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January 8, 2011 update: "The mastering equalizer software is now operational. This tool along with room modal response analysis will allow us to optimize the speaker in your room as originally intended.
Next time I work on the system I will install the equalizer and adjust for the new minus 10dB analog attenuators. Please install the inline attenuators at the treble amp's L & R inputs. Relative to your question why the TC Konnekt's analog control can't work in 24/192 mode, the reduced feature set introduced by the mixer bypass is due to CPU overhead limitations in that mode. The type of volume control design is actually entirely unrelated."
Clayton's dispatch of two Pro Co Max-10 150Ω attenuators suggested that my comments on excessive digital trim had been heard. It still begged the question why Walter had packaged the hi-power ModWright amp for the high-efficiency coaxial driver in the first place rather than a low-gain low-power equivalent of FirstWatt J2 caliber. |
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No matter. Clayton's update was welcome news. That's because the sound after his initial calibration session had been disappointing. It was clean as a whistle, transparent to a fault but flat and boring as hell. The most suitable image was chemical dry cleaning. Everything gets starchy, crisp, prim and proper. Corporate. Even so it feels stiff and lifeless. Having immediately followed that parched week with my review of Yamamoto's A-010 SET based on VT52 direct-heated triodes for a history lesson in vintage hifi made the point. Never mind its obviously greater nonlinearities. Suddenly all the juiciness, energy, tone density and communicativeness were back which (I had to assume at this point) Spatial's aggressive digital attenuation scheme had thrown away.
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I'd been rooting for the general DSP approach. I'd truly been prepared to being blown away. Instead I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Unfortunately—for my own high-end conditioning only which ought to prefer status quo to radical change—all of this would be completely overwritten and turned by Clayton's second calibration session. This used the Fabfilter FF Pro-Q software with 24 custom-tailored filters [above]. This correction process took about four hours. It involved near- and farfield measurements for both speakers. As expected, particularly bass corrections between left and right speakers were seriously dissimilar given the very asymmetrical layout of my space. The final response (in-room at the listening position) is below. Compare this to the ±10dB (or bigger) mess any ultra-expensive speaker will produce in any ordinary room without correction regardless of reviewer endorsements.
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Clayton had also reset the TC Konnekt processor/preamp to 24/96 mode. This allowed me to bypass Spatial's digital attenuator altogether. With the more expensive Apogee processor which Clayton sells as the next step up over the TC Konnekt, Spatial's software volume links to Apogee's hardware volume. Moving virtual sliders moves a physical knob. The entry-level TC Konnekt can't do that. Lastly the new 10dB inline attenuators minimized the amount of fixed digital attenuation that was necessary to match the coaxial's output to the less efficient woofers. (A less powerful amp than the ModWright would have minimized this even more. Throwing away gain by the bucket seems counterproductive. It makes the analog inline solution a somewhat inelegant band aid. The reason for it all is plain though. For the desired functionality and price, consumer hifi offers absolutely nothing. Clayton had to source his processor from the pro realms where high gain is stock in trade.)
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Into the light: What follows must be referenced against the inexplicable fact that Liederman had opted to dispatch a completely virgin speaker pair. Having great familiarity with WLM and Zu speakers which likewise rely on Eminence-sourced drivers, I know perfectly well that these hard-hung pro drivers take forever to break in. Clayton confirmed this. Apparently there's even an Emerald Physics user forum where owners have diligently tracked the sonic changes that occur over the first 600+ hours. Needless to say, if a manufacturer can't be bothered to dispatch a properly preconditioned pair, I can't be expected to shut down my entire operation for the duration.
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To really get the measure on just Spatial, I will follow up this assignment with a corrected/raw comparison on my reference ASI Tango R loudspeakers. Being conventional passive designs with a single input, I'll be able to report on the benefits of Spatial's room/speaker correction protocol whilst eliminating today's inevitable vagueness of dealing with too many variables plus loudspeakers that weren't in peak shape yet. Here then is the kicker. Despite all this, the entire $12.000 system of today—just add Mac Mini and monitor screen—approached in certain performance aspects that of my usual in-house rig whose speakers alone sell for €18.000 whilst plainly surpassing my system on linearity, bass-to-midrange resolution and bass, period. The Danish processor with remote retails in Germany for €1.000. My usual 2-channel Esoteric C-03 preamp sells for 10 times that. Does this presage the end of high-end audio as we know it? It really ought to. Vested interests should simply prevent or at the very least postpone it. But that's fodder for an editorial.
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Basic advantages at a glance: Emotional persuasiveness of music playback relies greatly on low bass for spatial realism and scale; and upper bass speed and punch for excitement. Without correction and concomitant linearity, room modes (and to a lesser extent the speaker's own response faults) will simply introduce so much resonance and mud that what should be a clear stream of pure water which you can stare into to the very bottom becomes a murky disturbance where jittery elephants constantly kick up silt.
These resonance effects intrude into the vocal band to thicken it; and also have a damping action on very fine harmonics. What the Spatial solution creates is an infrasonic space foundation and power-zone clarity + punch without the usual sub 200Hz penalties. That's the essence. Taking five pages to lead up to this conclusion might admittedly read rather anticlimactic now. To fully appreciate the implications, substitute my five pages with many many years and often tens of thousands of dollars. That's what the average audiophile spends in pursuit of exactly this only to fail miserably. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of folly of course but it's the very machination that keeps audiophilia ticking.
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Spatial—and the inevitable competitors to follow—put an end to it. If that's anticlimactic you haven't paid attention. I could get fussy and tell you which subtle qualities still distinguished my usual system (top-end sweetness and harmonic sophistication). But that would dilute the core message. Once 50dB+ digital attenuation had been moved into the analog domain; once speaker matching plus room correction had been accomplished specific to each channel to really linearize the bass response; all the minute audiophile obsessions which usually substitute for the basics—essentials in fact!—flew out the window.
Even cleaner than after session one, the system now had life. At very low levels, intelligibility into the very lowest bass was phenomenal. This was ultimate proof of resolution and in-room linearity. The same was true for dynamic reflexes particularly in the micro domain. That's where they matter most to normal home dwellers. As our instinctual reflex to reach for the remote wand and notch up the volume relaxes because we realize it's no longer necessary, a lot of unnatural effort, attention and mental processing disappear. Everything is so clearly laid out that it takes no strain to see. The elephants have left the river to bother some other unlucky audiophile consigned to the old ways. Your waters are undisturbed. The silt has settled. You can see all the way to the bottom. As the earlier impulse response showed, timing and with it subjective speed or freedom from overhang can be made very accurate.
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Until I conduct the Spatial/no-Spatial comparison on my own speakers, I won't be able to extricate the Emerald Physics speaker from the equation. This means I don't have an opinion on whether its boxless construction is fundamentally superior to top-class box speakers. I frankly doubt it. It clearly saves money however and once compensated for suffers no apparent compromises in trade. Dipole dispersion does make for different fluffier soundstaging with more energy behind the speaker. Particularly bass rolls out farther and pedal tones on ambient music become more potent. While the controlled directivity of the coaxial driver by design creates a narrower sweet spot for 'serious' sessions, my steeply toed-in setup was enjoyable even from my writing desk in the left rear corner of the room. I'd not consider this aspect anything to fret over.
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$4.000 speakers. €1.000 pre/pro. MacMini. Audiophile conditioning would have you hanker for that shiny Wilson Audio Sasha and a 'proper' source instead. While the Sasha's anechoic response might look impressive indeed, forget all about that in your own room. On linearity the Sasha won't have any advantage over a $1.000 Paradigm. Its more potent bass response will likely make it the worse in fact.
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Thinking folks ought to admit this. It's not rocket science or big mystery. The huge hang-up with comprehensive digital corrections until now was simply that normal people couldn't operate any of it nor did they have a dealer who could. That's where Spatial's remote access changes everything. It levels the playing field most profoundly by putting an experienced operator virtually in your room. All you need to provide is an Internet connection to your Mac; and move the included microphone as instructed by text messaging over the same Mac or telephone.
This is better even than contracting with a system voicing expert like Jim Smith of GetBetterSound.com. Addressing what Clayton does very surgically in the digital domain from afar cannot be duplicated in person in the analog domain no matter the expertise. Personal visits additionally have practical limits on time and location. Remote computer access can occur across international time zones and borders. It becomes quite the equalizer across social and income strata. Viewed from there Spatial really is revolutionary.
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Proof of concept fulfillment: Unlike reviews with much sonic commentary anchored by specific software, this assignment had to cover a lot of conceptual ground first. The most vital piece of intel then seemed to be whether a $12.000 smart system could compete against or outperform a thrice-or-more priced conventional (dumb) system. The answer to that is an unconditional absolutely! And this hasn't even touched yet on the obvious tweaking options intrinsic to this concept. Want a skoch more midrange warmth? Want to move the soundstage backwards or forward? |
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Simply have your remote operator contour the response to your liking. I deliberately abstained given that the Emerald Physics speaker wasn't fully broken in. Things (there was a scary thought) would likely have improved further without any digital changes.
Having observed remote calibration in action thrice now—twice with Clayton, once with Pure Music's boss—I'm a rabid believer. It's the future already here. To close out for today, let me leave you with this. Should my Spatialized Tango R speaker become the cat's meow, I really ought to spring for the software and have Clayton install it permanently on my iMac rather than leave it on his departing MacMini loaner. That's me speaking as Joe Private. As a reviewer meanwhile, no prospective buyer would ever hear them (or any review speaker equally compensated for) under such idealized conditions. Getting the best possible performance from any given speaker would thus become irrelevant to the vast majority of users. Let that sink in. It's really perverse. If you were a reviewer faced with this (knowing it from direct experience which you thereafter cannot pretend to not know), wouldn't that put into question just how meaningful traditional reviews really are? Or rather not? Did I with today's assignment just write myself out of a job?
The revolutionary factor here really is such as to prompt fundamentalist ruminations of this sort. Cough.
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Postscript: Going into this review I had questioned the value built into Spatial's labor fee whose extent remains hidden in the software price. After experiencing exactly what it purchases, I no longer question it. The software and microphone could be free to make the fee raw profit. That's irrelevant.
I'll go as far as saying that anyone spending the $3.000 on this software—packaged as it is with the necessary microphone and priceless setup consultation—will make the very best $3K investment anyone could at present possibly make anywhere in audio.
Put in medical terms, while all parts of the body are important, the brain is arguably boss. Having a super-fit body but sick brain would be far worse than a normally aged or even crippled body with a healthy brain. In hifi, Spatial-type corrections which can include active crossover filters become the brain. Bothering religiously with muscle building elsewhere by upgrading amps, cables and sundry is far less effective than first boosting your system's brain power with a massive IQ injection. If my experience is anything to go by, one simply must pay close attention to proper gain management and limit digital attenuation to just equalization.
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| To eliminate costly return shipping from Switzerland to the US, owner Walter Liederman is offering the review pair of Emerald Physics CS2.3 speakers and the Wyred4Sound stereo amp for a favorable price to European buyers. Interested parties should contact him at underwoodwally@aol.com for details. |
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