Munich High-End 2018 Ron Report: Horn Loudspeaker Report

[Ron Resnick]

Hi Ron,

Any consideration to getting these instead of the Pendragons?

If I listened primarily to jazz, or primarily to jazz and classical, I probably would have ordered a Cessaro Gamma or a Viva Audio Masterhorn by now. However, I love vocals and I personally prefer vocals reproduced by ribbon or electrostatic drivers.

I still feel the Pendragons are literally the perfect loudspeaker design for me.

PS: I would like to hear the Aries Cerat Symphonia.

 

[analogsa]

Collective auditions are a real danger!

So they are.

Otoh, what a shining example of "positive reviewing". Herb liked the Wilsons, liked the Harbeths and also liked all the ghastly horns. Unlike his text recipients. To simultaneously like both Wilson and Harbeth is not easy, but add the horns to the mix and it takes grand mastery.

 

[Believe High Fidelity]

If I listened primarily to jazz, or primarily to jazz and classical, I probably would have ordered a Cessaro Gamma or a Viva Audio Masterhorn by now. However, I love vocals and I personally prefer vocals reproduced by ribbon or electrostatic drivers.

I still feel the Pendragons are literally the perfect loudspeaker design for me.

I am curious as you have mentioned in several of your reports that you value virtues of a panel, came from a panel, and in most cases analyze the performance of a loudspeaker as it pertains to the similarities of a panel. Even this last response you cite that the vocal genre of music you like to hear best with a ribbon or electrostatic panel.

Do you feel that you could go back to a panel? I believe that there were a few panels at the Munich that claim to be much higher performing that the US offerings (ie ML, Maggies, or Soundlabs). Did you get a chance to hear any of those off the cuff?

 

[Ron Resnick]

I must have missed those panels at Munich. To which ones are you referring?

I feel the Pendragon ribbon tower is a panel, so I do not feel I have ever left panels.

 

[bonzo75]

There was the Alsyvox at Marriott. I did not go there, Brad and Christoph did and liked it. 95 Db ribbon panel

 

[cjfrbw]

I think ribbons count as "panels", and the Pendragon has a very large ribbon that covers a wide part of the frequency range.

 

[shakti]

I liked the Alsyvox Botticelli a lot, was an impressive experience , specially after the frustrating one of the Viva Horn (in the room next by),
which was playing not that good, as I would have expected.
I forget to ask for a price of the Alsyvox speakers, anyone has a an idea ? recommended retail?

 

[LL21]

From last year's WBF coverage of Munich:

I was able to listen to them last week at MUNICH's HighEnd show. I really liked them. I found them very good looking and very good sounding. Those 3 ways Spanish speaker from AlsyVox use a ribon technology close to what is used our planar headphones. The provided Bass and their efficiency are surprisly good (93 db/w) for such technology.

They have a line of 4 models. The last 2 built on order. The Entry model cost 50.000 € and this Botticelli that we listened cost 80.000 € the pair , is 177cm high.

They've Sounded very good and exciting. What immediately struck me was the effortlessness of the Alsyvox ribbons and the abilities of the speakers to completely VANISH. I do not recall many other instances where a system was so able to just disappear. Sound was very, very clear and transparent with a realistic, big and open soundstage. The overall voicing was very studio-like, very even.

May be sometime they were a little agressive but they were driven by some stupid fancy Italian DAC/amps (The red ´spaghetti octopus' in the middle). I wish I could have listened to them with a good DAC/amp System like Vincent's TotalDAC + tube amp demo set-up.

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[asiufy]

The Alsyvox was exceptional, like it was last year, when I was literally going "WTF?" in that room. It's not cheap at 87,000 euros, but it was mighty impressive. Every other speaker in that venue sounded veiled next to it.

 

[morricab]

There was the Alsyvox at Marriott. I did not go there, Brad and Christoph did and liked it. 95 Db ribbon panel

Probably the best panel I have heard at least dynamically...it was explosive.

 

[morricab]

I think ribbons count as "panels", and the Pendragon has a very large ribbon that covers a wide part of the frequency range.

Depends on if it is being used as a dipole or not. Aries Cerat uses a ribbon tweeter but it is loaded in a horn and therefore not a dipole or a panel.

 

[morricab]

I liked the Alsyvox Botticelli a lot, was an impressive experience , specially after the frustrating one of the Viva Horn (in the room next by),
which was playing not that good, as I would have expected.
I forget to ask for a price of the Alsyvox speakers, anyone has a an idea ? recommended retail?

87K euro. The Viva was a disappointment to me as well...however, their small(ish) red speaker on the other end of the room was quite good! It had a horn mid/high and a ribbon supertweeter.

 

[GuillaumeB]

I ran out of time this year so didn’t make it to the Alsyvox room at the Marriott. Last year it blew me away, had never heard anything quite like it! WTF indeed!

Guillaume

 

[Zero000]

I ran out of time this year so didn’t make it to the Alsyvox room at the Marriott. Last year it blew me away, had never heard anything quite like it! WTF indeed!

Guillaume

I'm glad it works. One reason I thought it might not is because you lose a lot of radiating area by having the magnets on both sides of the bass driver, rather than one side, as per the Apogees, which is basically what it is i.e. planar magnetic.

I nearly went and would have done if I had known. Wasn't this speaker called the Leonardo a while back?

 

[Ron Resnick]

I thought Leonardo also! But I think the Leonardos were in a much heavier frame.

 

[Tango]

I thought Leonardo also! But I think the Leonardos were in a much heavier frame.

The name changed after the company has moved from Italy to Spain. Probably some improvements too.
There are many hidden gems in Italy.
https://www.remusic.it/EN/Extreme-Audio-Leonardo-Speakers-loudspeakers-43ab9d00