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Equinox Audio Experience
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Please note - I am a friend of Rick Stadelmaier. I do, however, feel my impressions are as neutral as those written by people who have purchased the items they write about.
I first encountered Equinox Audio when I met Rick Stadelmaier at the 2002 Herald Sun Home Entertainment Show and we then talked further at the Melbourne Audio Club demonstration of his Jupiter and Aphelion floorstanders (driven there by a ME850 and ME550 MkII, respectively). The overriding impression from that demonstration was of the massive dynamic capabilities of these combinations. At the beginning of the demonstration the huge, effortless presentation had me thinking that the towering Jupiters were playing when in fact it was the much smaller, but still substantial, Aphelions. Track after track, many of them featuring strong drum solos, failed to reveal any sense of strain in the ME550/Aphelion pairing. After changing to the Jupiters and ME850, the same dynamic capability was demonstrated along with massive bass extension (not that bass extension had been apparently missing with the earlier combination). The overall effect was rather overwhelming and the material (along with my listening vantage) was not conducive to noting fine details.
I later discovered that Rick and Trish shared my interest in motorcycles as well as audio and it was this that led to the invitation to visit. It started off as a trip to Sydney for the last round of the 2002 Australian Superbike Championship. I mentioned to Rick that I was coming up and he invited me to stay with him and his wife Trish. This gave me the opportunity to listen to the Jupiters extensively in the much more controlled environment of their loungeroom (powered now by a mighty ME1400).
Over the course of the next week, we played a wide range of music through the Jupiters at volumes ranging from close to deafening down to a level low enough not to wake Trish up when she tired of all the audio rambling and chose to retire. At all times, the Jupiters exhibited a neutral balance with no emphasis on any particular frequency band. Precise imaging and a substantial soundstage was presented for well recorded material while very forward recordings (we didn't play any harsh ones) were upfront without being overbearing. An Allison Krauss recording with bass that I had previously found a little bloated, loose and woolly on Sonus Faber Amatis (they otherwise sounded very nice) was impressively tight and controlled on the Jupiters (although, to be fair, amplification and CD player were different as well). Off axis listening (outside the spacing of the speakers) still gave an enjoyable, if lesser listening experience
I also sampled a newly built pair of Periphelions, a solid 2 way floostander, and initially found this speaker 'shouted' at me, although the lower octaves were smooth and extended nicely. Later Rick added the diffraction control surrounds to the tweeter and I was surprised to find that it transformed the upper midrange and treble. Now they matched the lower ranges to give the same flat response as the Jupiters although, unsurprisingly, the Jupiters were superior in imaging, soundstaging, smoothness and, of course, extension and dynamic capability.
I left Equinox with the Periphelions and a pair of their very large standmounts, the Solstice. No, I hadn't bought them, although I was tempted, but was delivering them to Winovate (formerly VASS), who are now the Melbourne Equinox agent. On the way back to Melbourne, I visited a friend I had made over the internet who is also an audio enthusiast. He owns a pair of VAF I-66s (powered by an ME550 MkII) and has posted on numerous occasions about their clarity, smoothness and particularly about their imaging and soundstaging. I was looking forward to hearing these speakers in light of my experiences at Equinox.
My first listening impression of the I-66, a large floorstander, was that it had a nicely neutral balance with a slightly lean bass. Further listening revealed a solid image and soundstage with good recordings. The same Allison Krauss track that had tripped up the Sonus Fabers was clean and controlled and her forward vocals were presented in an upfront manner.
We then pulled the Solstices out from the back of my car (the Periphelions were buried in the trailer amongst a jumble of motorcycles and some inoperative VASS electrostatics). Setting these on some sturdy cabinets, slightly in front of and within the I-66s, we played some of the tracks we had played earlier. At first the treble seemed slightly bright so we fitted the grills - the I-66s we also played with grills on as the owner feels they are a touch bright without them. After this, the immediate impression was how similar the speakers sounded - I guess speakers designed to be accurate should sound similar. Surprisingly, the Solstice had slightly more mid bass but, as expected, less extension, although the difference was smaller than the size and driver disparity would suggest. The Solstice had a slightly more airy treble and perhaps didn't image or soundstage quite as well as the I-66, possibly due to the low ceiling height and the MTM arrangement of the I-66 drivers.
Overall, though, we agreed that the speakers were surprisingly close in character and performance and that both were excellent products. With a harsh, flat U2 recording of Pride, both speakers ruthlessly exposed the faults to the point where the track was unlistenable. The I-66 owner also commented that he preferred the Solstice to the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 which he had also previously auditioned in home. One aspect we didn't test was the dynamic capabilities of the speakers - volume at all times was at a comfortably restrained level.
Arriving back home, I took the Periphelions to a hifi store where another friend works. Here, we listened to them with some Dynaudios in their high end listening room. Compared to the pint pot Contour 1.1, the Periphelion had more detail and treble, cleaner midrange, stronger imaging and soundstaging and more extension although the heavy port loading of the Contour gave it more midbass at the expense of noticeably slower bass response. My retailer friend who is very accustomed to this characteristic Dynaudio sound even thought that the tweeter on the Periphelion sounded a bit slow since the bass was so much tighter! The honour of Dynaudio was recovered when a pair of the magnificent Kraft standmounts was played. These had a much more even tonal balance than the Contour and sounded much like a slightly smoother version of the Periphelion. All were driven by high end Marantz amplification.
Finally, I set up the Solstices and Periphelions at home with my ME550 amplifier. Listening to them side by side, I found the Solstices to have very slightly greater clarity and imaging than the Periphelions while bass seem on par. I found this to be due to the stands (my current speakers) for the Solstice being spiked through our carpet while the Periphelions had not been fitted with their optional spikes. When I placed some thick carpet between the Solstices and their stands, then the clarity and imaging of the speakers became equal while the bass of the Solstice softened to be a little less extended than that of the Periphelion - basically they sound the same except for the Periphelion's slightly greater extension (just as you'd expect from their configurations).
After loading up with Chesky and Reference Recording CDs at the Melbourne Audio Club annual Rockian Trading presentation, I played through my new additions on the Solstices (since they were spiked) at all manner of volumes until yesterday when I finally, with great sadness, delivered them to Winovate. Now my system has reverted to it's former, lesser status until I can do my formal speaker comparison to finalise my system configuration. One thing for sure is that Equinox will be amongst the front runners of that line up.
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Prices of speakers mentioned (in alphabetical order)
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Dynaudio Contour 1.1
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~$2600
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Dynaudio Contour 1.3
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~$3800
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Dynaudio Kraft
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$6500 (discontinued - previously > $8000)
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Equinox Jupiter
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$7000 delivered
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Equinox Periphelion
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$1550 delivered
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Equinox Solstice
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$1350 delivered
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Sonus Faber Amati
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~$35000
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VAF I-66
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$4094 delivered, unassembled or $5844 delivered, assembled
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Other trip highlights were a visit to ME and also to Pat Turner Audio.
At ME, I saw how well laid out their factory and workshops were and met the small but very professional staff plus Peter Stein himself. Whether you like the sound of their amplifiers or not (some don't, I obviously do), the operation was very impressive with everything produced inhouse except for the components and anodised finishes on their casework. As well as seeing ME amplifiers and other products in various stages of assembly, testing, upgrading and repair (mostly from people testing their capability for welding), I had the opportunity to listen to Peter Stein's system and appreciate the difference proper room damping can make to the presentation.
At Turner Audio, I listened to Pat's valve amplifiers (25W SETs at that) which were as accurate as any I have heard, playing at quite respectable volume on his custom speakers. Without doing side by side comparisons with other equipment, I can't make any critical comments but I can say it was very enjoyable and free of obvious coloration or flaws - the loose bass, liquid midrange and glassy top end that I am used to associating with valve amplifiers was totally absent. Pat also took the time to try and educate me on some aspects of valve technology and his observations on speaker design. A very talented and very nice man and well worth arriving home later by an hour.
All in all, I continue to be impressed by the quality of locally produced hifi equipment.
Greg Kaan (Nov 2002)
Relevant Websites
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