It has been 12 days since the Timepiece 2.0 arrived, and for those who were interested, I promised to keep them informed of my experiences with it. I had already posted my early, highly positive impressions shortly after a brief break-in as recommended by Bob of SP, and those impressions still hold true. With over 200 hours of 24/7 playing time under its belt, I conducted a critical evaluation this weekend using my $5,000 Dynaudio 25th Anniversary Special 25 monitors as my reference for comparison.
My system:
Audio Research VT200 200wpc tubed amplifier (the 4 ohm taps worked best with the Timepiece.)
Audio Valve tubed linestage from Germany
Modwright and Tritium modified P-1A, P-3A, and Monolithic Power Supply for D.A.C.
Classe CDT 1.0 CD Transport
2 PowerVar isolation transformers, 1 PS Audio Ultimate Outlet, and ZuCable's Mother powercords for line conditioning. Mother powercords were plugged into Triphazer power cord conditioners.
ZuCable Varial interconnects plugged into Level 20 Triphazer conditioners.
ZuCable Wax speaker cable connected to Level 15 Triphazers.
For solid state amplification, I used Odyssey's Extreme Monoblocks.
Speaker stands are 24" 4 pillared steel sand filled from Studio Tech, weighing about 60 pounds each. They are rough textured sound coated with 3/8" top and bottom plates. the top plate is only 6" by 8", which is not optimal for the SP's, and I place a layer of damping material between the plate and the speaker. Stands are coupled through carpeting to concrete floor with steel spikes. The 24" stands placed the tweeter at about 41" above the floor. This may be a little too tall, but the dispersion is so wide, that I don't think height is a critical concern.
My room:
Basement entertainment room approximately 20 x 25 rectangle, divided by an 8' wall near the middle, with 7' 5" acoustic ceiling. One side of the room is used for home theater / sitting area with a sofa, lounge chair, and rocking chair. The other part of room is for my 2 channel audio room. This space is the smaller half. In this area I can place the speakers approximately 6' apart, 8' from the wall behind them, and listening position can up to 9' away from speakers. The room has heavy insulation in ceiling and walls, the walls themselves consist of very porous sound absorbant 1" thick rough sawn cedar boards, and the dense carpeting has a layer of thick padding beneath it. In addition the furniture is thickly padded and upholstered, resulting in an overly damped room with no
discernable slap echo. This room is challenging to amplifiers and speakers because it takes extra power to reach high spl, and getting effective bass is especially difficult.
Musical Tastes:
I listen 70-75% straight ahead jazz, concentrating on trios consisting of piano, standup bass, and drum. I also like quartets that add a guitar, followed by larger groups using sax, trumpet/coronet and t-bone. Vocalists, especially female, are often featured. The remaining 30% of my listening is widely diverse including classical, movie themes, standards from the 50's and 60's, folk, and country. The primary criteria for enjoyment for me is well recorded acoustic instruments.
Based on my musical tastes and partiality to tubed amplification, the Dynaudio Special 25's have been an ideal fit for me. Bob of SP Tech was fully aware of my bias going into this deal. It is also relevent that the Special 25 is well over 75% more expensive than the SP Timepiece. You could almost buy two pairs of the Timepiece for the price of a Special 25. In spite of all this, Bob had absolutely no reservations in risking shipping expenses because he was convinced that I would find the Timepiece a superior speaker. And you know what, he was absolutely right. Technically, the SP is superior in almost every category.
As I stated earlier, headroom and transient speed are without peer in my experience. When the music demands sudden, violent, percussive impact, the Timepiece is poised and ready to oblige. It jumps all over imposing types of musical challenges. Bass and drum whacks give the sensation of being punched in the chest. With the solid state Odyssey monoblocks, the Timepiece seems to be even more dynamic. I never felt that the music was beginning to congest because of the speakers, although there were times when it seemed like my ARC amp was reaching its limits instead of the Timepiece. This is a difficult one to call, though. When played on the Odyssey, they could get too loud for comfort, so the limits of the Timepiece's headroom will have to discovered by someone else - I value my hearing too much.
The Timepiece excels at imaging and soundstaging. Again, they set a new standard for me. Dead-on image placement with exact positioning of performers on a virtual stage. Recordings with vocals are normally placed at the center, and with the Timepiece the vocalist is up front either on the same plane or just slightly behind the speakers. A lot of speakers seem to push most vocals too far back, or aggressively too far forward. The Timepiece's portrayal of space is convincingly holographic and images are dense. Each performer occupies an easily identifiable position and is seemingly touchable. There is no smearing or blurring of notes.
All this contributed to the Timepiece's ability to disappear, even though they are quite large for monitors. But the front baffle with the gloss piano black finish are striking and hard not to gaze at. Speaking of imaging, these speakers are probably great candidates for home theater as well because the sound changes very little when sitting off axis. I moved my chair to various positions as far as a couple of feet outside the speakers, and I was still getting a good soundstage emanating from between the speakers.
I obviously cannot measure frequency response, but these have to be the most evenly balanced and flattest speakers I've heard across the spectrum. No range of treble, midrange, or bass seems accentuated. It was necessary for me, however, to set the tweeter control on its minus setting. There are 3 settings controlled by an easy to reach switch on the back panel: minus, flat, and plus. I believe there is a 2 db variance between each setting. This is certainly a great flexible feature to have since there are so many differences between sources, preamps, amps, and wire.
What have I left out? I've covered headroom, bass, transient speed, soundstaging, imaging, neutrality. Other than the lowest bass notes, the Timepiece exceeds every speaker I've heard in these areas. But there are caveats. They require an amp with plenty of muscle. The Odyssey Mono Extremes have it, and it seems like my Audio Research VT200 is adequate but not optimal. Anything with less power might not allow the Timepiece to reach its potential. I also believe that room size, sitting position, and speaker placement need to be sufficiently large. My normal distance is 5-6' between speakers and a sitting position of about 5-6'. This is too close for the Timepiece. The widest I could go was 6' apart with a sitting distance of 9'. I would like to have increased those distances, but even within my maximum limits the sound became more natural and pleasing.
The Timepiece does all these things better than my Dynaudio Special 25's, and they sell for over $2000 less. So, would you be surprised to hear that I am going to stick with my Special 25's? My Danes don't play as loudly, don't go as deep in the bass, don't image as well, etc, etc, etc. So why would I favor them? Believe me it was not an easy decision, but several factors help to explain it. I have grown very accustomed to the sound of my Dyn's. Compared to the Timepiece my Dyn's are colored, but they are colored in a way that is pleasing to me. By comparison, they are mellow, sweet, airy, and creamy smooth. The leading edges are softer, and seem to be more in synch with with why I prefer tube amplification. The Timepiece is crystalline, clear, punchy, and unwaveringly truthful. I guess I like my speakers to lie to me a little. My room and my amp are better suited to the Dynaudio's, especially when you take into account my musical tastes. As I said, most of my listening is to three and four piece acoustic jazz. The Dyn's aren't slouches for symphonic and other demanding forms of music, but the Timepieces clobber them by comparison.
I don't dislike the SP's. In fact, I like them tremendously, and without having the 25's as my reference point, I would be ecstatic and jubilant to have acquired them. If I had a larger space for listening, the outcome may have been different. I had a endured good deal of consternation about my decision, that's for sure. And if anyone asked for a recommendation, I'd put the Timepiece 2.0 at the top of my list, provided the room and amplification were adequate. I believe Bob has accomplished his goal with these speakers by providing an affordable monitor that depicts a highly accurate representation of what is in a recording without restrictive limits on listener sweet spot or real life spl's. Perhaps in the future he will consider designing a speaker with similar qualities for smaller rooms and smaller amps.
I wish to thank Bob of SP Technology for making this opportunity possible, and for spending so much time answering all my questions and erasing any doubts I may have had about going with a startup company. He is truely a class act and a great asset to our community of Audio Circle manufacturers.
