So I received my tonianlab speakers a couple of weeks and have finally had some free time to do some listening. Just to go over the speaker I am to compare them to the Yamaha ns1000, some may wonder if this is a high end speaker, it is. I have sold my harbeth shl 5 after 2 years of listening to both, the harbeth is a wonderful speaker, but the ns1000 is the speaker I kept going back to, the harbeths were my main speakers since 2006. I also have jbl l300, jbl 4301b, and spendor sp1, but they have limitations that keep them from being my main speakers. I have listened to most of the popular high end speakers like the Wilson watt 8 and Sasha, the Focal soppra, and the bowers and Wilkins 802d and found the ns1000 was better overall. These were heard at friends home, dealers and at trade shows, the Focal was only heard at dealers or trade shows. The ns1000 were just more coherent and the had a more natural tone. I have compared them to many other speakers, but these were the ones that cost so much more that I believed they had to obliterate the ns1000, which for the music I listen to they did not. The speakers currently have my eye on are the spendor bc3, Tannoy 12 or 15 silver or gold, and the Devore o/96. To anyone that has not heard these they just sound different then the current crop of high end speakers, they have a way of drawing you into the music.
Ok let's listen to some music. I started with some( the speakers were placed 23 inches from the floor) cd's from chesky, ma, and Tonianlab, after an hour of listening to these audiophile recordings I had to stop, if this is the only type of music you listen to you should just buy the speakers, they were amazing, percussion instruments just jumped out at you and the decay was so natural that it was as good as I have ever heard, piano sounded full and rich like the piano was in the room, acoustic guitar much the same.
So I decided I would play some classic rock. First up Santana abbraxas and Pink Floyd dark side of the moon. The imaging and soundstage was excellent, the stereo effect was huge, it wasn't as wide and sharp sounding as my ns1000, but the midrange was bigger and more natural sounding. Next cd was tears for fears the hurting everything from the vocals and and piano sound clear and defined with complete coherent integration between both drivers, the thing that was suprising was on bass notes I did not hear any coloration from the cabinet because the speakers are not that heavy.
The only thing missing was the speaker sounded a little lean on the bass and it didn't have the slam of the ns1000, but I don't know of any bookshelf or slim floorstander that has outstanding midrange and great bass if you know of any let me know. Next was Doreen smith a tribute to Julie London The vocals were beautiful so big and textured like she was right in my room. Next was the complete set from Miles Davis and John coltrane, funny thing was, I was listening to this off axis and there was a track that had miles talking and then whistling, I jumped up and went to my porch because my cat was outside and I thought someone was trying to get his attention, but it was only the sound system.
Time to wrap up this review. If you listen to jazz, classical, vocals, and popular music from the 40s to the 80's and really don't listen to progressive or classic rock, hip hop or trance music these speakers are as good as your going to get, they can play this kind of music but you would missing out on what they do best. To me they are a masterpiece like a Handcrafted Japanese chef knife or a vintage Tag Heuer watch a simple design that was designed with a purpose.These things are not just items to be discarded When they are no longer needed they are meant to be passed on to the next generation of music lovers. In the end I will be keeping these for awhile, not sure if I like them more than my ns1000, but I listened to mostly progressive rock so they serve a different purpose. I don't think any audiophile can find a better speaker that produces a better midrange under 10k. If there is a speaker out there you audiogoners have heard that sound special let me know i am always excited about learning about something new.
Ok let's listen to some music. I started with some( the speakers were placed 23 inches from the floor) cd's from chesky, ma, and Tonianlab, after an hour of listening to these audiophile recordings I had to stop, if this is the only type of music you listen to you should just buy the speakers, they were amazing, percussion instruments just jumped out at you and the decay was so natural that it was as good as I have ever heard, piano sounded full and rich like the piano was in the room, acoustic guitar much the same.
So I decided I would play some classic rock. First up Santana abbraxas and Pink Floyd dark side of the moon. The imaging and soundstage was excellent, the stereo effect was huge, it wasn't as wide and sharp sounding as my ns1000, but the midrange was bigger and more natural sounding. Next cd was tears for fears the hurting everything from the vocals and and piano sound clear and defined with complete coherent integration between both drivers, the thing that was suprising was on bass notes I did not hear any coloration from the cabinet because the speakers are not that heavy.
The only thing missing was the speaker sounded a little lean on the bass and it didn't have the slam of the ns1000, but I don't know of any bookshelf or slim floorstander that has outstanding midrange and great bass if you know of any let me know. Next was Doreen smith a tribute to Julie London The vocals were beautiful so big and textured like she was right in my room. Next was the complete set from Miles Davis and John coltrane, funny thing was, I was listening to this off axis and there was a track that had miles talking and then whistling, I jumped up and went to my porch because my cat was outside and I thought someone was trying to get his attention, but it was only the sound system.
Time to wrap up this review. If you listen to jazz, classical, vocals, and popular music from the 40s to the 80's and really don't listen to progressive or classic rock, hip hop or trance music these speakers are as good as your going to get, they can play this kind of music but you would missing out on what they do best. To me they are a masterpiece like a Handcrafted Japanese chef knife or a vintage Tag Heuer watch a simple design that was designed with a purpose.These things are not just items to be discarded When they are no longer needed they are meant to be passed on to the next generation of music lovers. In the end I will be keeping these for awhile, not sure if I like them more than my ns1000, but I listened to mostly progressive rock so they serve a different purpose. I don't think any audiophile can find a better speaker that produces a better midrange under 10k. If there is a speaker out there you audiogoners have heard that sound special let me know i am always excited about learning about something new.