Jean-Pascal Panchard and Christophe Savioz give us the lowdown on the Two.Five. The rest of the system was comprised of the DartZeel LHC -208 integrated amplifier and the 432 EVO Master music server. I have to say that the fit and finish were impeccable. The speaker is available in metallic light gray or dark gray with contrasting black front and rear panels, along with three optional custom colors. The Two.Five features a one-inch soft-dome tweeter and two 6.5-inch woofers, in mirror-imaged pairs in a front-ported design. The Two.Five utilizes highly efficient drivers, which, as the company’s Christophe Savioz and Jean-Pascal Panchard explained, are a key design element in contributing to the speaker’s dynamic ease and clarity. The four models in the Alumine series are so named because the cabinets are machined from solid aluminum, in order to be sonically inert and eliminate unwanted resonances and colorations. The two-way Stenheim Alumine Two.Five (SRP: $23,500 per pair) is an evolution of the company’s first-ever 2010 speaker, the Alumine Two bookshelf. It is a truism that the effect of the listening room on an audio system is of great importance, perhaps paramount. It’s now owned by BerkleeNYC and is a fully operational multi-room recording complex and educational facility, combining vintage gear (like a swoon-worthy 1981 Neve console) with up-to-the-minute tech. It was established as Avatar Studios in 1977 by producer Tony Bongiovi and his partner Bob Walters, and has been the site of recordings by artists like Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Paul Simon, John Lennon, the Kinks, Billy Joel and many others. I’m as much of a pro audio geek as an audiophile, so I was stoked to visit the Power Station, which is, no other way to put it, legendary. I was feeling sluggish, having recently battled a second bout of COVID, and in fact almost turned back on the train ride in, but I’m sure glad I made the effort. So, when I got an invite to hear the world premiere of Stenheim’s Alumine Two.Five floorstanding loudspeaker at Manhattan’s fabled Power Station recording studios, I didn’t want to miss it. I first became aware of Switzerland’s Stenheim loudspeakers at the 2019 New York Audio Show, where their Alumine Three loudspeakers impressed me, as much for their understated elegance and obvious superb craftsmanship as by their clear, transparent, and what I heard to be uncolored sound.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |