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In contrast to the minor rough-housing of the second movement, with the symphony’s third I enjoyed how utterly sublime the Venere 1.5 developed the strings as from apparently nothing. Once the solo harp entered, this hard-nosed reviewer nearly had to reach for the hankie. This subdued instrument is so often drowned out by other strings sharing the same register. Yet here it was effortlessly discrete to indicate good resolving power in the midrange. But let’s describe things in a more ‘technically factual’ manner. Starting with tonality, the Venere 1.5 clearly was no perfectly flat monitor of the studio sort. Down low it had admirable presence for a compact monitor which obviously won’t compete on pressurization and body with a bigger tower mode. Even so it should be quite sufficient at room levels and slightly beyond. I’d cite a mild upper bass emphasis which cleverly conceals the typical deemphasis in the lower bass.


The midband was cleanly drawn and highly color-saturated. Voices and acoustic instruments of all persuasions sounded realistic and untainted by colorations. In the upper reaches the speaker veered into the genteel and silken rather than brilliant and flashy. This equals long-term comfort but also means that coughing flees won’t be audible. Despite this treble mellowness the Venere 1.5 remained lively. This was achieved via two virtues. Dynamics are one. The Venere is greased. Massed brass salvos fire without reluctance or delay. The harmonically rich rainmaker rustling of E.S.T. was so immediate, quick and natural that it felt as though a gently twirling magic wand kept it in motion. This dynamically fluid effortless trait supported a nice live vibe.

The other live-vibe component was the aforementioned soundstaging talent. Importantly this didn’t involve the creation of artificial space that would be active regardless of material. This instead was about administering recorded space to track with the apparent efforts of various productions and mastering goals. The tacitness of E.S.T.’s piano wasn’t additive meddling but a function of close miking. During playback this results in hyper-realistic scaling since listener distance will far exceed the A/B mic placement of 30 centimeters. With the Bruckner read meanwhile this listener felt classically front-row placed. The virtual stage began at the speakers’ base line and extended backward in height and depth.

These staging chops were fun with grand orchestral and small intimate settings alike. The latter was nicely shown off with the latest The XX Coexist on "Chained". The voices of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim materialized as night-time duet, the female voice slightly to the right, the male somewhat to the left. The singers were in high contrast against the oft-invoked blackground whilst the beatbox stuttered stoically and the occasional synth carpets wafted so tangibly through my space that I nearly felt inclined to duck. Radiohead’s sparsely arranged "Lost Flowers" from In Rainbows was another example. Thom York’s solo voice extended well above the speakers but was nailed precisely to the midpoint whilst the piano lines and guitar chords invited me into another full-on submersion.

Time for an A/B. Our magazine hardware vault still had Quadral’s long-term Phonologue C Rondo loaners on hand which in 2008 had garnered our Favourite Award and then sold for €1.200/pr. This became interesting. The Rondo’s treble was more dominant and teased out whilst its mid/high transitioning wasn’t as seamless as with the smaller Italians. This already showed up in the Radiohead song. Thom Yorke’s somewhat spiky pipes gained some paprika, the guitar more air and fingering noises. But when Yorke moved from head to chest voice, I felt the Sonus faber tracked it more organically and fluidly.