We also used my 300B SET integrated, a modified Art Audio Symphony II. With that I had no way to deliver separate bass signal so we listened only to mid/woofers and tweeters. Still it was a beautiful coherent experience and amazingly colorful, resolving, rich, open and smooth. The lower bass was MIA of course but we didn't pay attention because of how silkily smooth the 300B mids and sopranos were, how impressive the low-level resolution. This short session proved how well these speakers were tuned. We cut out their bass almost entirely yet they still sounded consistent and good. After the Struss DM-250, it was the second hint that Pirol has much to offer even with amplifiers at a fraction of its own price. You surely don't need high power, just a well-balanced accurate resolving and refined amp. Pirol will make the most of it and most likely elevate the amp's performance to a new level.
Obviously using a volume-enabled amplifier without a pre-out like my Art Audio wasn't a real-life scenario. It just showed how due to high sensitivity and active bass, Pirol will combine with low-power SET amps. I am a big SET aficionado. Any speaker that with my 300B or other single-ended triodes delivers full-range sound is a best friend right from the start. I was so convinced that SET/Pirol systems would yield tremendous results that I requested the latest Ayon Audio Crossfire Evo integrated with pre-out from our Polish distributor Nautilus for review and to marry it here to Pirol. It's been one of my favorite amps ever since its first version some 10 years ago. Evo is the fourth supposedly best iteration yet. Significant changes made to it didn't affect the 62B output triodes capable of 30wpc. Crossfire has evolved towards a more neutral less warm sound but still offers a wonderfully rich colorful palpable and smooth midrange with a crystal-clear crisp open yet smooth and rich treble. That's what made it a great match on numerous albums played over Pirol. Some time ago, Kazuo Kiuchi, the man behind Combak Corporation, started to release vinyl records under the Harmonix Master Sound label. The latest title which was originally issued by Three Blind Mice is The Boss with the Seiichi Nakamura Quintet +2. It's a wonderful 1974 live album and became one of the first I dropped the stylus on for the Ayon/Pirol sessions.
As already mentioned, Pirol performs remarkable regardless of SPL. It can handle the highest levels but also offers a rich highly resolved read at almost whisper volume. This particular live performance dared me to push levels way up so I did. The texture, timbre, tiniest details and natural flow of the sax and accompanying instruments were mesmerizing, nearly hypnotizing as I kept pushing the volume up to a level comparable to sitting front row in the Nihon Toshi Center Hall. Yes my neighbors hated me but other than that, I had zero negative effects from playing crazy loud; no distortion, no compression, just as relaxed, effortless, smooth and accurate a presentation as I enjoyed at normal levels. Even the master-tape noise blended in with the performance perfectly so it didn't bother me at all. It was just part of the spectacle.
Pirol presented the recording in a very realistic way to exploit all the acoustic clues embedded in it. It rendered a large soundstage left to right and front to back that started on the line between the cabinets. It filled in generous air which allowed the instruments to breathe and offered a sense of unique ambiance or feel of place. Large tangible images had lacked a bit in Berlin but in my room were yet another advantage that made this performance even more realistic. Very quickly music listening turned into experiencing unique musical events up close. I love being sucked into a performance, to become part of it as a passive participant obviously but still so much more personal then listening to a lesser system. That's what mostly only the top-tier components like these offer.
