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Diapason aims for more broad-band suppression whilst remnant activity gets deliberately spread across the entire bandwidth. If the enclosure becomes a small part of the playback ensemble, it explains both the wonderfully cohesive total result and the perceived scale since one listens to more than just the drivers. Even the innate warmth of the speaker is thus explained. Active contributions entail resonance which occurs not merely at the fundamental frequency but also its harmonic multiples. That’s usually referred to as total harmonic distortion whose strategic distribution is often equated with impressive timbre. Apparently Herr Schiavi has studied these matters extensively to pool them successfully into such an impressively tuned speaker. Since modest size gains a speaker no mercy in my household, synth orgies à la Madonna were next. Those distressed the small boxes less than expected. Au contraire, I was surprised of what excursion these mid/woofers proved capable. Sure, I’ve heard this with more bite elsewhere. The hard synth attacks of American Life require steep impulse response more than subtle tonality. And if a driver has to pump too hard to keep up, bass transients wash out some. Hence the old truism that nothing does bass better than a lot of transducer surface. Unless you add even more cone surface.


What really impressed me was the sheer energy the Karis exhibited with Peterson’s piano. These minis acted far from anaemic. The midband too had substance as was confirmed with other records. First up was another live cut, e.s.t.’s Live in Hamburg which glued me to the seat for another 90 minutes. Even on this modern production the Karis conveyed urge and involvement of a sort I rarely encounter. Chief virtues included rhythmic drive, élan and timbre to add up to another compelling live illusion. Ultimate resolution and excessive separation weren’t parallel disciplines but I simply didn’t miss them much.


Far more important was being loyal to rhythm and playing it in the pocket. This meant that Astor Piazolla’s "Libertango" from Adios Nonino came across completely different than my usual chain does it. Instead of teasing out the fine arterial branching out of the melodic fabric, the Karis II put rhythmic structures center stage. Lucinda Williams’ World Without Tears veered in the same direction. Since I didn’t hear an overabundance of detail, the sonic imagery felt less busy and thus more clearly sorted. Williams’ voice receded a bit behind the fat layers of the e-guitars and revealed less facets than over more resolving speakers. Zar’s Zar confirmed this. These speakers confront the listener with energy and sound colors. The voice of Zar was very believable, the songstress appeared tacitly in the room yet her lyrical enunciation wasn’t as honed as I've heard it before.


With the winds, cymbals and hi-hat of Rock Swings I noticed how the Karis released a healthy dose of HF energy into the room. This infused their innately warm character with gloss and freshness and imbued their strong tone colors with projection power. The treble followed the general character of not putting ultimate detail into the foreground. But this didn’t mean lack of control. The design successfully bridged a quite present treble with lack of sharpness. The juicy bass and dense midrange simply gained proper highlights. On the subject of treble I looked more closely at the driver. It’s a 19mm Scan Speak dome which kicks in high at ca. 4.500Hz. The dome sits inside a very shallow waveguide and its mounting plate is covered with soft foam. As with the mid/woofer this driver is modified by Seas according to Diapason’s specs.