I've had my Callistos for about 2 weeks now. They arrived with about 100 hours of burn in on them, and I've played them about 40 more since then. Right out of the box they sounded remarkable. Rhythmic, effortlessly tuneful, with engaging voicing on all instruments (voices, guitars, piano, as well as low-end instruments, cellos and bass guitars). Tonight I finally ran my low end test on them -- Beatles' "Come Together" on vinyl. This is incredible! I've got a smaller room (12 x 15) and these 6" woofers just filled it with Paul's cocksure bass lines. I'm not a tech-oriented person,so I have no measuring instruments -- I just know that I've listened to this song in many places, large and small, over many years (too many), on many systems, and it's never sounded this good. Real loud, with no break up, no strain, just pacing and pounding, and John's vocals clear and compelling. A couple of tracks later on Maxwell Silver Hammer I suddenly noticed these 2 acoustic guitars, quite treble-y, playing fast little chords, adding an angle I've never heard before and altering my understanding of the song, after all these years.
Besides great bass, incredible instrument voicing, and captivating pace, I have found one more surprising thing with the Callistos: at least 50% of the sibilance I've put up with for years is now gone. Just disappeared. I had been assuming that most of the sibilance I was hearing was inescapable, built into the source material -- WRONG! I'm listening to Norah Jones, to Indigo Girls, to Ella, Dakota Staton, and there's barely an ssssss to distract me. When I do hear it, it sounds natural, less annoying, and it's gone before I realize it.
It's funny, I've been meaning to post my initial impressions for the past 6 or 7 days, but whenever I have a chance to do so I decide to listen to music instead. The other side of Let it Be just finished in the next room. I'm goin' back for more....
Besides great bass, incredible instrument voicing, and captivating pace, I have found one more surprising thing with the Callistos: at least 50% of the sibilance I've put up with for years is now gone. Just disappeared. I had been assuming that most of the sibilance I was hearing was inescapable, built into the source material -- WRONG! I'm listening to Norah Jones, to Indigo Girls, to Ella, Dakota Staton, and there's barely an ssssss to distract me. When I do hear it, it sounds natural, less annoying, and it's gone before I realize it.
It's funny, I've been meaning to post my initial impressions for the past 6 or 7 days, but whenever I have a chance to do so I decide to listen to music instead. The other side of Let it Be just finished in the next room. I'm goin' back for more....