Ushered in by the opening fanfare to Thus Spake Zarathustra, collective grey matters comfortably dulled by champagne and a classy dinner, the actual unveiling of the Pantheon 25 was of particular import not just to the van der Kleys but also Mr. Shirke of Cadence Audio who had flown in from Pune/India by private jet. After refining his electrostatic driver for decades, seeing it now attached to a take-no-prisoners Siltech product manufactured in the West must have been quite a high point in his multi-faceted career.


With final assembly completed a day prior to the gala event, electronics on loan from a Dutch distributor, no experienced listener would have expected perfection that evening. The showing did demonstrate remarkable dynamic prowess and transient accuracy in an environment far larger than those the production speaker will ever realistically find itself in. Baptism by fire then.
Jean Hiraga of Revue du son & du home-cinema and John Atkinson of Stereophile

A far more telling demonstration occurred a day later in Siltech's plant.

Seated three rows deep and maximally three across, with the electronics warmed up and the speakers a few miles from virgin, the Pantheons here were beginning to show their stuff.

Because one Pass amp's needle deflected significantly farther than the other to suggest either a need for display calibration or a more serious imbalance, Edwin eventually swapped in his personal pair of Theta Citadels. This instantly rewarded the presentation with more midbass warmth and a smoother midrange.


Regardless of amplification, clear strong points of the Pantheons were depth of field, extreme dynamics and high accuracy particularly on the leading edge which endows music with the kind of sharpness it has in real life when in the relative near field.


My favorite demo came by way of Leopold Stokowski's Symphonic Transcriptions [Naxos 8.557645] which include Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain and Pictures of an Exhibition.

I'd heard about this third version of Pictures but never actually listened to it. Thankfully, a store in Rotterdam carried it and I managed to secure my own copy before final departure. It's rather more "Russian" than Ravel's slick version and over Edwin's system above, it was quite electrifying.


Bona fide royalty is apparently already highly interested in two Pantheon pairs as well as Crystal's forthcoming flagship. And while other statement speakers will compete with the Pantheons in the midrange and bass artillery, the electrostatic panels add a unique twist.
Jean Hiraga during listening session

Challenged during the gala event when Mr. Chhabria extorted "louder, lift off the bloody roof" and Edwin complied, these electrostatic tweeters proved their armor-plated mettle under extreme duress. Suffice it to say that your ears will clip before you'll get them to ever cry uncle. This decidedly not being a weak point in the Pantheon's dynamic profile (no crackling noises either by virtue of the Indium Oxide/Teflon diaphragm), it becomes rather the asset versus the various 1-inch Beryllium, diamond and Titanium dome tweeters you'll find elsewhere in these leagues.

With actual production a planned 4-6 weeks out, less than 39 lucky owners -- a few are already spoken for -- will ever own a pair of these ambitious loudspeakers which, just like Siltech's amplifier, will thereafter disappear from the market to enter the realms of myth and hearsay.

Like the Kuala Lumpur twin tower, a plaque'd likeness of which Edwin received from his Malaysian distributor John Yew of CMY Audio & Visual SDN BHD, the Siltech Pantheon 25 towers aim high and are connected by serious engineering of the sort rarely applied to consumer audio.
Click thumb nails for full size photos
Views of Arnhem from the Crystal/Siltech offices
Views of the Crystal/Siltech factory
More views of the speakers
More views of the country estate where the gala event was held
Siltech website