Ola's email accompanied the arrival of a familiar crate from Italy wherein we found two Divina Minor monitors in now a matte gold/sand finish. We used gloves, not included by the way, to carefully extract the speakers from their crate. Now we could take a good look at these second chancers and spot the differences to the unfortunate first samples.
Starting with the finish, this now was flawless and a big step forward. We also had a properly asymmetrical pair to play with tweeters in or out. The speakers sat on small very short-threaded spikes to allow for very limited adjustments. The threads were quite recessed to leave only a few millimeters before the spikes came loose. Keep in mind also that these spikes were very sharp and would easily damage support surfaces without protective discs which weren't supplied.
The front now demonstrated expected Italian style and craftsmanship with flush-mounted drivers and no hideous bolts in sight. Bravo. Logo and company name matched the previous sample and it's a matter of taste if one likes the lettering. What hadn't changed was the handwritten information on the back sticker. This still looked declassé for a price where one expects a little more polish.
So our second round started from scratch atop two very heavy solid concrete pillars. Associated was once more the Devialet Premier as a streamer/amp to exploit Tidal and Qobuz. A little lifestyle is never out of order. How best to do the final assessment? Play more music of course. First up was the Ultrafaux Ensemble with Tangent. One might think them yet another gypsy swing band but that impression would be incomplete. The two guitarists and bassist add mega fun to the genre.
That comes from funky elements of Balkan, Bebop, Blues and folk. Add some truly great guest musicians and a real party is at hand. And mind you, Ultrafeux stem from Maryland, US of A.
On "Tangent" the overall tone is lightweight and just the upright bass dips into the lowest registers to cause no hard times for the Divina Minor. Though below ~80Hz the musical information fell off, it wasn't really a miss.
