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




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Actually, they are a two-way monitor. Just looking at them, they appear to be just another in a long line of monitors but once your hear them, you'll know you have something special to consider.

All the best,
Nonoise
Problem that I had with Tonian in the past when we discussed his speaker is when he said he "tuned" the thin walled cabinet. I stand by the simple belief that thin walled speaker cabinets made of conventional materials will sing and add colorations without fail. Perhaps not fair, but I dismiss speakers with this type of design instantly. 
It would be to your detriment. I used to have his TL-D1 speakers and they have thin cabinet walls and were tone monsters, recreating an almost impossibly convincing presentation. 

The speakers were designed with that in mind. Some other makes do the same thing; some succeed, some don't. Tonian Labs is one the few that does. If the speaker maker knows what he's doing, then I give them the latitude to make whatever they want as long as it floors me with the sound, and Tony doesn't disappoint.

All the best,
Nonoise
It has been awhile since my last post on the Tonian lab speakers, because of the death of my brother and close friends I have not been listening,or been in the mood to think about audio evaluations.     Let's hope 2021 will be a better year.

I have had the Tonian labs speakers for about 6 months and this will be my final observation. Because everyone has a different opinion
on how a speaker should sound and look, and what kind of materials and shape the enclosure Should be I believe there is not a right or wrong way on different philosophies of speaker design. Some might like an overly bright speaker, or a more bass heavy loudspeaker, for myself these types of design only work for audiophiles with a limited genre of music they listen to, and I believe that's why we are constantly changing out our equipment like cables, amps, preamps, and cartridges, it just seems to never end. 

I thinks that the type of audiophile that will be drawn to the Tonian lab speaker will be the same person that is interested in the Devore, Harbeth, Spendor, Graham, and to a lesser degree vintage and new designs from Jbl, Klipsch, or Altec Lansing. The reason these designs are popular again is because they sound like how music should sound, I have heard most of these speakers and know why people are drawn to these speakers, they sound more like live music.

So how do the Tonian lab sound compared to smaller bookshelf speakers from other BBC designs, they don't sound like them at all, when you hear them for the first time they sound so much larger than your typical bookshelf, you would believe these are large stand mount or floorstanders. The midrange is full and the highs are smooth, there is none of midrange warmth that the harbeth, spendor, or the Grahams have, that's not a good or bad thing,only an observation. The midrange, upper bass and lower treble are extremely fast, like a electrostatic speaker. The bass is tight and rolls off very nicely, on some rock and roll music the bass was a little thin, but on most music it wasn't a problem. I did use some of the lower priced Chinese tube integrated amps and they sounded good and relaxed, to relaxed for me, I like a more dynamic sound. I ended up using my audio lab 8000a as a preamp and a pass labs power amp and that's when everything started to come together. The sounded more dynamic and much more like live music, my audiolab has tone controls so on some music I did use the bass control, I will be adding a subwoofer soon. 

I  think Tony's speaker will appeal to the person who likes the BBC sound but wants a more open midrange without the midrange bump or a magnepan owner moving to a smaller room but likes an open sound with a large midrange presence. They are so easy to drive I used them with my 25 watt marantz receiver and they sounded really good, I could easily live with this configuration

After having Tony's speaker for about 6 months I feel like I belong to a special club of people lucky enough to hear his speakers, they are so undervalued, I know some people will look at the materials and think they over priced because they look so simple, but they do not see the time he has spent designing this product. I can't say this is the best or my last speaker, but I can't think of any product regardless of price I could say that about. If any audiophile has the extra money to buy these unassuming loudspeakers I suggest you buy them because you will regret it if Tony is no longer making speakers I know I will be keeping mine until my time is done. I understand Tonian lab will be at the audio show in Long Beach I am looking forward to it. 

Thanks