4 Wheel Drive by Danielsson and others held my attention from the start with its powerful yet beautifully controlled trombone. It was a bit coarse and matte which is how this instrument sounds in skilful hands. The vocals in the next track were palpable with the rest of the musicians behind it. Gentle drumming and deep gentle piano all came together beautifully to create an amazingly natural flow. Clarity and remarkable resolution were my very first thoughts when Patricia Barber started to sing. These speakers convey so much information in an almost unmatched manner that I still had to listen to a track by Dżem so picked "Wehikuł czasu" from their acoustic album. Rossignol charmed immediately with the rendition of the vocalist and the open yet deeply saturated acoustic guitars. Musica Nuda served up super-deep, powerful, colourful and dynamic bass. Precisely placed voices from the public joined momentarily. On top of that came very natural applause which is harder to reproduce convincingly than it should be. Yet the new SoundSpace Systems speakers did it all in a super-coherent package. Over three days of listening for several hours each, I found that every high-quality live recording came off particularly convincing. An ability to vanish left this listener with a wide deep soundstage filled with air and large palpable images for a believable resurrection of a venue's acoustics, its atmosphere and audience. Add almost live-like dynamics and these loudspeakers become incredibly addictive.

For most of my audiophile life, I stayed away from semi-active loudspeakers as most of them did not offer a truly coherent performance. With each tested model from the SoundSpace Systems range, my appreciation for this solution only grew. Michael proved with each one that it can be done and Rossignol seemed to be the ultimate confirmation. These are some of the best speakers I've ever heard and the very best I've reviewed. Choosing the best drivers for each range and combining them into a coherent whole works incredibly well and I would even say that here the man outdid himself. The magnetostatic tweeter with a little help from the other tweeter in the back delivers stunning treble whose clarity, energy, richness, vividness and openness are phenomenal. The four 12-inch woofers driven by powerful class D steered by skilfully programmed DSP deliver bass quality that only a handful (if any) passive speakers could compete with. Most importantly, these woofers work in absolute harmony with the other drivers which is rarely the case with semi-active designs. Then there is the field-coil midrange which is simply second to none.

Its resolution, clarity, precision but also smoothness and richness are one of a kind. It's this specific design choice which ultimately turns Rossignol into such a remarkable performer and earns it a spot on my list of the very best cost-no-object speakers. Having said that, let me point out another advantage: high sensitivity. You can pair these with virtually any top-quality amplifier even of the low-power SET sort. You can shape the performance or sound from the speakers any way you like where usually you must worry about the correct amplifier for a given load. Despite being quite big, acoustically these speakers truly disappear by eliminating all electronic and mechanical aspects of playback. As it would seem from my Berlin experience, even the room one uses them in needn't be perfect. Give them enough space if you want them to fully spread their wings to deliver thunderous yet perfectly controlled bass; or put them in a smaller 25–30m² room and they will still deliver stunning performance that wouldn't be possible with most other speakers. I realize just how much they cost and so appreciate that only the very few could afford them. But if you are in the market for a true cost-no-object loudspeaker, do yourself a favour and give the SoundSpace Systems Rossignol a try. Unless you have enough space for Aidoni, Rossignol might be what the rest of your life needs to enjoy music as you have never before…