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Treble performance was a bit of a surprise. It seems to me that most speakers with a round ribbon tweeter similar to that of the Adagio Jr. generally make treble a focal point. They are notable for their highly detailed top end, their big and airy soundstage and too often tend to speak a little louder than I'd like through the treble. Some of them can sound a little hyperactive there, others downright hard and etched. Not the little Adagio. You'll have to listen attentively to hear what this tweeter is all about because it blends so well as to never call attention. Prolonged listening proves it to be remarkable for its smoothness and fatigue-free balance. It's the kind of balance that emphasizes the body, warmth and resonance of a 12-string guitar rather than the pick's string attacks. The focus will be closer to the standard 'G' string than its mate an octave higher. In all my time with Jr., I can't recall a time when I heard it screech or squawk. If anything, it's balanced on the forgiving side of the hard center line of neutrality.
I mentioned in the intro the wave-guide lenses Acoustic Zen sent along, said to provide about a third of a dB of lift to the tweeter while increasing treble dispersion and cutting down diffraction. Lift turned out to be the perfect term to describe their effect. The sound of the acoustic guitars on "Mother" from Pink Floyd's The Wall [Columbia C2K 36183] was ever so slightly altered and elevated in the mix for slightly more prominence in the upper registers. The same was true for the high-hat strikes on "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". They were just a little more there. I suppose this may be of value in a larger room with over-stuffed treble-absorptive furniture but in my room and while seated in the sweet spot, I preferred the speakers without the wave guides, finding treble energy perfectly acceptable and a little more natural. The difference is quite subtle but may be worthwhile in other rooms. Robert Lee says that they are available free of charge to customers wanting to try them. You need only
contact Acoustic Zen and pay shipping. If you decide to give them a shot, I suggest a good cleaning of the speaker's face before applying them. They attach with a double-sided adhesive and likely due to the fact that I didn't clean the speaker surface, mine kept falling off.

Okay, so the Adagio Jr. isn't completely without the means to make a listener sit up and take notice. Its bass performance makes it one of the best I've heard in this class. While these speakers are stand mounts, they are no mini monitors. They're fairly large actually and sound it. They have a full bass with lots of weight and warmth and a completely satisfying sense of detail and pitch. I spent a great deal of time listening to various Pink Floyd CDs and various bass-rich classical soundtracks such as Danny Elfman's original Batman score [Warner 9 25977-2] and James Horner's soundtrack to Braveheart [London 448 295-2]. The little Adagios always sounded full, competent and satisfying.


I also used the Adagio Jr.s extensively throughout my evaluation of the Genesis Advanced Technologies G-928 subwoofers and found them to blend exceptionally well. This is largely due to how their bass response is quite natural and once supported by the subwoofers, created natural continuity. Two, as far down as the little Adagio's extend, they are extremely potent and there was no sag when the subs handed off. There was no obvious weakening of the bass or obvious textural changes as are likely when transitioning from a subwoofer to a speaker with less capable drivers that really can't properly carry the burden at the point of hand-off.

The Adagio Jr.s do take a while to break in. You'll hear them slip in and out of their different phases and just when you're sure they've finished changing, they'll drag you through some more growing pains. Be patient. They'll eventually settle down. One of the ways you can tell is when the soundstage finally expands to lifelike proportions. Only once the speakers were broken in was I fully satisfied with their soundstage. While it generally had decent depth and height, the soundstage never expanded much beyond the speakers in the lateral plane. Neither did the speakers ever pull the best disappearing act. But one day finally, things changed fairly drastically and the left and right sides of the stage moved outward and filled in the rear corners of the room. They still don't quite vanish as my much more expensive speakers do but they are quite good in this department, too.
I just received for review the much smaller Genesis Advanced Technologies 7.1p (petite) loudspeakers and they put into perspective one other very important aspect of the Jr. Adagio. Junior may be the smallest speaker in the Acoustic Zen line but it's no mini. It belongs into the maxi monitor class and produces a sound that's anything but diminutive. The junior Adagios produce a big and solid presentation rich with density and color. These speakers have gravitas that gives the music an almost tangible presence. What sets them apart is that they lend an almost visual appeal to the music. Lesser speakers (most of the competition) produce a big and airy presentation that one sees right through. Consider the difference of presentations with a front projection video projector while the room lights are on and off. Lights on and you see the picture projected upon the white screen washed out. Turn the lights off and colors deepen, blacks get blacker and detail and depth are enhanced. You no longer see the white screen behind the image. The image becomes all you see. It's the same way with a speaker like the junior Adagio. Your front wall disappears and is replaced by the soundstage and music. The image before
you is so dense, you feel as though you could almost reach out and touch it.

Conclusion
The Acoustic Zen Adagio Jr. loudspeakers are sophisticated transducers designed for the sophisticated listener looking to be enthralled by the music rather than being impressed by the equipment. Most impressed by the Jr.s will be the listeners who think that most other high-end speakers are too bright and forward. Almost completely self-effacing and always subservient to the music, the Adagio Jr.s do a better job of getting out of the way than any I can think of in their class. So free of self flavor are they that the best way to get a handle on their personality is in direct comparison to the competition. There are speakers that produce a larger and more dramatic soundstage.


Most are more in your face and few if any will match the sweet fatigue-free treble and upper midrange of this speaker. At 89dB, I doubt many will choose low-powered SET amplifiers (at least not without an active crossover and a really good subwoofer), but I can't think of another genre of amplifiers I wouldn't try as long as the amps were fairly neutral. If you're already using solid-state amplification and find your sound a little thin and cold, these could be the speakers for you. Particularly in the dark Burled Walnut of the review samples, they are gorgeous to look at and lifting their considerable mass off their stands has you appreciate how solidly they are made. All in all, there is a lot of speaker here for the money and a lot of speaker to love. I can't recommend an audition of the Acoustic Zen Adagio Jr. more highly.


Unremarkable then? Well, only at first blush. In the long term, I think the Adagio Jr. has what it takes for an extended relationship with an awful lot of music lovers. If that's not remarkable in today's market, I don't know what is!
Quality of packing: First rate.
Reusability of packing: Very reusable
Ease of unpacking/repacking: No problems at all.
Condition of component received: Perfect.
Completeness of delivery: Complete.
Quality of owner's manual: Nice, not leather-bound but not a stapled stack of photo copied paper either. Good information on the speaker's care and feeding.
Website comments: Nice website.
Warranty: Limited 5-year parts and labor warranty to original owner.
Human interactions: Human interactions are very good and everybody I talked to seemed very friendly and helpful. However, questions are best posed via phone call to the company or local dealer as e-mail responses are sporadic at best.
Acoustic Zen website