Mr. John Heiler, aka Fritz, could quite possibly be one of the most underrated speaker designers out there today. From what I gather, he is driven by a passion for designing speakers that convey musical emotion and that are in turn fun and engaging to listen to. Like many outstanding products of our era, Fritz’s speakers are envisioned, designed, refined and implemented by a single person.
Fritz has what I would describe as a healthy obsession for knowledge of high end drivers from Seas, Scan Speak, and SB Acoustics just to name a few. I prefer Fritz’s design approach of implementing drivers that play well together with regards to frequency response and impedance curves. Fritz strives to keep the signal path as pure as possible which becomes audibly apparent in the clarity and openness with which the Carrera BE’s serve up.
Which brings me to the Carrera BE. Right from the first song, I was very impressed with the natural and organic music emanating from the 7” Scan Speak Revelators. The Revelator has a nice warm, full bodied, natural and organic sound that digs really deep without ever sounding bloated. Stand up bass, bass guitars and synthetic bass lines are all well delineated and easily defined. The low end has substantial weight and heft with good punch. Pair this warm, natural sounding Revelator with a light, airy and delicate sounding Transducer Labs Beryllium tweeter and the music becomes intoxicating.
I could not detect whatsoever, where the midbass driver handed off duties to the tweeter. Fritz informed me that this is due in large part to the design of his series crossovers. A large part of the appeal of these speakers for me is how cohesive the sound is. In addition, the Carrera BE’s produce a rock solid image with vocals and instruments almost seemingly anchored in place. On a few recordings, vocals were so eerily real, holographic and fleshed out that I was right there with the performer, in their acoustical space. The imaging is spot on with no unnatural artifacts present. The micro detail produced is outstanding, allowing me to easily pick up on ambient and spatial cues. The attack was perhaps slightly rounded which leads itself to an easy, silky smooth listening experience. The decay however, went on for days. I actually can’t explain how the Carreras make decay go on and on, yet at the same time go absolutely silent before the next musical note burts into life. The Carreras sound fantastic at low and medium volume levels. At high volume levels they sound so incredibly delicious and engaging that you may find yourself being swept away and transported to the front row, center seat at your favorite live performances.
I’ve been blessed to have had experienced many great hi fidelity systems over the years and I can honestly say to you that the Carrera BE’s are some of the most musical speakers I have ever heard. Most times I listened to them, they lured me in and took me away on a musical journey. The Carrera BE’s have a comforting, soothing, rich quality to their sound which is extremely satisfying. They convey emotion so well that the music really pulls at your heart strings. It’s addictive to say the least. I spent many nights doing the “just one more song” routine until 2 a.m.
Well recorded songs really shine through on the Carreras. Vocals are well fleshed out and pristine sounding with great detail and absolutely no veil between you and the artist. Drums, acoustic guitar, violin, cello, piano... it all sounded quite real, which is to say tonally rich, textured, and full bodied. The clarity and openness of the Carreras allow you to easily hear the underlying tones and nuances in the music that convey emotion so well. The Carreras pretty much do everything well, some things exceptionally well, all the while doing absolutely nothing offensive in my opinion.
So what then sets the Carreras apart from other great speakers that I’ve heard? I’d have to say that the Carrera BE’s have one of the best combinations of musicality, imaging, warmth, detail, clarity, openness and fun factor that I’ve heard coming from a two way stand mounted speaker. If you are in the market for a high end, high quality stand mounted speaker, I highly recommend the Carrera BE’s.
