Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

RE: Calling Bob Neill about yourTocara speakers

That's a delicate question for a dealer here, perhaps even an improper one, though I did bring it up.

Let's just say that Reynauds (and even more so Audio Notes) brought out a percussive quality in the Devores' that I had here -- I don't remember the model now. Compared with JMR's and AN's the Devores had a (relative) hard-shelled quality to them. John and I worked to ease that to suit me by raising and then lowering the front of the enclosures but in the end I said that that seemed to be the essence of their character and that he needed tweak just to please me. He said they were voiced on AN SET's but with AN speakers the amps resulted in a somewhat softer, sometimes conspicuously beautiful sound. The Devores would have none of that, arguably to their credit.

What Reynauds brought out in the Harbeths (mainly 30's and 40's) was an emotional reticence, a tendency to keep their counsel. Their fans admire this about them and even Alan Shaw, in response to a question on the Harbeth Forum, explained to us assembled that he felt instruments and people were always a bit farther from us than we tend to think. The Reynauds dramatized the Harbeths' slight sense of distance and a hint of austerity.

To my ears, which are the ones that matter here, live music has significantly more warmth, fullness, and beauty than the Devores allow it, more liveliness and presence than Harbeths allow it. But I didn't really hear that, especially in the case of the Harbeths, without reference to Reynauds and Audio Notes. I had Harbeth M40's here for months, enjoyed them and praised them highly in the press; and then they were "outed" by a modest little pair of JMR Twins and never sounded the same again. I had a well-known designer of electronics and friend here at the time and we were both startled by the same thing, so I knew I wasn't (unless we were both) nuts. (To be fair, it is my understanding that the notable Harbeth fan Robert Greene had the opposite experience!)

Those for whom Devores and Harbeths are beloved or at least admired references, will remind me that this is an extremely subjective business and that I am elevating my opinions here to something that sounds misleadingly objective. In my defense, all I can say is that my goal has always been to describe what I hear with as unprejudiced adjectives as I can find. That can be quite a challenge when ones opinions begin to firm up!


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  • RE: Calling Bob Neill about yourTocara speakers - Bob Neill 07/6/1305:14:03 07/6/13 (0)

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