- Μηνύματα
- 25.947
- Reaction score
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Τις προάλλες μιλούσα με γνωστό μου που ενδιαφέρεται για ένα συγκεκριμένο ηχείο. Είπε πως είναι flat, αλλά και γλυκόηχο, φαντασθείτε δηλαδή κάτι σαν Sonus Faber, αλλά προς το πιο "μονιτορίσιο". Μου είπε κάτι για μεταξωτούς θόλους, κάτι για καλό mid, τέλος πάντων αυτά συνεκράτησα. Τελικά, πώς μπορεί κανείς να φτιάξει ένα γλυκόηχο ηχείο, που να είναι και flat, δηλαδή να μετρά προφανώς σωστά στην απόκριση συχνότητας;
Το ηχείο είναι το Peak Consult Princess. Διαβάστε ένα ρηβιού αμερικάνικο...
If you have ever had the chance to listen to any of their larger speakers and really enjoyed the sound but had a bit of sticker shock, the Princesses may just be for you. As muscle weighs a lot more than an equivalent amount of fat, these speakers look small and unassuming until you try and pick them up! They weigh about 110 lbs each, so be prepared to have a friend help you muscle them around. With the same drivers as the Princess monitor, the F/S uses a larger cabinet, however you are rewarded with a bit lower bass response (45hz vs. 39hz for the floorstander) and you won’t need to purchase stands.
Consequently, the F/S are a bit more expensive and will work in a bit larger room. The F/S also has an additional db of efficiency; 88db for the monitor vs. 89 for the F/S. Rated at six ohms, I found them very easy to drive with tubes or solid state amplification. I know that hifi is supposed to be all about sound, but these speakers are truly beautiful to behold. As so much great furniture has come from Denmark, the craftsmanship of the Princesses is something that you will always be very proud to display in your home. I have seen very few speakers made to this high standard at any price.
Large Capacitors Equals Long Break-In I was very smitten with these speakers at this year’s CES show and Chris Sommovigo; Peak’s USA importer was kind enough to send them our way right after the show was over. The show pair I heard was brand new and designer Per Kristoffersen spent about an hour talking to me about everything but speaker design, so I knew I was on to something good! He did take a couple minutes to show me the giant capacitors in the crossover network; they are about the size of an EGGO waffle with leads coming out of them! Should you buy a pair of these gorgeous speakers for your home, you need to understand that those large capacitors will take a few hundred hours to break in, and even between 300 and 500 hours, there is still a touch more magic to be had.
Right out of the box, they sound a little bit bright and slow, but after about 100 hours you can tell the drivers have done their thing and settled in. The Princesses possess just a touch of brightness until the capacitors have broken in all the way and it’s bliss from then on. How do they get that much sound out of such a small box? Per Kristoffersen is a genius, that’s how. The folks at Peak Consult are master craftsmen and these speakers sound as good as they look. The customary knuckle rap of the cabinets will floor you, there’s no resonance of any kind here, it’s like you tapped the monolith on 2001. Take a close look at the front (and rear) panels, that matte black finish is real leather! These speakers are drop dead gorgeous; my test pair came in the upgraded cherry with ash stripes. This finish is available as a special order and you will need to ask your Peak Consult dealer for pricing and availability. Standard finishes are rosewood and ash. The driver component is a 5-inch woofer and a 1-inch dome tweeter, along with a port on the back. Suggested room size for the F/S is less than 200 square feet, which was perfection in my 11 x 17 foot living room!
Keep in mind that even in a large room, they will fare well, but a 5-inch driver can only move so much air! In order to realize all that these speakers are capable of, I highly suggest following Peak Consults directions and
use them in a suitably sized room for best performance. When I took them out to the studio and put them in the main listening area (16 x 24 feet), they still imaged great with a huge soundstage, but they did get swallowed up a bit on the lower end. (However, adding my REL B2 to this system was quite fantastic, even in the large room.)
But It’s Really About Finesse. This is what really sets the Princess apart from the pack. If you are from the ‘bigger is better’ school of loudspeaker owners, you will probably just pass over these speakers. (At your own peril, I might add) What I found absolutely intoxicating about these speakers was the high level of resolution that they possessed without being big or overbearing.
So often if you have a small room, you have to settle for smaller speakers that just don’t have enough resolution to mate with the best components the high end has to offer. I have heard this dilemma from a number of music enthusiasts who have the budget, but just can’t shoehorn a giant pair of speakers into their small rooms, but a small pair of minimonitors just don’t reveal enough music. If this is your situation, your search is over! In a small room with great gear, I would stack the Princesses up against anything I’ve ever heard. Yes, I know they will not move as much air as the Peak Consult El Diablos, but the El Diablos need a big room to work their magic, as do a number of other well-known benchmarks.
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Το ηχείο είναι το Peak Consult Princess. Διαβάστε ένα ρηβιού αμερικάνικο...
If you have ever had the chance to listen to any of their larger speakers and really enjoyed the sound but had a bit of sticker shock, the Princesses may just be for you. As muscle weighs a lot more than an equivalent amount of fat, these speakers look small and unassuming until you try and pick them up! They weigh about 110 lbs each, so be prepared to have a friend help you muscle them around. With the same drivers as the Princess monitor, the F/S uses a larger cabinet, however you are rewarded with a bit lower bass response (45hz vs. 39hz for the floorstander) and you won’t need to purchase stands.
Consequently, the F/S are a bit more expensive and will work in a bit larger room. The F/S also has an additional db of efficiency; 88db for the monitor vs. 89 for the F/S. Rated at six ohms, I found them very easy to drive with tubes or solid state amplification. I know that hifi is supposed to be all about sound, but these speakers are truly beautiful to behold. As so much great furniture has come from Denmark, the craftsmanship of the Princesses is something that you will always be very proud to display in your home. I have seen very few speakers made to this high standard at any price.
Large Capacitors Equals Long Break-In I was very smitten with these speakers at this year’s CES show and Chris Sommovigo; Peak’s USA importer was kind enough to send them our way right after the show was over. The show pair I heard was brand new and designer Per Kristoffersen spent about an hour talking to me about everything but speaker design, so I knew I was on to something good! He did take a couple minutes to show me the giant capacitors in the crossover network; they are about the size of an EGGO waffle with leads coming out of them! Should you buy a pair of these gorgeous speakers for your home, you need to understand that those large capacitors will take a few hundred hours to break in, and even between 300 and 500 hours, there is still a touch more magic to be had.
Right out of the box, they sound a little bit bright and slow, but after about 100 hours you can tell the drivers have done their thing and settled in. The Princesses possess just a touch of brightness until the capacitors have broken in all the way and it’s bliss from then on. How do they get that much sound out of such a small box? Per Kristoffersen is a genius, that’s how. The folks at Peak Consult are master craftsmen and these speakers sound as good as they look. The customary knuckle rap of the cabinets will floor you, there’s no resonance of any kind here, it’s like you tapped the monolith on 2001. Take a close look at the front (and rear) panels, that matte black finish is real leather! These speakers are drop dead gorgeous; my test pair came in the upgraded cherry with ash stripes. This finish is available as a special order and you will need to ask your Peak Consult dealer for pricing and availability. Standard finishes are rosewood and ash. The driver component is a 5-inch woofer and a 1-inch dome tweeter, along with a port on the back. Suggested room size for the F/S is less than 200 square feet, which was perfection in my 11 x 17 foot living room!
Keep in mind that even in a large room, they will fare well, but a 5-inch driver can only move so much air! In order to realize all that these speakers are capable of, I highly suggest following Peak Consults directions and
use them in a suitably sized room for best performance. When I took them out to the studio and put them in the main listening area (16 x 24 feet), they still imaged great with a huge soundstage, but they did get swallowed up a bit on the lower end. (However, adding my REL B2 to this system was quite fantastic, even in the large room.)
But It’s Really About Finesse. This is what really sets the Princess apart from the pack. If you are from the ‘bigger is better’ school of loudspeaker owners, you will probably just pass over these speakers. (At your own peril, I might add) What I found absolutely intoxicating about these speakers was the high level of resolution that they possessed without being big or overbearing.
So often if you have a small room, you have to settle for smaller speakers that just don’t have enough resolution to mate with the best components the high end has to offer. I have heard this dilemma from a number of music enthusiasts who have the budget, but just can’t shoehorn a giant pair of speakers into their small rooms, but a small pair of minimonitors just don’t reveal enough music. If this is your situation, your search is over! In a small room with great gear, I would stack the Princesses up against anything I’ve ever heard. Yes, I know they will not move as much air as the Peak Consult El Diablos, but the El Diablos need a big room to work their magic, as do a number of other well-known benchmarks.
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