Erin has reviewed and measured this speaker. The measures show why it sounds like it does to some extent. The thin mids and crisp highs are the response of the speaker. The lack of bass doesn't fit. That might be a room position problem though it looks like it would have hollow bass for what it has. The impedance and phase look somewhat demanding below 300 hz.
Revival ATALANTE 5 Speaker
www.erinsaudiocorner.com
I don't understand the attraction as your description doesn't sound satisfactory. Finding it to work in some demo at another location with other amps was more than likely a room effect (or did you demo some amps at home finding this?) Why this would lead you away from JBL speakers I don't know. They appear to be very picky with vertical orientation. So the balance might change with that varying as well.
If it is the speaker you like and wish to use that is fine. I think trying to tune the speaker sound with an amp is a difficult route to take. I don't know how close to the rear wall you have these, but a bit of space behind them will be preferred because of the rear facing ports.
I fail to see any particular reason the Chord would match these better than other amps. In any case, you have your speakers and your amps so hook it up with XLR and away you go.
The measurements above don't mean much to me. I've listened extensively to these speakers, and I think they're not well-made. In some ways, I consider them defective because their performance heavily depends on the amplifier. I've simply tried to compensate for their shortcomings.
When I first saw these speakers, I expected rich, deep bass, an easy resonance, and a warm texture akin to horn speakers. However, they turned out to be completely different—more like large monitor speakers in some ways. The bass from these 12-inch woofer box speakers is not what I associate with others in this category. I’ve listened to them in multiple audio shops with different setups, but the bass always sounded the same.
When paired with a few Class D Purifi amps offering around 300W of power, I discovered they could produce bass similar to that of typical box speakers. However, I felt the sound didn’t improve; instead, the overall sound became duller. It wasn't that the bass increased while mids and highs became relatively subdued—it was more that the entire sound lacked clarity. Simply put, the sound was worse than that of other speakers in a similar price range.
However, when I paired them with Chord amplifiers, the speakers’ true charm emerged: their density of sound. I usually avoid such expressions, but with other amplifiers, the space between the beginning and end of notes felt hollow, as if blowing into an empty bottle. With Chord, every nuance of the notes, from start to finish, was faithfully reproduced. The highs are unquestionably the speakers' strong suit, while the mids are very light, to the point where they feel about a half-step higher, but the soft bass counterbalances this. In summary, the sound is extremely bright.
I don’t know how Chord amplifiers sound with other speakers, but to me, this pairing is exceptional. Whether it's due to the speaker's responsiveness(?) or the amplifier's damping factor(?), I’m not sure, but it brought a new level of completeness I hadn’t experienced with other amplifier combinations. I strongly recommend giving them a listen.
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