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So these aren’t your typical ‘full-range’ loudspeakers with classic widebander drivers precisely because they aren’t typical single-driver widebanders. On the other hand they absolutely aren't classic three-way loudspeakers or even 2.5-ways either. To be accurate we should probably talk about “one and two times half-way” speakers. After all when a woofer is helped out by a second woofer over just the lower part of its pass band in a 2.5 way configuration, the same thing can be done for a tweeter. Here treble and bass are auxiliary and overlapping supports for the paralleled widebanders but that’s a minor technical digression.
What matters in the end is that these speakers sound different than anything else. They exhibit a big volume of sound and their behavior is very direct and quick. Yet attacks are rounded and selectiveness in the best case is merely good. The tonal balance is shifted upwards and only a warm tube amplifier might compensate for that like for example the JAG 300B MkII, Xindak MT-2 or Leben CS-600. That would agree with what Eryk stated in the introduction about his specific design goals for this model.
Soundstaging with these was incredible and becomes something one must get used to and as such be disabused from the flat lifeless perspective most other loudspeakers produce. This combination of incredible sonic directness with a slightly withdrawn and laidback overall perspective resulted in a different presentation from that of most other loudspeakers. Whether this could be something for you is an individual thing. Here it’s worth to take into account also the absolutely brilliant external design which reflects Eryk’s good taste. Buying the Ketsus we buy a part of him.
Review conditions. The loudspeakers were tested with the Soulution 710 and Leben CS-300 Custom Edition amplifiers. Sources were the Lektor Air V-edition player from Ancient Audio and Burmester’s 089. The loudspeakers were placed on Acoustic Revive RST-38 platforms. The woofers were placed facing out. The loudspeakers turned out to be sensitive to positioning. They sounded better when their axes crossed quite far behind the listener.
Description. The Ketsus Special is an evolution of the Ketsus Superb with a reworked crossover and slightly different drivers but still with the same fantastic cosmetics and lovely cabinet detailing. The design is technically based on two paralleled widebanders supported on either side by two woven carbon-fiber woofers and a metal dome tweeter. The woofers fire sideways so experiments are in order to determine whether facing inward or outward integrates better with your room. The Neodymium-powered tweeter sits atop in a water-drop bullet as was popularised by B&W and later KEF. This bullet inserts a bit into the cabinet’s top to be more cradled than freestanding.
The cabinet itself is very narrow but deep. The two widebanders bolt to a baffle section reinforced with aluminum and recessed a bit into the box to fit the grilles which thus sit flush with the baffle. Where we’d usually see dust caps here we find affixed felt circles. The cabinet sides are milled with horizontal grooves to suggest staved wood plank construction. The finish is high-quality gloss lacquer with the exception of two wooden rails on the back and bottom which create two-tone contrast and may be finished in different species. The woofers are flush-mounted with the cabinet cheek and covered by individual non-removable silver grills. These drivers load into a bass reflex chamber with three rear-firing ports. On the enclosure back are somewhat mediocre single-wire terminals exactly as I have them on my Harbeth references. The speakers rest on four not very tall pointy footers.
