A revealing speaker


There's a thread on the use of the word, revealing, but it's really all I could think of to describe these speakers.
They say idle hands are the devils work so in these virus times, Tony Minasian has been very busy. He came over with his newest creation, a stand mount monitor of modest proportions, using off the shelf drivers and the same material he used with my old Tonian Labs TL-D1s: birch ply with a nice walnut veneer.

What was supposed to be an hour session went well over three. We listened to Paris Combo, Anouar Brahem, Johnny Cash, the Breaking Bad soundtrack, Stacy Kent, Pacifika, The Elizabethan Sessions, Billie Eiish, The European Jazz Trio, Abdullah Ibrahim, and a couple of CDs that Tony recorded with some studio musicians. Tony had a couple of calls that had people waiting but we were having too good a time.

My first thought was, where's the bass? Two minutes later I'd completely forgot about it. These monitors "only" go down to the 60s but what bass they do handle easily allow the mind to fill in the rest. There's plenty of growl when called for with electronica coupled with the most see-through I've experienced. I still haven't disabused myself of the thought of selling my JBLs for these stand mounts. If I had them for a week, I'd keep them.

I had to ask Tony what the secret was and as usual, he was a bit mum about it, but he let on that it's all in the crossover, once you've settled on a decent set of drivers. He also explained that the speakers are what one needs to really get right. Your digital source has distortion in the 10/1000s% and your amp has it in the 10/100s% but your speakers are at 10% (or more) so they need to be as correct as can be. 

The most amazing thing about these speakers is they'll make you think you're listening with some mega-buck Swiss amp, fed by a SOTA high-res set up. Listening to his Redbook, 16bit recordings through these speakers had us laughing out loud. My Marantz sounded like my Kinki integrated playing through my JBLs. These speakers could transform any modest system into an excellent sounding one, and that is the point of this hobby, isn't it?

Listening to Tony's CDs had me constantly looking around in an instinctive way, to see where that sound came from. I knew it was recorded but the reaction was on a baser, automatic response level, which irked me. There was even a moment when a dog got up and walked across the soundstage, left to right, and you could hear his paws click across the floor. One of the studio musicians and a frequent performer used by Tony, Brad Dutz, listened to and then bought a pair for his studio after listening to his performance, replacing his NHT and B&W monitors.

These speakers had me working overtime, tuning my set up with my new Isoacoustic Oreas, so I don't have to buy them. I'm used to my JBLs now but I'm still haunted by this revealing, realistic and beguiling speaker. If you're in or around the Los Angeles area, and are in the market for a great monitor, do yourself a favor and give Tony a call and ask him about his G6 (it's what he's calling it for the moment).

As much as I loved my TL-D1s, these are much better, and they don't even go as low. I asked Tony if he could redo the crossovers on my JBLs to eek out some more performance but what he did with his G6, two way, can't be done with a three way in the same manner. He said to just use the pots on the JBL to suit my tastes and not be afraid to use them as it's not like using tone controls on the amp end. He was right. He usually is.

All the best,
Nonoise




128x128nonoise
@snowpidgeon,
That's quite the speaker journey you've had. After reading it, I'm starting to get that itch again, thinking I was over it. A friend of mine who read this let me know that he's interested in my JBL 4319 monitors. I told him I was keeping them but now I find myself vacillating. Not the best position to be in.

All the best,
Nonoise
That jbl 4319 is a nice looking speaker. How does it sound compared to the new jbl l100 I have heard that model. The Tonianlab bookshelf sounded really impressive . I am selling my kef 101 and my spendor sp1 to make room for the new addition. Why don't you keep both, if that's an option.

thanks
snowpidgeon
The JBL 4319 is nice looking and nice sounding and from what I've been told, going to the L100 would be, at best, a sideways move. If I had the space, I'd go for the new G6 from Tony, but I can't justify having both.

Time will tell, and congrats on getting the G6 speaker.

All the best,
Nonoise
Just felt the urge to chime in!
It's totaly not my thing to be a "forum" contributor, but as a very happy and proud owner of Tony's Oriaco G6 loudspeakers, I did the customary Audiogon sign-up to add some thoughts here.

Mostly I just need to enthusiastically report (that I too!), am having many of the same experiences mentioned previously. Yes, Tony has been very busy, bringing some sweet improvements to his (sonic integrity) speaker designs. Yes, Tony is protectively reserved about his designs, and when you hear them it is (immediately) a startling and engaging experience, he deserves to honor and respect the many years of disaplined R&D that he is now sharing with us! It's also true that Tony is a great guy, very personable, VERY knowledgeable, and one of the most down to earth guys you'll meet!

I think "revealing" is a great word, and I too have had many experiences of hearing those "discrete" life-like sounds, that had head my turning and thinking, what was that!!! Often, when I'm listening to certain music from my library (1st time with these speakers), it sometimes sounds like I'm listening to a re-mixed version of this otherwise familiar song!!?? 

As for other impressions, I agree, these speakers have a strong deep see-through characteristic, very transparent and "true to the recording" quality. That startling life-like tendancy urges you often respond to the music like someone is performing for you, you have to respectfully respond... dance, tap, sing, clap, cheer, or just very quietly submit and listen intently!

I'm thouroughly enjoying this very IMPORTANT addition (as Tony points out, "they need to be correct"), to my stereo audio system! I too, am finding it very difficult at times, to pull myself away from (many hours long) listening sessions! I am also very happy (given my budget), that some of the other speakers being considered here, (and I too likewise have considered), often can be 3 to 5 times more expensive. As I become more and more familiar with my G6's, I'm wondering if those much more expensive options might NOT be better?, and not by a small margin?

:)



Life is way too short. Unless you are taking food away from your kids,keep the JBL’s and get the G6’s. They sound like great speakers.