I have to remember to check this audio shows for more often! I missed this report.
Wow Kieth, this was really awesome! You really put in a lot of work here and I really appreciate the photos and the level of detail you went into with your impressions.
I’m fascinated that you were so taken with the Aslyvox speakers because I have been somewhat infatuated by those… but I’ve never heard them. I have seen the boys on WBF talking about them, but I’ve also seen plenty of other user reports both from shows and elsewhere raving about them. I also love how they look for a panel speaker.
I find it interesting that you were taken by the particular “tactile” sound because that for me is where panel speakers have not satisfied me. I find they sound boxless, but also a little bit ghostly, like I’m staring through a porthole to music happening in a different room.
I find this most pronounced with electrostatic speakers, with ribbon speakers (eg big Maggies) having a bit more meat to the sound, but still not to the extent of many box speakers. I tend to associate tactile impressions of instruments and voices - by which I mean, a sense of density and thereness, where it feels like you’re in the presence of an instrument actually moving air in the room - with good horn speakers, most of all. I’ve long been sort of obsessed with this aspect of loudspeaker performance, but I’ve never had the type of room that could accommodate horns. However among regular dynamic speakers, I have found Thiel speakers excel in this area, which is why I have kept going back to them for many years.
Anyway, from previous descriptions, including yours, the Aslyvox is often described as combining the classic attributes of a panel speaker but with great tactile/density and dynamics…. which to me sounds close to a holy Grail speaker. Which is why I’ve always wanted to hear them.
You might be interested in the recent review of
THESE ASLYVOX SPEAKERS in the Absolute Sound.
Apparently, it started from TAS reviewers at an audio show a while back telling each other “ you have to hear this” and being dragged into the Aslyvox room. I think it’s quite interesting to read the report of somebody who actually got to live with those speakers for a while. (as well as going into the technical detail details.). I personally seem to get a good sense of the sound from Robert Harley’s descriptions, in which he seems to note some of the characteristics you mentioned.
Some quotes:
It doesn’t take a “golden ear” or even any previous exposure to high-quality audio to instantly appreciate that the Caravaggio doesn’t sound like a box speaker. It has a vivid and lifelike realism in timbre, imaging, transient speed, resolution, physical energy, and in dynamics that make it sound that much closer to live music. The instant the music starts, there’s a sudden frisson of excitement as this remarkable loudspeaker brings the music to life.
This gestalt reaction is the result of a host of specific performance attributes that I shall try to parse and describe. The first is that the Caravaggio presents a kind of physicality to the sound, not just in the usual terms of bottom-end weight and heft, but in the tangibility and presence of instrumental and vocal images, both texturally and spatially. The impression of an instrument or vocalist existing in your listening room—right there—is spooky.
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I know a lot of people around here don’t give any credence to subjective reviews or descriptions, but I do. And when I see lots of people starting to converge in their descriptions of a loudspeaker… especially if they’re describing characteristics that I am very enthusiastic about… that often gets my butt out, searching for a way to hear them. Very often I’m very glad I made the effort. I hope you get to hear those speakers again too.
(I got to listen to some YG speakers at my pal’s house and like you, even after they were finally dialled in I didn’t find them a bit tilted up. But they were quite vivid.)
