High Efficiency Speaker Asylum: DIYcable Adire HE10.1 Signature Loudspeakers- First Impressions by Todd Krieger

I special-ordered a pair of these popular "kit" speakers in "production" form, with upgrade crossover components. I chose the walnut cabinets, "charcoal gray" grille cloth, a "port-less" grille cover, and Cardas pure-copper terminals. I also had the crossover mounted as far away from the coaxial driver as possible. As well as having the coax driver on *top*, with the port on the bottom, for use on shorter stands. (The crossover will be subjected to the least amount of cabinet vibrations as well.)

The speakers arrived intact, in spite of some of the horror stories I've been hearing recently about FedEx. Save a minor scratch on the back of one of the speakers, from something that pierced through the packaging.

I first want to say with the ports covered up, the speakers have a "furniture grade" appearance. The WAF will be high, in case your spouse is demanding for products that enhance a home's decor.

The Cardas connector was originally a minor concern- It was made to mate with small spades, but that concern was quenched when the clip takes tinned leads just fine. (I tin the leads of my speaker cable with Johnson IA-423 organic-core solder.) I placed the speakers on damped Target 21" stands. The speakers' size was a tad larger than I expected, and look a little big for the stands, but the interface is very solid.

The amp is the JE Labs SET with Full Music Mesh 300B's and upgraded Black Gate caps. The HK 930 receiver is used a tuner and switcher, and an Audio Refinement CD Complete as a transport with upgraded ART DI/O DAC, linked by a DH Labs D-75 digital cable. Interconnects are Belden 88281- Source connections using WBT Topline, switcher to amp using Vampire 800C (this is the best "low-cost" compromise below Bocchino connectors). Speaker cables are Silverline Audio. Power cords are Tek Line and Absolute Power Cord. Line conditioners are Brickwall, Tripp Lite, and Vans Evers.

Unlike a lot of speakers, the DIYcable Adire HE10.1 Signatures were fabulous right out of the box. The complaints I've heard about these speakers out-of-the-box have been a slightly hard top and lack of bass extension, which was *not* the case with me. Then again, the room is not that large, and bass response is rarely an issue. In fact, the HE10.1's provided some of the most-delineated bass I've heard from a bookshelf loudspeaker. The previous speakers in the "B" system were the Jean Marie Reynaud Twin Mk IIs, which were musical and coherent, but I suspected were somewhat lacking in resolution, staging, HF extension. The bass also imparted a "boxy" quality to the sound. No knock on the Twins, but the Adire HE 10.1's confirmed what I suspected. In fact, the Adires resolution made me try different driver tubes in the JE Labs SET amp. For the top was a tad "hot" with the Sylvania VT-231's, and the bass was overpowering and not overly tight.

When I switched to the Tung Sol round plate 6SN7s, the initial problems were amelorated. The result was a sound which combines the "audiophile" qualities of staging, HF extension, and resolution (read: transparency) with the musical qualities of the Reynaud Twins. (I think the lack of hardness could be attributed to the OFC copper terminals.) It is not easy to get coherency and resolution simultaneously out of a dynamic speaker, but the HE10.1's come as close to that as I've experienced in recent times. The end result is a very convincing rendition of Harry Pearson's proverbial "real instruments in real space." And comes to its zenith with acoustic jazz- You can hear the air entering those saxophones and the instruments resonating in their full glory. With the Twins, you hear a remnant of this illusion, the Adires bring this into full fruition. Brass is also very convincing. As are percussion and vocals.

Aside from coherence and resolution, the one thing the Adires have that is unheard-of at its price point is the utter lack of "shout" in the upper registers. (This even plagues my main system Von Schweikert VR-4.5 Mod 5's.) Could also explain the "laid-back" character from some who listened to these speakers. For that reason, instead of any hint of blasting, you just hear everything. It helps provide the timbral acuity of acoustic instruments, world class soundstage (It may be even better than that of the Schweikerts!!), and an absolute lack of "boxy" character, the last-mentioned quality maybe the biggest contrast to the Twins in the same system. I've heard stories of speakers "totally disappearing," yet I've rarely experienced this personally- The Adire HE10.1's give this impression as well as anything I've experienced. (These speakers do the "studio monitor" type things very well- Flat response, articulated, lack of coloration.) And in spite of the tweeter being in the magnet assembly of the woofer, the off-axis response maintains a lot of its coherent qualities- just a smidgeon of HF rolloff, which is expected. The front-ports minimize room interactions with placement.

No speaker is devoid of weakness. This is only the second time I've had compression drivers in a system. There is a slight "echo" like character in the upper registers, but very benign to the ear. It almost sounds like a "horn" speaker in this regard. Heavily-recorded vocals do sound a little "forward," yet lightly-recorded vocals sound "distant," which I always thought was a "horn" character. But as the sound smooths out with break-in, these *mild* objections could be ameliorated. (I'm using SET's with these speakers. They could demand 45 type amps- they're certainly efficient enough. The HE10.1's could be **very** ruthless with solid-state and/or less-than-perfect sources. The JMR Twins in contrast are *very* "forgiving" speakers.) In spite of the objections people have had in the bass, although not full range, the tonal balance and lack of hardness will make only pipe-organ freaks demand a subwoofer.

The $995/pr. DIYcable Adire HE10.1 Signatures look like $3000/pr. speakers... And they sound like $3000/pr. speakers... If you have a small or medium-sized room, prefer tubes or especially low-power triodes, and want to satify both the "musical" and "audiophile" bugs inside of you, this could be your speaker. Putting it succinctly- They make music.

A formal review will most-likely come in about a month or two.