Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

The test procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: the speakers were used both with Audio Research SP-10 II/Motif MS-100 and Krell KRS2/KSA-50 amplification. A Mission Cyrus 2 integrated amplifier was also used, being more representative of the kind of hardware to be found driving speakers at this price level. Source components included a Mission PCM 7000 CD player, and both a 1987 Linn Sondek/Ittok/Troika combination sitting on a Sound Organisation table and an LP12/SME V/Koetsu Red player sitting on a RATA Torlyte stand.

An alternative system consisted of a Stax Quattro CD player used straight into the Motif amplifier via the PAS-01 passive preamplifier to be described in Vol.11 No.2, to obtain the most musically transparent sound from silver disc. Interconnect was Monster Interlink M1000; speaker cable was Monster M1. The loudspeakers were carefully positioned for optimum performance, and coupled to the tile-on-concrete floor beneath the rug with screw-in spikes. As well as a rigorous listening test, with no other speakers in the room, each pair of speakers was used for an extended period of everyday use.—John Atkinson