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One of the pleasant aspects of contributing to fairaudio (our management would like for me to stress just how numerous those rewards are) are the regular exchanges with the makers of our loaners. Of course that can backfire when one embarrasses oneself with technical nonsense or other misses. Let’s quote an email I sent to Berndt Stark: "I crossed off open and plus thinking that for this kind of money one deserved proper bass." His response? "What sounds better depends on the standing waves in the room and the relative position of listener and speaker within in." Didn’t that sound a bit like furred brow and friendly reminder not to be too quick to arrive at any authoritarian conclusions? During a subsequent phone call he added that listening habits and expectation particularly for bass response fluctuate wildly from user to user to where the adaptable bass feature responds also to such subjective needs.

I thus packed up the boxes (easy to do with compact monitors) and hotfooted it over to my friend Tom whose Naim DAC report has graced the fairaudio pages before. His room is a lot smaller than mine but doesn’t have to double up as family space or kiddie play pen. After initial troubles where his power amp didn’t see eye to eye with the B10 (it works stellar with his own speakers but sounded broken with the B10 – we probably screwed something up but couldn’t figure out what) we leashed up a small NAP155XS Naim amp. That fit the bill to perfection.

Lo and behold, now my preferences changed. While I still fancied the minus setting, I no longer wanted the foam plug inserted all the way. One or two centimetres was sufficient to get some port assist and make for the best compromise between precision and tonality - at least to my ears. Tom preferred minus and no plug at all. So the manufacturer was correct. A reviewer can’t solely judge by personal response but must factor in differences in listener bias. It was time for this reminder, albeit with properly ground teeth of course.

Conclusion. Next to the many pleasant aspects of being a fairaudio contributor, there’s pain too. One has to return loaners even if they fit one’s taste to a ‘t’ and integrate perfectly with one’s room, system and biases. Burmester’s B10 was one of those cases that had my heart bleed. Its outer dimensions might have spelled compact monitor but the sonics refused to follow suit. I’m frankly not familiar with any speakers of similar size which combine the specific virtues of the B10. Exciting energy, a more earthy than ethereal gestalt with still exemplary midband neutrality and a stupendous gift for rhythm all added up to a musically supremely convincing total performance. This is a must audition!

Psych profile…
  • Offers class-correct soundstage breadth and depth without suggesting that this was the key goal.
  • Well exceeds class expectations on joie de vivre, dynamics and immediacy which one traditionally associates with rather bigger boxes
  • Extends deeper in the bass than size would suggest but by necessity won’t approach grown tower speaker. This bass is clean, quick and rhythmically exceptionally astute.
  • Mid and treble bands are mostly neutral with just a small lower-treble emphasis which places classical strings slightly forward. Since the box plays very clean and well resolved, this doesn’t interfere one iota.
  • Feels more earthy/potent than ethereal/transparent to really excel at midrange-centric music like Rock and Blues.
  • The rear-mounted switch and port plug allow for a good range of room/system adaptability.
  • Is a relatively benign load that plays well with assorted amps yet clearly telegraphs their individual personalities.
  • Is immaculately finished.

Facts:

  • Concept: 2-way bass reflex monitor
  • Dimensions and weight: 220 x 390 x 280mm (WxHxD), 11.5kg/ea.
  • Finish: Walnut and Macassar veneers or high-gloss white
  • Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m
  • Nominal impedance: 4 ohm
  • Other: Bass switch
  • Warranty: 2 years freely extendable to three years
  • Website
redaktion @ fairaudio.de