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The loudspeakers from Mr. Piotr Jakubas can reproduce very small elements of the sound usually lost in the system. The difference in closeness of the vibraphone of Milt Jackson and the percussion of Conny Kay in the first and third piece from the Pyramid disc was shocking. Ditto for Yo-Yo Ma’s cello on the Bach Suites. In the first case we hear that in the third track the sound engineer moved the potentiometer and amplified the signal from similarly placed microphones because the sounds have a similar volume whereas in the first track both instruments were quieter. And how well this ability to differentiate could be heard with the cello! Here it seems that the instrument was placed at a similar distance to the microphone while the sound engineer tried to manipulate it with reverb.
Each high-class reverb device allows one to manipulate parameters like decay, pre-echo etc. Listen to the first and third track from the second disc of Yo-Yo Ma’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello [Sony 2001]. If your system allows it you will hear how in the third track the instrument seems much farther away than in the first. I am almost certain they were recorded with identical microphone placement and the instrument was located in exactly the same place. So this keen differentiation power is key to these loudspeakers. This extends into the bass and defines the timbre of the Bombard.
Their sound also seems lighter than average. The reason is that the bass is not as saturated or weighty. Its extension is surprising not only with small ensembles but also—or maybe above all because I did not expect it—with electronica like Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. This is an extremely quick sound and in my opinion partially the reason why the presentation isn’t as dense as with the Harbeth.
The second piece of this puzzle is the lesser saturation of the lower midrange compared to my reference system which here is a result of these particular widebanders. But we do get that brilliant differentiation again. The contrabass will assume the size of a double bass, a bass guitar with amplifier shows the correct size of that amp etc. The kick of the bass drum will be dry and short and the vibrating sound of the Hammond B3 organ will vibrate between the loudspeakers.
Space is another very strong asset. Not only will all counter-phase elements be located to the sides or behind us but we will get a nice insight into how the instruments were located in a given recording. They can be close to us or quite far behind the loudspeakers. Everything depends on the size of the venue or studio room, the distance to the microphone and the work of the sound engineer. Everything has its influence and it all combines into something the Bombard tracks with ease better than most speakers regardless of price.
The instruments will not flow together but each will maintain its individual bubble of space. This is not from ‘cutting’ them out unnaturally. These are not analytical loudspeakers in the sense that they do something artificial to extract the instruments from their background. This process takes place in our heads instead. We hear everything as it is given and we extract the instruments and their locations just as we would in a live concert. Looking at something we hear it more clearly, don’t we? Everything depends on what we concentrate on. The Bombard allows for exactly that.
