Soundlab Audiophile G9-7c: a 30-year odyssey fulfilled

[godofwealth]

Here’s a profoundly beautiful choral piece from Frank Martin, the Mass for two choirs. It’s a remarkable accident that this piece came to be performed at all. The composer regarded it as a personal conversation between himself and God.

As stated here:

https://www.frankmartin.org/mass/

If it had been up to Frank Martin, his Mass for double choir would never have reached the ears of audiences at large. For decades he considered this composition, dating from 1922-1926, as a private matter, or more precisely, as something between God and himself, which partly explains why he made no effort at all to have it performed. It was not until 1963 that the work was premiered, after a Hamburg choral conductor had requested a copy of the manuscript “for study purposes”.

Wow, lucky for us because this is a fabulous piece of music, profoundly moving. This performance by the Westminster choir sounds splendid on the big SL’s. The big choral climaxes come across uncompressed. The recording is closely miked but sounds like you’re in the first few rows of the church hearing this music. I’d love to hear this performed live in an actual church.

 

[godofwealth]

Here we have a rarity, a mass by Puccini whose fame comes from his operas like Turandot. In actuality Puccini came from a long line of church musicians. He was destined to follow in their footsteps till fate decreed that he saw a production of Verdi’s Aida, and that, as they say, was that. Puccini turned his talents to opera and a wise decision it was too. This is a mass that sounds a bit like an opera. It is not as thrilling as Verdi’s Requiem Mass. This is a high resolution 24-bit 192 kHz recording with a huge chorus. It sounds a bit muted to my ears with rather dense textures. It’s pleasant but neither as great as his operas nor in the league of great masses like Mozart’s Requiem Mass. On the SL’s the recording sounds good but not as thrilling as many 16-bit recordings.

 

[godofwealth]

And turning to something completely different, the folk-pop duo of Simon and Garfunkel. I must admit their popularity takes me by surprise. They are not particularly good singers and their lyrics are mediocre. We are not in Bob Dylan territory nor are we in the genius category of The Beatles. The monotonous singing with Art Garfunkel on the left channel and Paul Simon on the right adds to a general sense of sameness to all the songs. Occasionally they cone to life as in their famous Scarborough Farm or The Sounds of Silence. But in between there’s a lot of mediocre songs and singing. They could have been a lot more discriminating in their selection of what to record. This is a high resolution remastering of their classic studio albums on Columbia. On the big SL’s, the voices sound somewhat artificial with almost no ambience. Best to listen to this kind of music on a car stereo, IMHO, where the limited dynamic range works well.

 

[godofwealth]

Another hugely popular singer whose success surprised me. The songwriting is mediocre as is the quality of music. Give me Ella Fitzgerald or any of the famous blues or folk singers from the 50’s or 60’s any day. The recording is what you’d expect. Hyper closed studio miking of instruments with no ambience. The piano sounds like it’s on top of your head. At least on the big SL’s the brightness of her voice is greatly reduced. As Ms. Krall sings in in her first song, Deal Me Out. Exactly. Why this is an audiophile favorite I’ll never know. Pass.

 

[treitz3]

Could you please offer an example that would take you there?

Tom

 

[godofwealth]

Turning to certifiable jazz geniuses, Jimmy Guiffre broke the mold of how to create great jazz. He plays the clarinet, but his trio lacked the omnipresent drum kit that’s seems de rigueur on all jazz recordings. Like all his albums, this 1961 recording is a masterpiece in improvisation. Every piece is thoughtful and memorable. The recording is closely miked with Jimmy on the left channel, the bass in center and the piano on the right. But there’s a naturalness to the sound that doesn’t make the spotlighting all that objectionable. This is perfect for late night listening. As Thom Jurek notes in his review online, this album is a revelation. It sounds beautiful on the SL’s.

 

[godofwealth]

Continuing our jazz journey, here’s an audiophile recording of Clark Terry from Chesky Records. A very natural sounding recording made with one microphone in a Blumlein configuration with the performers gathered around. The piano images on the extreme left outside the speaker, and Terry’s trumpet on the extreme right. The bass and drum
kit make up the center. It’s recorded at a fairly low level. Both the trumpet and piano are not spotlit and sound quite natural. On the big SL’s, the recording sounds very nice indeed, if somewhat low key compared to vintage jazz from the late 50s-60s.

 

[godofwealth]

This is a lovely recording of Telemann’s chamber music from Pentatone. I suspect the original might have been a DSD multichannel recording but I’m listening to the two channel 24-bit 96 kHz stream from Qobuz. Telemann lived a long life for his time from 1681-1767 and wrote an astonishing 3600 musical compositions. It was convenient that he owned a publishing house which released 40 bound editions of his work. He was also an avid gardener, which explains the whimsical title of this album. Natural textures and nice ambience. A bit low key playing on the whole. Sounds marvelous on the big SL’s. I miss the zestful tunes of his more famous Tafelmusik (table music) pieces on Brilliant Classics. But recommended nonetheless.

 

[godofwealth]

Nimbus Records became famous for its development of the Ambisonics system, a single point array source of microphones for multichannel recordings. Many of their recordings were made in Wyastone Estate, a castle that served as their headquarters. This beautiful recording shows how well their approach sounds in oboe concertos. Strings sound warm and full. The oboe sounds like it does in a concert hall. The ambience is there in spades. On the big SL’s, this recording is demonstration worthy. Nimbus is alas no more, but their recordings are well worth seeking out. They made a brilliant series of recordings of Indian classical music as well as surround sound DVDs.

 

[godofwealth]

Here we have another lovely recording by Stile Antico of the music of Flemish composer Josquin de Prez, who lived from 1451-1521. This 24-bit 192khz Decca recording celebrating the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death assembles as it were his greatest hits. It’s a superb recording with the voices floating in a church like ambience that suits the music perfectly. There’s something about the purity of this music that transports me back half a millennium before we had ChatGPT and social media. Before we had recordings and electricity.
On the big SL’s this recording sounds magnificent with no strain in reproducing the voices or any artificial brightness.

 

[godofwealth]

Phillips may have been the only label that exclusively used Quad ESL 63s as their location monitor for evaluating recordings. I find a lot of their recordings extremely natural. This brilliant recording by guitar legend Pepe Romero with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields of Castelnuovo-Tedesco ‘s famous guitar concerto is a perfect example. Extremely atmospheric: when the horns play, they sound beautiful as does the guitar and strings. It may be a humble 16-bit recording but it blows away many high res recordings I’ve heard. On the big SL’s, one can’t help but be swayed by the sweeping melodies. Highly recommended.

 

[godofwealth]

Brahms wrote wonderful chamber music, but as he was ruthless in his decision to only publish his best work, we are left with a relatively small oeuvre compared to Beethoven or Mozart. His string sextets are a perfect entry point into his chamber music world. Typically Brahmsian in their dense textures, almost symphonic in their scope, they make for delightful listening. This 24-bit 96 kHz recording cones across very nicely indeed on the large SL. It’s a relatively close miked recording that immerses you in the six instruments. Brahms write a lot of his chamber music emphasizing the lower registers, and this sextet is no exception. Many decades ago I heard this sextet live on a performance at Princeton University.

 

[godofwealth]

Hildegard von Bingen was the earliest female composer, an abbess, whose music comes down to us after almost a millennia. She wrote this morality play, called the first opera by sone, almost 800 years ago in 1151! In it the story is about the struggle between good and evil. The devil played by a man grunts and yells. The virtues played by women sing most enchantingly. Keep in mind this is von Bingen’s perspective from the 12th century, yet how relevant it is still today. Here’s a synopsis:

“In Ordo virtutum, a female voice plays the role of the human soul. She encounters 17 virtues: Humility, Hope, Chastity, Innocence, Contempt of the World, Celestial Love, Discipline, Modesty, Mercy, Victory, Discretion, Patience, Knowledge of God, Charity, Fear of God, Obedience, and Faith.”

The Earliest Opera Is Over 800 Years Old... And It Was Written By a Woman | WFMT

The extraordinary story of Hildegard von Bingen.

www.wfmt.com

This recording by Sequentia sounds splendid on the big SL’s. It’s amazing to hear music composed 800 years ago that seems as relevant to our era as we are in the midst of perhaps one of the most polarizing times in our history. Listening to this haunting piece you realize how little man has changed despite all the technology at our disposal.

 

[godofwealth]

Few composers have plumbed the depths of pathos as the Viennese composer Franz Schubert, whose Fantasia for Piano Four hands in F minor was written in the last year of his tragically short life. Characteristically of Schubert, it begins with a melancholic tune that could only have come from him. This recording made by two young musicians sounds lovely on the big SL’s, but does not challenge the supreme recording of this piece by the piano legends Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia for CBs Records. The stature of this recording is acknowledged on the liner notes by this young Dutch duo who used it as inspiration. A short piece, but a few minutes listening to Schubert is worth more than others have said on their lifetime.

 

[godofwealth]

One of the joys of streaming is discovering new music. Here we have a lovely clarinet trio by Ferdinand Ries, whose claim to fame was his long association with Beethoven as his student and collaborator. In this setting, Ries’ music has sadly been neglected. This is a gorgeous sounding piece worthy of being written by his teacher. It sounds beautiful on the large SL panels, warm and rich.

 

[jeffreybehr]

I now have about three weeks (maybe 250 hours) on my Pass Labs XA60.8s, and I think they sound a tad better than they did early...but they sounded so fabulous early that's it's hard for me to tell.* The excellent PS Audio BKH600s are gone, and soon I'll be moving the remaning three poweramps to be closer to the front wall, placed on a single slab of 3cm granite.. I've ordered longer speakercables, Audioquest Firebirds rather than my current RobinHoodSilvers.

My system sounds SO fabulous--natural, at ease, powerful when the music is--simply MUSICAL-- that I can hardly believe it..What a difference $50kilobuks makes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* I'm NOT a golden-eared audiofile, I'm just a lover of large-scale-Classical music who turned into an audiofool.

 

[Lobster]

@godofwealth thank you so much for sharing your journey with your new SLs. If you were asked to list a few things your SLs absolutely excel at, and a few things they're not so good at, what would they be?

 

[godofwealth]

I think I've written extensively above about what the SL's excel at, in particular of course my G9-7c's. These are probably the largest model SL makes, but they also make a number of smaller models and these will of course have a different sonic quality to them. So, with that caveat out of the way, here's my attempt to summarize their strengths and potential weaknesses:

1. SL's are electrostatic speakers. That comes with many strengths, but also some weaknesses. They offer very low distortion, the sound emerges from a very lightweight membrane, and there is no crossover. These strengths result in a very natural sound, which might throw you off first if you are used to a very vivid bright sound from (most) moving coil multi-driver dynamic loudspeakers. Unlike cone speakers that require complex crossovers whose different characteristics must be somehow sown together into a hopefully coherent whole, SL's are coherent from the get go. That's a huge advantage. Of course, this comes at a cost. The speakers are very large and for most people, that would be unacceptable in a living room. They dominate even my very large listening room. Also, the sound is refined, and not vivid. What I mean is that you hear the recording as it was made. If it was made in a natural ambiance (a concert hall, a church etc.), you hear that and the sound appears somewhat remote and distant. That's what Quad's Peter Walker once called "documentary reproduction". Not everyone likes that.

2. SL's are line source radiators, not point source. Unlike small cone bookshelf speakers or the Quad 63s that simulate a point source, the SL's are designed to emit a uniform sound over the whole surface that does not resemble a point source. That makes them sound different from my Quads. They are also subject to some variability in terms of their directivity and angle. One strange aspect to them is loudness. They don't get noticeably loud even as you turn up the volume. That can be very disconcerting, as it feels like they are lacking in dynamics. It's because they are driven over the whole surface, and unlike dynamic speakers that use very small tweeters that can glare when pushed hard, there's nothing in an SL that glares. The sound simply increases in a very gradual way so you are not aware that it is getting louder.

3. They are very expensive, hand-made and it takes a few months to order and receive one. It is not mass produced, even in small quantities. The factory is very small, still makes each speaker on demand, and the good news is that you can customize your speaker anyway you like (many choices of fabrics, wood, finishes etc.). The speaker is large and heavy, and must be installed professionally. If it requires service, you have to pay for shipping back to the factory. That makes it difficult for many people who simply don't want the additional expense involved.

I think it's a speaker that will only appeal to a small clientele who want the absolute best in an electrostatic loudspeaker. The vast majority of WBF don't listen to electrostatics, but multi-driver dynamic loudspeakers. Just like the vast majority of the US consumer drive internal combustion engines, not EVs, I don't see the market for loudspeakers changing anytime soon. Cone loudspeakers will dominate as they always have. But, for the connoisseur who demands the very best in natural sound reproduction, I think you'll have a hard time finding a better speaker if you can afford it, have the space to house it, and are willing to put up with their potential weaknesses.

 

[godofwealth]

Dorian Records is sadly no more, but they produced some of the most beautiful recordings I’ve heard. This lovely choral album is no exception. The voices sound incredibly natural on the big SL’s with the organ gently filling in the deep bass in the background. A masterclass in how to record a choral performance.

Hymns of Heaven & Earth - Saint Clement's Choi... | AllMusic

Hymns of Heaven & Earth by Saint Clement's Choir, Peter Richard Conte released in 1998. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more a...

www.allmusic.com

 

[godofwealth]

Mendelssohn was a child prodigy who wrote astonishingly good music at a very early age. His string symphonies are a great example of his precocity. This superlative recording from BIS sounds gorgeous on the big SL’s. I had earlier thought incorrectly that this recording was a bit brightly lit while listening to it on my Quads. I was wrong. On the SL G9-7c, the strings are rich, and gorgeous sounding. It bears repeating. The speakers ultimately are the medium through which you hear everything. Get that right, and a lot of other issues go away.