Got to hear the Burwell & Son
horn speakers called “Hot Cotati”, three ways with subwooferX2 enhancements at the home (and factory) of the Burwell clan.
This was a programmed event by the SFAF(San Francisco Audio Foundation) formerly SFAS (San Francisco Audiophile Society) with a group of audiophiles showing up.
Most of the Burwell line are tribute speakers using original Altec drivers in very beautiful craftsman wood cabinets and horn mouths. Amplification was PS Audio solid state, which wound up sounding much better than expected. My inculcated prejudice still insists the natural company for horns is toobz. I would imagine toobz would be the Ritz on the Cotatis, but did not have the experience to verify.
The two Gordons, father and son, like to emphasize that they are not audiophiles, which I take to mean they are not the fussy, anal retentive, tweaky, pin drop freakout, OC disorder autists that we have come to know and love as our fellow travelers. They are music lovers who hearken back to those precious moments in memory when we heard that fantastic music played in fantastic concerts that will never exist again, except through speakers like these through treasured media. They like to make rocker and music-lover speakers with character, not lab products.
Of course, the session did have a precious audiophile moment when three of the SFAF buddies dropped from their respective chairs, got on their knees with their gathered gray heads bobbing around over the carpet like Macbeth’s witches, because they decided that this was the sweet spot rather than any of the seated positions. I shoulda took a picture. Priceless.
Elder Gordon gave us quite the entertaining personal history of his arc as a music lover and devotional speaker maker, in that order. It absolutely amazes me that they conduct this level of production values and craftsmanship out of a garage and a small home, stacked with Altec and other components all over. I can barely sand wood, and they lovingly manufacture these art and sound objects apparently at a pretty good pace.
In spite of origins, tribute devotion to classic Altec components, and the owners love for concert level blasts of Earth, Wind and Fire, Blood Sweat and Tears etc. and their ilk, the speakers perform extremely well across all genres, including metal, various forms of rock, synth, classical, girl with guitar, boy with electric guitar etc. as well as a few of the ‘old fart dispersers’ played by younger attendees. They are not genre specific speakers. They perform with authority, detail, imaging etc along with blistering volume and dynamic transients when called upon. I was able to listen to a decent sampling of my own stuff and it was all excellent. I think they are great choices for classical music. The spread and delicacy amongst instruments is there, along with very fast and resoundingly impressive tutti performance when the orchestra swells. They jiggled my fat cells to some interesting resonant frequencies and I think I lost a pound listening to them.
I personally like hearing them further back beyond 12 feet, where the drivers blended perfectly, rather than in the fore field where perhaps the crawling on the carpet was necessary for the ‘sweet spot’. If I wanted to be blue meany, I suppose you could say they need volume and space to breath and won’t be the choice for apartment dwellers, and there is a distinct threshold of volume where they come alive.
Anyway, what I heard was top notch, and it was nice hearing them in a more extended hearing rather than the usual quirky show conditions. If your check book can stand the achey, breaker hole in the wallet, I doubt they will leave you crying in your beer. Check them out when you have a chance.
horn speakers called “Hot Cotati”, three ways with subwooferX2 enhancements at the home (and factory) of the Burwell clan.This was a programmed event by the SFAF(San Francisco Audio Foundation) formerly SFAS (San Francisco Audiophile Society) with a group of audiophiles showing up.
Most of the Burwell line are tribute speakers using original Altec drivers in very beautiful craftsman wood cabinets and horn mouths. Amplification was PS Audio solid state, which wound up sounding much better than expected. My inculcated prejudice still insists the natural company for horns is toobz. I would imagine toobz would be the Ritz on the Cotatis, but did not have the experience to verify.
The two Gordons, father and son, like to emphasize that they are not audiophiles, which I take to mean they are not the fussy, anal retentive, tweaky, pin drop freakout, OC disorder autists that we have come to know and love as our fellow travelers. They are music lovers who hearken back to those precious moments in memory when we heard that fantastic music played in fantastic concerts that will never exist again, except through speakers like these through treasured media. They like to make rocker and music-lover speakers with character, not lab products.
Of course, the session did have a precious audiophile moment when three of the SFAF buddies dropped from their respective chairs, got on their knees with their gathered gray heads bobbing around over the carpet like Macbeth’s witches, because they decided that this was the sweet spot rather than any of the seated positions. I shoulda took a picture. Priceless.
Elder Gordon gave us quite the entertaining personal history of his arc as a music lover and devotional speaker maker, in that order. It absolutely amazes me that they conduct this level of production values and craftsmanship out of a garage and a small home, stacked with Altec and other components all over. I can barely sand wood, and they lovingly manufacture these art and sound objects apparently at a pretty good pace.
In spite of origins, tribute devotion to classic Altec components, and the owners love for concert level blasts of Earth, Wind and Fire, Blood Sweat and Tears etc. and their ilk, the speakers perform extremely well across all genres, including metal, various forms of rock, synth, classical, girl with guitar, boy with electric guitar etc. as well as a few of the ‘old fart dispersers’ played by younger attendees. They are not genre specific speakers. They perform with authority, detail, imaging etc along with blistering volume and dynamic transients when called upon. I was able to listen to a decent sampling of my own stuff and it was all excellent. I think they are great choices for classical music. The spread and delicacy amongst instruments is there, along with very fast and resoundingly impressive tutti performance when the orchestra swells. They jiggled my fat cells to some interesting resonant frequencies and I think I lost a pound listening to them.
I personally like hearing them further back beyond 12 feet, where the drivers blended perfectly, rather than in the fore field where perhaps the crawling on the carpet was necessary for the ‘sweet spot’. If I wanted to be blue meany, I suppose you could say they need volume and space to breath and won’t be the choice for apartment dwellers, and there is a distinct threshold of volume where they come alive.
Anyway, what I heard was top notch, and it was nice hearing them in a more extended hearing rather than the usual quirky show conditions. If your check book can stand the achey, breaker hole in the wallet, I doubt they will leave you crying in your beer. Check them out when you have a chance.
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