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Organic and—a bit counter intuitive given we’re dealing here with a compact box—maturely full-bodied were two key terms I kept returning to often during these sessions. It’s nearly expected but still needs mention that a compact two-way of this price class would remain spatially unfazed by dense interludes. Whilst it perhaps wouldn’t earn the same black belt degree as Diapason’s Adamante in this regard, the latter’s tonal balance was noticeably lighter.
Obviously the Phonar monitors got it on not merely with instruments but voices of either sex. Be it the American singer and performance artist Jarboe Deveraux with her calm, fragile and seductive "Lavender Girl" from 1995’s Sacrificial Cake; or less calmly the ‘black’ charismatically warm yet simultaneously distant and nearly abstract voice of Stephen Samuel Gordon on "Black Smoke" with its dry London dubstep bass beats of Kode 9 & The Spaceape’s Black Sun... I really dug the very low-distortion colorful sonority and fetching song craft of the Tarp duo.
Voices always occupied physical space with fully developed foundations without risk of laying it on too thickly. True, overt max resolution where each throat wobble or sibilant gets backlit wasn’t in evidence either. Staying clear of extremes, fitting again was the word for the operative balance which by tendency sits on the warm silky side.
Looking south, the word du jour would be mature but the Credo Primus bass deserves more comments than that catch-all. If I had started to question how these monitors managed to plumb the depths of "Black Smoke", the same question mark didn’t diminish one wit with Skinny Puppy’s "Haze" from 2007’s Mythmaker.
First rate it was how the abruptly dispatched fat synth-bass/power-beat anchored refrain exploded into the room. Exploded really is relevant. This number is preferably consumed straight (loud!) and what the Phonar dished out at physically assaultive levels demanded major respect. In matters of raw output and extension—this requires potent amps and well past high-noon volume settings to start cracking—the Primus is one of the most astonishing compact solutions I’ve encountered. On reach it bested my beloved Sehring S703 SE which retaliated with superior differentiation.
On high the Primi too are calibrated for long-term pleasure and flow. They aren't prime specimens of ultimate transparency and microdynamics like the ribbon-endowed Quadral Rondo. That tweeter better resolved the running/dripping water effect on "Black Smoke" both tonally and on crisp rise times. The Phonar had the upper hand at believable cymbals which the recording has treated too thin and hissy. Jesus Lizards’ "7 vs. 8" from Head & Pure can routinely scrape my ear drums. Sans opacity the Phonar delivered the same minus the aural stress.
