RMAF 2012

Lawrence Audio and Jeff Rowland

Stephen Mejias  |  Oct 16, 2012

Based in Taiwan, Lawrence Audio Co. (“Inspired by Musical Masters”) manufactures limited-edition and custom-made loudspeakers modeled after stringed instruments. Lawrence Liao, founder and chief designer, is also an interior decorator, music lover, and musician: He plays saxophone, violin, and piano.

Lawrence’s line includes the two-way, standmounted Mandolin; the slightly larger Violin; and the 3.5-way, floorstanding Cello ($18,000/pair), which was playing when I walked into the room.

The Cello uses an Air Motion tweeter, a rear-firing aluminum ribbon tweeter, and two 8” woofers; the speaker’s specs include a frequency range of 32Hz–40kHz, a sensitivity of 90dB, and a 4 ohm nominal impedance.

Driving the speakers was Jeff Rowland’s distinct Model 625 power amplifier ($13,800). Milled from a single block of aircraft-grade aluminum, the 625 is rated to deliver 300Wpc into 8 ohms. Directly connected to the Model 625 was Jeff Rowland’s Aeris DAC ($9800), which is said to reduce jitter to 10 picoseconds from any of its inputs (USB, TosLink, and S/PDIF).

A percussion piece was reproduced with good speed, drama, and scale, and I noted surprisingly realistic impact and tone to piano and cymbal sounds.

COMMENTS
JohnnyR's picture
Submitted by JohnnyR on October 16, 2012 - 3:02pm

"speed" adjective. Speed is for a physical projectile moving through space, not to describe the sound of a speaker. Were other speakers there delivering the sound at a slow speed?  Lets see some radar speed readouts xD

Stephen Mejias's picture
Submitted by Stephen Mejias on October 16, 2012 - 4:33pm

Johnny, first of all, I'm discussing the sound of the entire system, not just the loudspeaker. Second, a system can sound "fast" when notes are taut and clean, rather than boomy or muddy or otherwise obscured.

For more info, you can visit our Audio Glossary or browse our Reference section. 

JohnnyR's picture
Submitted by JohnnyR on October 16, 2012 - 7:56pm

Unless the electronics are defective, than ALL modern preamps and amps deliver fast rise times to impulses with well damped decays. Only crappy tube amps that have horrible  high outout impedances will sound muddy in the bass. Also poorly designed subs will boom if not properly designed. Otherwise I fail to see how you determined the system had "speed" I would think a better term to use would be "correctly damped"

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