/192Khz.
This is a very fine tuned system. All that is needed is a source. And even though one application for this system is for a city dweller's small apartment, you can easily break your lease if you get carried away with the remote control volume.
Highly recommended.
-Nick
