So last night I got home from work at 7:30 and decided I needed to put the SongTower RTs through the paces of recordings that I know extremely well and write down my thoughts (note that I imagine many people will have no idea who the artists I list are, but . There were very few notes when I was done. This is mostly because I couldn't stop listening long enough to write... All music was played on an Arcam CD73T connected to the Outlaw 990 Pre-Amp in bypass mode using Outlaw Audio interconnects, connected to the Outlaw 770 Amp using Outlaw Audio Interconnects, then connected to the SongTowers using Monster XP cable (I bought it at a bankruptcy sale years ago, so it was dirt cheap). I also use a Monster Power Power Conditioner (bought at another bankruptcy sale) because our apartment has the worst electrical system in the world . The building was built in the 20s and the power has never been upgraded (yes, we still use fuses and not breakers). As a side note, I routinely see power around 115 volts when nothing is on, put anything on and we drop to 105. Fantastic, right? What's better is that in summer, we never get above 110 volts because of everyone having their A/C on. I have experimented with placement. I keep the speakers 11" from the back wall and about 8' apart. I have slightly toed them in (but I am still experimenting with that). The listening position is 8'6" back from the speakers as the room is only 12' wide. The room is 25' long and has 10' ceilings. Not the ideal living room, but it is the only way we can set the room up.
The first song that I put on was "Buffalo" by Kathleen Edwards off of the album "Asking For Flowers". This album is mostly referred to as Alt-Country. Listening to Buffalo, the first thing I noticed was how clear you could hear the release of the keys on the piano at the song's open. This is not something you can hear on most speakers. The next thing I noticed was how open and clear Edward's voice was. It had a depth and air that I usually do not associate with her voice unless I am seeing her live (I have seen her about 4-5 times). Edwards voice is much like that of Lucinda Williams, but with a cleaner feel. The acoustic guitar was clean and distinct. You can hear the pluck of the pick on the strings. What a beautiful experience. Listening to Buffalo on the STs made me think I was there with her on stage.
The next song I put on was "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens from the album "Illinois". Sufjan Stephens is a sort of folk artist. He is well known for having a mini-orchestra with him. Well, when the bells at the beginning of this song resonated through the speakers, I knew I was in for something special. I really had little to write down for this song. I was transfixed on the song. The mid-range reproduction of the STs really blew me away and made me realize how compressed the Paradigms made the mid-range sound. The vocal separation in the chorus seemed to illustrate this the best. There was no compression at all. The voices were each clear and distinct. Here is where I did notice there was a little less punch in the bass than the Paradigms. Now that is not a bad thing. The Paradigms were boomy if not 2' from the wall. And even then, I really think that they are less accurate than the STs are with bass, but with HT, I think I will need to work on integrating my subwoofer which is off for CDs.
Next up was Damien Rice. Now I have a love hate relationship with Damien Rice. Fantastic musician, but he is pretentious in a lot of ways. Regardless, I put on "Blowers Daughter" from the album "The Story of O" and sat down to listen. This album was recorded well, but very cheaply. I was worried the STs would make it sound like garbage. They did not. They really made me want to listen to other works by him to see how they would be reproduced. So I quickly skipped to "Eskimo". It's combines his brand of introspective singer songwriter with opera. You have to experience it to understand. I have always wondered why the opera on the track sounded a bit muted. I assumed it was the recording. Well, that is still somewhat true, but part of it was the speakers. The tweeters that the Paradigms had couldn't really reproduce the highs that were needed to reproduce the operatic voice. The ribbon tweeter solves this issue. Now the recording is still in need of some help, but it is so much cleaner than what was reproduced out of the Paradigms. Then I had to go back to "I Remember" so I could hear Lisa Hannigan's voice (his former musical collaberator). She has an interesting voice in the Alto-ish range. Again, I heard nuances that I had never noticed. Specifically, her voice was much more open and, for lack of a better word, complex. It reminded me that I bought her new album "Sea Sew" and really need to listen to it.
I then put on a female friends album, Amy Hills. She has an interesting voice and writes well. However, the recording of this album was not the best. And it really shows when you sit down to listen. The STs show all the warts that the recording has and then some. Amy plays a cheaper Takamine guitar. You could tell. I had to stop "Aaron's Song" because of how the guitar sounded (I thought there was something clicking in the apartment). So there are warts on the recording. It is far from perfect, and that is ok. It is actually somewhat endearing about the lo-fi nature of the recordings. Especially because I know how she has struggled with some of her music. However, I don't see myself listening to her music quite as much because you have to be in the mood to hear those imperfections.
Last on my list for this listening session was "Fake Plastic Trees" from the album the Bends by Radiohead. Great song and something I have likely listened to about 1000 times in the last 10 years. Thom Yorke has never sounded better. Nor has the organ and guitar ever been so clear. I ran out of notes as I just sat back and listened to the Bends completely.
I think the best thing I took from this experience is my desire to listen to my entire CD collection again. Sure, I may hear the warts, but isn't that the point for some recordings? The other thing I noticed was that the mid-range on my Paradigms was much more compressed than the STs. I hear it all from the STs. No compression, just clean clear reproduction of the instruments and voices. I can hear more and what I do hear is more accurate. I sacrifice some bass response, but get more accuracy. This will cause me to replace my subwoofer for HT, but that is about all I think. We will see in time.
Shawn
