[Aether Audio]

Friends,

Below is an exchange between one of our Timepiece 2.1 owners and a potential customer.  "Phoenix" enquired about the Timepieces and Don Coleman was kind enough to respond.  For us, Don's comments are especially significant as he is one of our dearest friends, one of our oldest and most loyal customers, a true audiophile with impeccable taste and...the former president of Clarion Electronics.  You know...the car audio company.

I'd like to think that carries a little weight.  Well, at least as far as we're concerned it does.  You'll find a picture of Don's Timepieces at the bottom of this page.

The Inquiry:

Hi Fellow Audiophile,

I was referred to you by Bob Smith of SP Technology.  I wanted to know
if you could spare a minute or two to tell me how you feel about the Timepiece 2.0/2.1  I am seriously thinking about purchasing a set in the next few weeks and would appreciate any feedback you might have.

Some specs:
Small room 15 X 15 room
Driven by Korsun Integrated Amp v6i (150 watts/8 ohms, High Current)
Must be placed within 1 foot of front wall.
Speakers I used/owned: 
Gallo Reference 3
Aci Sapphire
Soliloquy 5.3
3d Reality Tetras
Magnepan MMG
GR Research Criterion
Proac Response 1
2.5, Merlin TSM-M
Merlin VSM

Music: Jazz, Piano, Rock, vocal, pop
Priorities: Musicality, accuracy, appearance (Wife factor)

These speakers seem to have a lot of hype to those who heard them.
I've heard a lot of good speakers and owned some true-classics/world beaters.  Do you think I would be happier spending my my money on something else?  BTW - my current favorites are the Gallo Ref 3's and the Merlin TSM-M

THANKS!! If I can help give input on any of my previously owned
equipment - I would be happy to.

Phoenix

The Response:

Hi, Phoenix,

 I am pleased to respond to your inquiry regarding the SP Technology
Timepiece 2.0/2.1. I have had a pair of Timepiece 2.0, modified to 2.1, for
about two years. I believe I was their first California customer.Believe
me, I had auditioned many speakers in the under $10,000 range before
deciding on the Timepieces. For the money there is not a better value! With
a frequency response of 30 - 24,000Hz +/- 2db in a relatively compact
design at its price I could not find a better choice. Having lived with the Timepieces now for a pretty long time and listened to many types of music I am completely satisfied with the product.

As far as the specifics you asked me to comment on:

1) Specs - Their specs are accurate. The features I am particularly
pleased with are the transparency, imaging, sound stage (Deep and wide),
very good mids and highs due to the wave guide design, and terrific bass
produced by the transmission line and excellent mid/bass driver.

2) The timepieces are perhaps not ideal for a small room due to their
relatively large size.  However, I would expect them to perform without
boom due to their design, and the wave guide mounted tweeter performs well
off axis which I would think to be important in a small room.

3) I drive my Timepieces with a Tube amp of relatively  modest power (40
watts Triode, 80 watts Ultra linear) and while the timepieces are not the
most efficient I have all the bass and sound pressure level my ears can
stand in a pretty large room! So your amp with 150 watts at 8 ohms would be
a perfect fit.

4) I have my speakers 2 feet from the wall, but my guess is that you
could get by with 1 foot spacing.

5) You have had some good speakers! I am familiar with the Gallo,
Soliloquy, Magnapan, and Proac Response speakers. My guess is that the
Proacs were very good in your small room, the Timepieces have the extremely
clean midrange. openness and spaciousness of the Proacs, but with
considerably more bass.

6) The Timepieces are good on most any type of music. I find them superb
on Jazz and female vocal, especially with my tube amp.

7) The Timepieces are very musical and accurate. As for the wife factor,
that depends to some extent on the level of cosmetics you order. My
Timepieces and stands have Columbian rosewood veneer, with polished lacquer,
and the piano lacquer front, and are quite pretty. (see the picture I attached).

As you can tell, I really love the Timepieces, and having heard some of
the latest stuff at the Jan. CE Show, I have not seen anything to beat them
at the price.

Good luck,
Don Coleman

[Aether Audio]

Tube Lovers,

Please take note of the above equipment used by Mr. Coleman.  The amp he is referring to is a Cary Integrated.  I convinced Don at one point to try bi-ampping with a SS amp on the woofer section.  He did and experimented with a NAD amp only to report that it made no worthwhile improvement - so he took the NAD back to the store.

Well, I had a hard time believing this.  It turned out that I had an opportunity to go to his house in Hollywood last summer to hear for myself, as I was in LA for the debut of the NuForce S-9 at the LA Audio Society meeting.  Don was kind enough to invite me to spend the night at his home before flying back the next day.

We listened most of the night and to my surprise, I had to agree.  He didn't need another watt as the bass was tight, the signal was clean and detailed and he had all the volume he could use.  This was all the more of a surprise to me as the room was a fairly large area in his walk-out basement.  I guess that goes to show how much I know.

As a side note - and not that it's relevent to anything - but boy was that a nice evening.  Don's wife is quite the gardener and their lawn was like a small section of a Disneyworld garden.  Big banana trees and lush foliage all with perfect accent lighting.  Then I spent some time on his rooftop patio, looking out at all the beautiful hillside homes all lit up.  Man, I found out that night how "the other half" lives...and I sure could get use to that real fast!

-Bob