A revealing speaker

So I received my tonianlab speakers a couple of weeks and have finally had some free time to do some listening. Just to go over the speaker I am to compare them to the Yamaha ns1000, some may wonder if this is a high end speaker, it is. I have sold my harbeth shl 5 after 2 years of listening to both, the harbeth is a wonderful speaker, but the ns1000 is the speaker I kept going back to, the harbeths were my main speakers since 2006. I also have jbl l300, jbl 4301b, and spendor sp1, but they have limitations that keep them from being my main speakers. I have listened to most of the popular high end speakers like the Wilson watt 8 and Sasha, the Focal soppra, and the bowers and Wilkins 802d and found the ns1000 was better overall. These were heard at friends home, dealers and at trade shows, the Focal was only heard at dealers or trade shows. The ns1000 were just more coherent and the had a more natural tone. I have compared them to many other speakers, but these were the ones that cost so much more that I believed they had to obliterate the ns1000, which for the music I listen to they did not. The speakers currently have my eye on are the spendor bc3, Tannoy 12 or 15 silver or gold, and the Devore o/96. To anyone that has not heard these they just sound different then the current crop of high end speakers, they have a way of drawing you into the music. 

  Ok let's listen to some music. I started with some( the speakers were placed 23 inches from the floor) cd's from chesky, ma, and Tonianlab, after an hour of listening to these audiophile recordings I had to stop, if this is the only type of music you listen to you should just buy the speakers, they were amazing, percussion instruments just jumped out at you and the decay was so natural that it was as good as I have ever heard, piano sounded full and rich like the piano was in the room, acoustic guitar much the same. 

  So I decided I would play some classic rock. First up Santana abbraxas and Pink Floyd dark side of the moon. The imaging and soundstage was excellent, the stereo effect was huge, it wasn't as wide and sharp sounding as my ns1000, but the midrange was bigger and more natural sounding. Next cd was tears for fears the hurting everything from the vocals and and piano sound clear and defined with complete coherent integration between both drivers, the thing that was suprising was on bass notes I did not hear any coloration from the cabinet because the speakers are not that heavy. 
The only thing  missing was the speaker sounded a little lean on the bass and it didn't have the slam of the ns1000, but I don't know of any bookshelf or slim floorstander that has outstanding midrange and great bass if you know of any let me know. Next was Doreen smith a tribute to Julie London The vocals were beautiful so big and textured like she was right in my room. Next was the complete set from Miles Davis and John coltrane, funny thing was, I was listening to this off axis and there was a track that had miles talking and then whistling, I jumped up and went to my porch because my cat was outside and I thought someone was trying to get his attention, but it was only the sound system. 

 Time to wrap up this review. If you listen to jazz, classical, vocals, and popular music from the 40s to the 80's and really don't listen to progressive or classic rock, hip hop or trance music these speakers are as good as your going to get, they can play this kind of music but you would missing out on what they do best. To me they are a masterpiece like a Handcrafted Japanese chef knife or a vintage Tag Heuer watch a simple design that was designed with a purpose.These things are not just items to be discarded When they are no longer needed they are meant to be passed on to the next generation of music lovers. In the end I will be keeping these for awhile, not sure if I like them more than my ns1000, but I listened to mostly progressive rock so they serve a different purpose. I don't think any audiophile can find a better speaker that produces a better midrange under 10k. If there is a speaker out there you audiogoners have heard that sound special let me know i am always excited about learning about something new.

That jbl 4319 is a nice looking speaker. How does it sound compared to the new jbl l100 I have heard that model. The Tonianlab bookshelf sounded really impressive . I am selling my kef 101 and my spendor sp1 to make room for the new addition. Why don't you keep both, if that's an option.

thanks
snowpidgeon

I have had many speakers in my 2 listening areas in the last 20 years from Martin Logan cls, quad 63, and several magnepan models, and many conventional cone speakers with metal, Kevlar, carbon, and plastic drivers. I am only listing the panel speakers models because the list is short. 
 
My favorite speaker since 2006 has been the harbeth shl5, they were very coherent had good tone and rhythm and decent bass for their size. I have listened to the Wilson Sasha's ,Bowers and Wilkins 800 series, Focal higher end models and many more. What I wanted was a little bit more speed and detail in the midrange, which the harbeth lacked. The problem with most modern speakers were they had the speed and detail, but the only problem was they only sounded great on certain audiophile disc. 

My budget for a new set of speakers was about $15,000. I went to many dealer's and audio shows around California and heard things that I liked, but not enough to sell the Harbeths. 

I happened to to visit a friend in Ventura who had a pair Tannoy gold speaker and really liked what I heard. We played jazz, progressive rock, pop, soul, and folk. The vintage speaker had touch and dynamics that modern speakers do not, granted they dont image as good as a modern speaker and the highs are not as smooth and extended , but they made me want to pull out every album and cd that my friend had.

When Harbeth came out with their new shl5 plus I was excited When i read the initial reviews, I thought this was probably going to be the speaker I have been waiting for. So when I went to the audio show I can't remember if it was ces or Newport Beach I was shocked to hear them, they sounded brighter and more detailed, but they lost that lovely tone that the old ones had. I stayed in that room for at least an hour and went back a couple of times, but liked the previous model more. I also went to a Harbeth dealer to make sure it wasn't a room or equipment mismatch, but they sounded much like they did at the show. Let me say the new shl5 plus are not bad they sound more modern.

For the last 5 years I have been buying lots of vintage speakers and I have been very happy with the move. They have a sense of scale and touch that many modern speakers do not. 

I met Tony about 20 years ago when he worked at audio lab. I heard some of the inexpensive speakers he had modified, and they sounded really great. About 5 years later he started his own speaker line and every time I heard them they sounded really good, but I never pulled the trigger, maybe it was the look it certainly was the sound. 

Tony gave me a call earlier in the year to tell me had a new bookshelf speaker he was designing and would I be interested in taking it home for a listen, I said sure. So I get them home and placed them on top of my ns1000m yamahas which I love and start playing some tunes, first cd was Can future days, as soon as the music started I knew this was something special the midrange was huge,the attack and speed were startling. Miles Davis kind of blue Miles was next, his trumpet was right in my face big and bold. Next cd Luciana Souza The new bossa nova, her voice came out big and textured and with that beautiful tone of her voice. Next cd Armageddon, they only made one cd, this is a very dynamic cd, but this speaker handled it perfectly it was punchy, and surprising to me was that there was nothing missing, highs, midrange, and bass, the only thing you could say was the bass didn't have that extension and impact that I get from my ns1000m or my Jbl horns, but that's no big deal considering their size.

The Tonian lab speakers are one of 2 other speakers I am considering, one is the Horning Aristotle and the other is the Devore orangutan 0/96. All three speakers have that ability to play music that have prat. Tony's speakers remind me of a BMW e30m3 or a 2002tii these may not be the fastest cars you can get, but you connect with the vehicle and all you want to do is drive to your next destination and then drive more. I have a pair being made for me it should be ready next month. I will post an update after I get them.

It has been awhile since my last post on the Tonian lab speakers, because of the death of my brother and close friends I have not been listening,or been in the mood to think about audio evaluations.     Let's hope 2021 will be a better year.

I have had the Tonian labs speakers for about 6 months and this will be my final observation. Because everyone has a different opinion
on how a speaker should sound and look, and what kind of materials and shape the enclosure Should be I believe there is not a right or wrong way on different philosophies of speaker design. Some might like an overly bright speaker, or a more bass heavy loudspeaker, for myself these types of design only work for audiophiles with a limited genre of music they listen to, and I believe that's why we are constantly changing out our equipment like cables, amps, preamps, and cartridges, it just seems to never end. 

I thinks that the type of audiophile that will be drawn to the Tonian lab speaker will be the same person that is interested in the Devore, Harbeth, Spendor, Graham, and to a lesser degree vintage and new designs from Jbl, Klipsch, or Altec Lansing. The reason these designs are popular again is because they sound like how music should sound, I have heard most of these speakers and know why people are drawn to these speakers, they sound more like live music.

So how do the Tonian lab sound compared to smaller bookshelf speakers from other BBC designs, they don't sound like them at all, when you hear them for the first time they sound so much larger than your typical bookshelf, you would believe these are large stand mount or floorstanders. The midrange is full and the highs are smooth, there is none of midrange warmth that the harbeth, spendor, or the Grahams have, that's not a good or bad thing,only an observation. The midrange, upper bass and lower treble are extremely fast, like a electrostatic speaker. The bass is tight and rolls off very nicely, on some rock and roll music the bass was a little thin, but on most music it wasn't a problem. I did use some of the lower priced Chinese tube integrated amps and they sounded good and relaxed, to relaxed for me, I like a more dynamic sound. I ended up using my audio lab 8000a as a preamp and a pass labs power amp and that's when everything started to come together. The sounded more dynamic and much more like live music, my audiolab has tone controls so on some music I did use the bass control, I will be adding a subwoofer soon. 

I  think Tony's speaker will appeal to the person who likes the BBC sound but wants a more open midrange without the midrange bump or a magnepan owner moving to a smaller room but likes an open sound with a large midrange presence. They are so easy to drive I used them with my 25 watt marantz receiver and they sounded really good, I could easily live with this configuration

After having Tony's speaker for about 6 months I feel like I belong to a special club of people lucky enough to hear his speakers, they are so undervalued, I know some people will look at the materials and think they over priced because they look so simple, but they do not see the time he has spent designing this product. I can't say this is the best or my last speaker, but I can't think of any product regardless of price I could say that about. If any audiophile has the extra money to buy these unassuming loudspeakers I suggest you buy them because you will regret it if Tony is no longer making speakers I know I will be keeping mine until my time is done. I understand Tonian lab will be at the audio show in Long Beach I am looking forward to it. 

Thanks