Ocean Audio: Finley Audio cables meet Serhan Swift speakers meet . . .

In the Ocean Audio room in which Finley Audio, Les Davis Audio, Small Green Computer, Serhan Swift loudspeakers, and Boulder Audio joined forces, my attention was first drawn to Serhan Swift of Sydney, Australia. In 2013, after nearly four decades of producing loudspeakers, Brad Serhan teamed up with Morris Swift of Oneaudio. As a follow-up to their active DSP Active loudspeaker, the men have created the mu2 Mk II passive loudspeaker ($7950/pair). Serhan was responsible for the principal design, and Swift contributed some of the engineering.

The mu2 Mk II loudspeaker is a precision two-way standmount with a Scanspeak Revelator 1" ring-radiator tweeter, a 5" mid/bass driver, and constrained layer damping made to spec by Les Davis Audio. The 13" × 7" × 9.5" speaker claims to throw a large sweet spot—I wasn't free to move around and experience it for myself—and is said to have a "benign impedance curve" that makes it easy to drive.

As best as I could understand Swift over an extremely loud sales pitch from another room partner, the speaker descends to 45 or 40Hz and can fill a large room. "There's more to this speaker internally than a traditional ported system," he said. Crossovers are hand-wired, and the speaker contains extensive micro-vibrational treatment.

Of course, there was far more in the room: Treatments from Les Davis Audio, cables and cable risers from Finley Audio—more on them below—the small Green Sonore opticalModule fiber-to-Ethernet converter ($499+) and sonic Transporter i5 Roon music server ($1279+), and a Boulder 866 DAC/integrated amplifier ($17,000). Together, they delivered a lively rendition of a 16/44.1 file of Holly Cole's "Little Boy Blue." The system handled voice exceptionally well and exhibited a fair amount of color. I also greatly enjoyed "Liberty" from Anette Askvik.

While a speaker the size of the Serhan Swift mu2 MkII cannot reproduce the low organ pedal in François Xavier-Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra's recent 24/96 rendition of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, it did not break up at all as it handled the huge pounding percussion in the opening bars and everything that followed with equal aplomb.

At the end of my listening, Michael Voohis of Finley Audio showed me the company's intriguing Cable Risers. Constructed of rock maple with carbon-fiber posts, the two-block model sells internet direct for $65, and the three-tier model for $85.

COMMENTS
Allen Fant's picture

Beautiful Cable Risers JVS.

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