A revealing speaker


There's a thread on the use of the word, revealing, but it's really all I could think of to describe these speakers.
They say idle hands are the devils work so in these virus times, Tony Minasian has been very busy. He came over with his newest creation, a stand mount monitor of modest proportions, using off the shelf drivers and the same material he used with my old Tonian Labs TL-D1s: birch ply with a nice walnut veneer.

What was supposed to be an hour session went well over three. We listened to Paris Combo, Anouar Brahem, Johnny Cash, the Breaking Bad soundtrack, Stacy Kent, Pacifika, The Elizabethan Sessions, Billie Eiish, The European Jazz Trio, Abdullah Ibrahim, and a couple of CDs that Tony recorded with some studio musicians. Tony had a couple of calls that had people waiting but we were having too good a time.

My first thought was, where's the bass? Two minutes later I'd completely forgot about it. These monitors "only" go down to the 60s but what bass they do handle easily allow the mind to fill in the rest. There's plenty of growl when called for with electronica coupled with the most see-through I've experienced. I still haven't disabused myself of the thought of selling my JBLs for these stand mounts. If I had them for a week, I'd keep them.

I had to ask Tony what the secret was and as usual, he was a bit mum about it, but he let on that it's all in the crossover, once you've settled on a decent set of drivers. He also explained that the speakers are what one needs to really get right. Your digital source has distortion in the 10/1000s% and your amp has it in the 10/100s% but your speakers are at 10% (or more) so they need to be as correct as can be. 

The most amazing thing about these speakers is they'll make you think you're listening with some mega-buck Swiss amp, fed by a SOTA high-res set up. Listening to his Redbook, 16bit recordings through these speakers had us laughing out loud. My Marantz sounded like my Kinki integrated playing through my JBLs. These speakers could transform any modest system into an excellent sounding one, and that is the point of this hobby, isn't it?

Listening to Tony's CDs had me constantly looking around in an instinctive way, to see where that sound came from. I knew it was recorded but the reaction was on a baser, automatic response level, which irked me. There was even a moment when a dog got up and walked across the soundstage, left to right, and you could hear his paws click across the floor. One of the studio musicians and a frequent performer used by Tony, Brad Dutz, listened to and then bought a pair for his studio after listening to his performance, replacing his NHT and B&W monitors.

These speakers had me working overtime, tuning my set up with my new Isoacoustic Oreas, so I don't have to buy them. I'm used to my JBLs now but I'm still haunted by this revealing, realistic and beguiling speaker. If you're in or around the Los Angeles area, and are in the market for a great monitor, do yourself a favor and give Tony a call and ask him about his G6 (it's what he's calling it for the moment).

As much as I loved my TL-D1s, these are much better, and they don't even go as low. I asked Tony if he could redo the crossovers on my JBLs to eek out some more performance but what he did with his G6, two way, can't be done with a three way in the same manner. He said to just use the pots on the JBL to suit my tastes and not be afraid to use them as it's not like using tone controls on the amp end. He was right. He usually is.

All the best,
Nonoise




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@nonoise :PS called up Tony today today. He's a great guy, very personable and sent me pics of his new speaker (pretty sure he took them at your place). Beautiful craftsmanship, clean, simple and elegant. Around $3K he said. Trying to get him to send me a pair to try (I live on the other side of the coast). Be interested to see how they compare to the Fritz speakers.
@phill55,

Yeah, Tony is one of the most down to earth guys you'll meet. The $3K price sounds about right but I really didn't pay attention as my focus was just on the sound (part of my rationalizing process). 

I think he only has a couple on hand and people are interested once they hear them and tend to buy them after auditioning. Good luck on that front.

All the best,
Nonoise
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.


@snowpidgeon,
That's quite the speaker journey you've had. After reading it, I'm starting to get that itch again, thinking I was over it. A friend of mine who read this let me know that he's interested in my JBL 4319 monitors. I told him I was keeping them but now I find myself vacillating. Not the best position to be in.

All the best,
Nonoise
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