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
