I received my Ascilab C6B at my Hong Kong apartment around five weeks after placing the order. I was out of town so I’ve just now set them up. Below are my qualitative and quantitative views.
Delivery and Packaging
Delivery was a bit slower than I expected at ~5 weeks, but given this is a new company, I can forgive the delivery timeframe and the information sharing on delivery status. I was probably in the second batch of sales (after ASR’s and Erin’s reviews went out) so I assume Ascilab must have been swamped with a deluge of orders.
The box came delivered to my apartment in Hong Kong in immaculate condition with no marks, dents, or anything to indicate it came all the way from Seoul (I assume they’re made in Seoul in South Korea, but I could be wrong). The speakers are double boxed so given the outside was in a perfect condition, the inside box was also perfect.
I was a bit confused on how to unpackage them but decided to break the seal on the inside box to see how things worked. That was a good call as they’re designed to be removed from the top by grabbing the cloth covering each speaker and pulling them up. You can thank Ascilab for the mini bicep workout.
View attachment 466680
Fit and Finish
Once out of the box, the first thing that struck me was the fit and finish. These look like speakers from a company that has been around for decades rather than a new upstart. Everything looked perfect with no blemishes or bad joints. The speakers are larger and heavier than I expected based on the pictures online, but I assume this was necessary for the immense bass they produce as we’ll see later.
The only potential issue I saw was the rubber isolation material used at the bottom of the speaker. The level of friction gives the impression that they will hold the speaker in place very well, however the softness of the material makes me question if they’ll hold up to someone accidentally rotating the speaker without lifting it up. When I was positioning the speaker, I could feel the material flexing and immediately lifted the speaker up so that it doesn’t rip the isolation material.
The woofer cone finishing ring is taped in place and needs to be removed before use. It’s easy to take off and was no big deal. The ring on one speaker came off when I was taking the tape off, but putting it back is very easy as it’s a magnetic attachment.
One thing that isn’t noticeable in the pictures online is how intricate the tweeter waveguide is. It isn’t a simple conical shape; it’s a variable and complex shape. A very cool detail of the engineering prowess of Ascilab!
I chose the matte black finish and having seen and touched the speaker in real life, if I could go back, I would have chosen the gloss white or gloss black. I think the matte finish is going to pick up lots of dust and is somewhat difficult to clean. It reminds me of Apple’s dark matte finish on the latest Macbooks. It took some effort with a wet cloth to remove my fingerprints from positioning the speaker.
Sound Quality
Some context before sharing my thoughts. The current setup is a Cambridge Audio EVO150 (I believe it uses Hypex NCore modules). The current speakers are Revel F35 2.5-way towers which Amir reviewed
here. They are incredible speakers that do everything very well and at a very reasonable price.
The goals I had in changing speakers were as follows:
- The F35 are way too big for the space I have in Hong Kong. They’re visually big and excite room modes like it’s a Berlin EDM club.
- The F35 sound very bright in this highly reflective room. Because of the intense humidity in Hong Kong, we have tiled floors and little in the way of absorbent materials.
- I loved what Ascilab had done in being so transparent with their development of these speakers so I wanted to give them my business and support. If the C6B had not come along, I would have purchased a second-hand set of KEF R3 Meta (I also admire KEF’s approach to R&D and transparency with their users).
View attachment 466677
Qualitative Sound Quality
Before doing any measurements with REW, I listened to the F35 and then swapped them out for the C6B. I tried my best to position them as close as possible in the same spot so that I could give them a fair chance.
When swapping over to the C6B, three things became readily apparent:
- The speakers sounded much quieter than the F35. I didn’t want the REW measurements to bias my qualitative impressions, so I rewired the F35 and used an iPhone app to get the output to the same level, which required increasing the volume on the EVO150 by 5db for the C6B.
- The top end sounded much less intense than the F35 which was a good sign that I may achieve one of my stated goals.
- The bass was just as intense as the F35, which was something I didn’t expect given the smaller size. In fact, in some songs, I thought the C6B dug deeper, but I wrote in my notes that it was inconclusive and I would need A/B testing if I were to bet money on them digging deeper.
After more careful listening, I had the impression that the sound stage was very wide with a large sweet spot. The F35 are also very good in this regard so I was happy that I didn’t lose any soundstage benefits going with this speaker.
First impressions were very positive and I can imagine anyone setting these up would be very happy with their purchase. Even without taking any measurements, I could tell that they were going to trump the F35 in my room based on how good they sounded. However, the intensity of the bass was surprising and my room would benefit with some Room Correction software like Dirac Live or adjusting the EQ.
Quantitative Sound Quality
Most ASR users will have skipped to this part. Before reading this part, please do visit the intro to the Sound Quality section above as it includes some important points on the positioning, etc.
All measurements were conducted with the amazing and free
REW software (thank you John!), UMIK-1 and Cambridge Audio EVO150 amplifier using AirPlay 2. All measurements were taken using the MMM (Moving Mic Method) with Periodic Pink Noise and at least 60 samples with both L+R speakers playing at the same time.
I conducted three measurements of each setup and ensured they were consistent (they were). I also conducted one measurement of the noise floor to ensure the tested measurements were well above the noise floor. Hong Kong is a very noisy place so it’s impossible to get a perfect environment, so I’ve included the noise floor measurement for transparency.
Revel F35
View attachment 466673
Ascilab C6B
View attachment 466674
Noise Floor
View attachment 466675
Revel F35 vs. Ascilab C6B vs. Noise Floor (Hong Kong Apartment)
View attachment 466676
Conclusion
As expected from the measurements we’ve seen online, the Ascilab C6B delivers on its promises. The speakers have excellent in-room measurements and can keep pace with my much larger Revel F35. I didn’t go above 100db for too long, but I didn’t notice anything unusual in either speaker at what I consider to be high volumes for an apartment.
IMO, Ascilab is leaving some money on the table with these speakers and I would not be surprised if we see price increases over time. I’ve never seen a company sell a premium product at a low price for long. They could increase prices 25% and still have a fantastic value for money offering. I’m now wondering how much better the Purifi model will be…
As I've been writing this enormously long post, I've been listening to a variety of music at rather loud volumes and I'm loving these speakers more and more. They've tamed the brightness I had in the room and this makes listening to music so much more enjoyable! I hope the above provides some insight; I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
even with my budget 250 Euro WiiM amp.
