[Guan]

Here are my impressions of the Odyssey Nightingale speakers auditioned at Barry’s showroom in Hong Kong.

Description
It’s an attractively designed and very slim floorstander. The yellowish Oak veneer isn’t really to my taste though. A darker veneer would be less intrusive. A word about set-up - Barry says they are a little more fussy about placement than the Epiphony and bi-wiring is a must.

Equipment used
All Groneberg cables and power cords, Ayre CX7 CD player, Etesian, Tempest, Stratos Plus and Stratos DM. Speakers were pulled well out into the nicely treated room. Barry informed me that the speakers had about 100 hours of break in and has some ways to go still.

Sound
Imagine, if you can, an Epiphony with deeper bass, more refined treble, better detail and a slightly less forward presentation. That’s what the Nightingale sounds like to me. The downward firing bass sounds more diffuse (not loose) with less impact and drive than the Epiphony. It was still tuneful but perhaps the addition of spikes would improve bass definition and overall focus.

The good thing about the Nightingale is that it maintains the vibrant, open and fast quality of the little Epiphony’s and throws a wide soundstage which doesn’t significantly change in character as you move around the room. Perhaps the Epiphony’s disappear a little better but if my memory serves, the difference is slight.

Nothing but the BEST!
These speakers are VERY responsive to partnering electronics. We started off with the Etesian + Stratos Plus which sounded detailed and open but a little edgy with certain recordings.   We moved up to the Etesian + Stratos DM and the sound became more relaxed and fluid.   The best and most musical combination to my ears was the Tempest + DM combo. The sound was more natural, the mids in particular bloomed and became more palpable and the treble was less “spot lit”.  

Detail was a toss up between the Tempest and Etesian. If anything, the Etesian sounded even cleaner and quieter than the active Tempest, allowing more micro-details to come to the fore. But cleaner and quieter does not equal better. The Tempest is more musical, fluid and cohesive. Music swings better with the Tempest and very importantly, I hear less digital grain and edge from less well recorded CDs. This has, so far, been my experience with passive vs. active pre-amps driving SS amps. I have used a DACT passive before to drive my SS amp but always preferred an active pre-amp in the long-term.

If you are considering the Nightingale, I would use the best electronics and front-end your budget allows. These speakers will certainly appreciate it!  

[Jay S]

Nice review, Guan.  I had been wondering about those speakers since they are so slim and not very deep.  Seem like a good choice where space is limited, e.g. most of HK!  

I see you got a Cary 303/200!  Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just get another Cary... my 303/100 sure was a great transport... not many SACDs or DVD-As anyway.  Have you tried playing hybrid SACDs?  Right now, I'm kinda smitten by the Party Mix function of my iPod..hmm.

Cheers,

- Jay

[Guan]

Hiya Jay,

Back from Safari? I'm sure you and Shy must have had an amazing time!

Nice review, Guan.  I had been wondering about those speakers since they are so slim and not very deep.  Seem like a good choice where space is limited, e.g. most of HK!

 

The speakers are indeed nice and slim. However I don't know if they work well near the rear wall. They were pulled out about 4' from the rear wall at the showroom. As they are quite light, I suppose one could pull them out into the room for serious listening sessions!

I see you got a Cary 303/200!  Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just get another Cary... my 303/100 sure was a great transport... not many SACDs or DVD-As anyway.  Have you tried playing hybrid SACDs?  Right now, I'm kinda smitten by the Party Mix function of my iPod..hmm.

Cheers,

The Cary is on long-term loan from a friend. It's a nice player and very well built. I'm still trying to get used to the detailed and powerful sound. I tried Diana Kralls latest album on hybrid SACD on the Cary. It sounds quite good!

Guan

[odysseyhk]

The speakers are indeed nice and slim. However I don't know if they work well near the rear wall. They were pulled out about 4' from the rear wall at the showroom. As they are quite light, I suppose one could pull them out into the room for serious listening sessions!

Guan,

The reason why it is 4" from the rear wall in HK showroom is to cancel the room mode.  There is resonance at 70-80Hz range, around 20db above 1kHz reference.  I use the meter to measure loudness of 80Hz sine wave.  Buy placing the speaker 4" away from rear wall will have natural cancellation of the room mode.  From my experience, the speaker placement is more depend on the room acoustic instead of speaker.  

Thanks for your feedback.  By the way, we have brought the Chinese CD which is just great.

[odysseyhk]

It was still tuneful but perhaps the addition of spikes would improve bass definition and overall focus.

Guan,

Totally agree, I did some experiments yesterday to find out how to make it better.   I accidently switched between

1/ Groneberg power cable + a converter (convert from US plug to UK 13A plug)
2/ Conneberg power cable with the factory US plug replaced with MK 13A  plug.

I found that the image and sound stage are better with the CONVERTER!!!  I don't understand.  Then I suspect the fuse be the cause.  May be the built-in fuse of MK plug is the source of problem.  So we brought a few Buss fuse (spent HK$20 for 5 pieces).  

I started replacing the fuse of the MK plug which power my dual mono.  It sounds slightly better and the different is significant enough you can notice it without carefully listening.

Finally I go and change the fuse of the MK plug which connect to the power strip.  The improvement is very significant.  The sound stage further improved and the bass has much better clarity.  I tried a problem symphony CD which drive the bass with complex instruments.  Now I can hear a conherent sound and the problem CD has no problem now.

So I spent 20 HK dollars to improve the sound quite significantly and I'm really happy.   I thing there is still tunable on the whole set-up and it is fun setting up a showroom and learn thru the process.

For Epiphony, I think it is a bit punchy and at the same time a bit more forgiving.  While Nightingale is sensitive to electronics and set-up.  I think the Nightingale is giving us more clarity and reveal the weakness with the setup.  In this case, it is the fuse.  

I think the whole set-up can still be further tuned.  I'm amazed that Nightingale is so good that it is going to help me fine tune it.

For those of you in US, you don't have this fuse problem as it is only applicable on the UK power standard.

[Jay S]

Barry,

Sounds like upgrading the fuses in the MK plugs is money well spent!  I have an MK plug on the bybee'd Nitro power cord of my Blue Circle Music Ring which supplies balanced power to all my components!.  

Chris VenHaus sells high quality converter plugs (refer to his website), which may be an even better option, for those who don't mind changing their MK plugs to something like a Marinco U.S. hospital grade plug.  

Thanks,

- Jay

[Jay S]

Hi Guan,

Yup, we got back on Aug 2.  Had a great time and were not that tired even if the schedule was hectic.  We stayed at 8 different safari camps and visited 2 more in private game reserves bordering Kruger National Park in S. Africa.  I was more restrained and discriminating this time -- I "only" took about 600 photos of wildlife.  I still have to sort thru them but perhaps the most notable new sightings were 2 evening leopard sightings, sparring between 2 male bull elephants and 3 young adult lions eating away at a giraffe kill.  Then of course there is the simple pleasure of being away from work and spending quality time with my wife.  Good stuff.  

The Odyssey speakers aren't that deep (esp when you compare to my nOrhs, for example).  So, in the right room I guess they could go reasonably close to the back wall (4 feet is a luxury in a flat like mine).  At some point I will need to drop by Barry's showroom.  

Do enjoy the Cary.  It can be detailed and powerful.  Watch out that it doesn't sound boomy, which can happen at times -- is it the source, the gear or the room?  Who knows, just something I observed with my 303/100.

[odysseyhk]

Guan,

We had a wine and music party with friends last week end.  It was great.   Guan, as discussed before, we should organize one some time later.   In the wine and music party, we had audition of a wide variety of music with the following set-up.

Nightingale
Stratos Dual Mono
Tempest
Ayre CD player
All cables are Groneberg QuadroReference.

Here is their comments.

The high-mid frequency is excellent.  It is excellent for playing vocal, guitar, violin.  It is very good for enjoying jazz.   My friends can clearly position whether the musician and singers are with their eyes closed.  The play back is very musical and lively.  Sound stage is wide and the Nightingale is totally transparent.

For piano, they think that they need a bit more bass to deliver the touch of piano.  We tried a few record and finally come to a live piano and male vocal record in a CD from STS.   They finally get what they want.  

I think I need a bit further tuning of the bass in my showroom setup.  I suspect the speaker cable connector should be upgraded.   I simply use the very basic banana plug come with the Groneberg cable.  I think changing it to WBT plug will help giving a better clarity of bass.  Any suggestion?

Jay, I have the adaptor you mentiond from Chris.  I think they are good but a bit expensive incl. the shipping charge.

[Guan]

Let me know the time and place!

Chen and I thought that good as the Nightingale was, the Epiphony still had a certain liveliness and vibrancy that made music more exciting! Now that the Nightingale is more run-in, has the sound changed much?

Not at all sure if changing to better quality banana plugs would give you significantly better bass definition but I've heard good things about the WBT NextGen plugs and Eichmann Bullet speaker plugs.

Cheers,

Guan

[Eduardo AAVM]

Just today morning I listened to my Nightingales and wow the sound had a different characteristic, it was better defined more pleasant but at the same tiem it didn't loose the high grade of detail it has always showed.

These speakers offer a nice sound detailed but at the same time relaxed I do not know how to explain it better.

"If you have expereinced no explanation is necessary
if don't no explanation is possible...."

Yes, right I agree 100%.

[odysseyhk]

I'm not living next to the showroom and I cannot enjoy Nightingale everyday.  And I have made quite a few other changes in set-up.  Hence I may just miss the change in the sound of Nightingale.  May be I'm not running it hard enough and it didn't pass that stage yet.

I like your word "relaxed", I think my Nightingale may need a bit more time to get "relaxed".  I still get a feeling that it is working hard to give me good music.  I'm not saying that it is not good, it is excellent right now.

I think I need to give it a bit more massage (run-in) to have it more relaxed.  Haha.

[TjMV3]

odysseyhk,  

Which Ayre CD Player were you using?    The CX-7 CD Player?  

Or the D-1x  CD/DVD Player?

[odysseyhk]

odysseyhk,  

Which Ayre CD Player were you using?    The CX-7 CD Player?  

Or the D-1x  CD/DVD Player?

Yes, It is Ayre CX-7.  It is very good CD player.