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FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE HORNING EUFRODITE
Last September, I booked an appointment with Piano Turner to have a listen to the Horning speakers. PT told me on the phone that he only had the Horning flagship for demo, no other Horning models were available for audition. I almost turned down the appointment thinking of my smallish room that could only accomodate speakers of very moderte size, but just can't resist the chance of hearing a Horning design that attracts so many good reviews from audio writers to whom I respect. Besides, Horning designs are said to be very efficient which should be a very good match with my Kondo gears.
When I (with my wife) first stepped into PT's listening room, I was surprised to see so many equipments whose brand names I've never heard of. My focus was, of course, on the Horning flagship. It did not look like other design of Horning's, it's piano finish, narrow and 4 feet tall, pretty cool, even my wife loved it at first sight. PT invited us to sit down and started with some vinyl music, mostly classical. the sound was in general very good with some minor faults. First, the upper middle frequencies sounded a bit bright, something like the "Living Presence" style, though trifle, it was noticeable on female vocal, violin and piano. Sometimes, the problem was more than slight, indicating a defect beyond normal tolerances. the brightness concentrates near 3K, much lower than the crossover point, and it only affects a very narrow bandwidth, so I guess the crossover should not be blamed in this case. The bass region was very very good, but I heard some mid-bass booming occurred occasionally as if some residue bass energy was stored inisde the speaker cabinets. The good news is that the bass problem does not affect the entire mid-range response indicating the upper-mid and bass problems are not sonically related. That means, they can be tacked individually. After an or so, we had some digital music and the shortcomings mentioned above were still there.
Some of you will probably think I am less than fond of he speaker, which is not true. In fact, the Eufrodite is one of the best full range speaker system I have ever heard. Apart from the above minor faults, the speaker is gorgeously dynamic, natural and lively from top to bottom. Mind you, this speaker has real bass response. In the mid region, the Eufro has the most accurate and transparent sould reproduction, male voices come with detail and presence. There is no middle dip (laid back) as most speakers do. I don't hear any crossover problem which is surprising. On all three-way designs I have heard, there is always some grain and sand quality around the corssover point. the drivers (10 units per side) of the Eufrodite are seamlessly crossed over resulting in a smooth flow of music between them. At the first listen, I thought the Eufro was shy in the treble. As time goes by, I did not find missing any treble notes, the highs were just there, natural and viscerally satisfying. the imaging charateristics of the Eufro are good, though sound images seldom go beyond the speaker sides. Within its breadth boundaries, the images so created are precise, in layers and coherent.
By the end of the listening session, I have already decided to own the Eufrodite, but still there leaves concerns in me about the minor faults:-
1. whether my smallish living room can accomodate these 2 monsters? PT's listening room is bigger than mine, he can't crack the booming problem, what tricks do I have to deal with it.
2. I'm not sure if the high-mid glare is a design anomaly or is simply induced by PT's less than ideal room accoustics.
3. The Eufro is so heavy that I dare not ask PT to arrange a testing at my place. I guess I can only find out after the speaker is on board. So I'll report later how the Eufro behave in my place.
When I (with my wife) first stepped into PT's listening room, I was surprised to see so many equipments whose brand names I've never heard of. My focus was, of course, on the Horning flagship. It did not look like other design of Horning's, it's piano finish, narrow and 4 feet tall, pretty cool, even my wife loved it at first sight. PT invited us to sit down and started with some vinyl music, mostly classical. the sound was in general very good with some minor faults. First, the upper middle frequencies sounded a bit bright, something like the "Living Presence" style, though trifle, it was noticeable on female vocal, violin and piano. Sometimes, the problem was more than slight, indicating a defect beyond normal tolerances. the brightness concentrates near 3K, much lower than the crossover point, and it only affects a very narrow bandwidth, so I guess the crossover should not be blamed in this case. The bass region was very very good, but I heard some mid-bass booming occurred occasionally as if some residue bass energy was stored inisde the speaker cabinets. The good news is that the bass problem does not affect the entire mid-range response indicating the upper-mid and bass problems are not sonically related. That means, they can be tacked individually. After an or so, we had some digital music and the shortcomings mentioned above were still there.
Some of you will probably think I am less than fond of he speaker, which is not true. In fact, the Eufrodite is one of the best full range speaker system I have ever heard. Apart from the above minor faults, the speaker is gorgeously dynamic, natural and lively from top to bottom. Mind you, this speaker has real bass response. In the mid region, the Eufro has the most accurate and transparent sould reproduction, male voices come with detail and presence. There is no middle dip (laid back) as most speakers do. I don't hear any crossover problem which is surprising. On all three-way designs I have heard, there is always some grain and sand quality around the corssover point. the drivers (10 units per side) of the Eufrodite are seamlessly crossed over resulting in a smooth flow of music between them. At the first listen, I thought the Eufro was shy in the treble. As time goes by, I did not find missing any treble notes, the highs were just there, natural and viscerally satisfying. the imaging charateristics of the Eufro are good, though sound images seldom go beyond the speaker sides. Within its breadth boundaries, the images so created are precise, in layers and coherent.
By the end of the listening session, I have already decided to own the Eufrodite, but still there leaves concerns in me about the minor faults:-
1. whether my smallish living room can accomodate these 2 monsters? PT's listening room is bigger than mine, he can't crack the booming problem, what tricks do I have to deal with it.
2. I'm not sure if the high-mid glare is a design anomaly or is simply induced by PT's less than ideal room accoustics.
3. The Eufro is so heavy that I dare not ask PT to arrange a testing at my place. I guess I can only find out after the speaker is on board. So I'll report later how the Eufro behave in my place.
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