Matching New and Evergreen Classics in Sound
Design: EmmeSpeakers Da Vinci partner the SANSUI AU-555A control/ integrated
amplifier
Leonardo da Vinci holds a place in history for being a
scientist and engineer. His designs responded to his scientific requirements
while also demonstrating his flair for building attractive looking objects.
Emmespeakers – an Italian company based in Milan – has taken this philosophy to
heart in the design of the soon to be iconic Da Vinci speakers. The ‘gold leaf’
design patented by them for their speaker range torches your imagination at
first sight. One forgets that it is a pair of hi fi speakers. It is something
from an art gallery, a museum, maybe even an artefact from the future. Look
more closely, it looks even like a collectable from the Art Deco era complete
with dazzle, glitter like sensation and opulence. It is so enticing to the eye
even before you think of hearing it. Welcome to the visual art of sound!
EmmeSpeakers
Da Vinci Technical
data:
Layout: 3 ways with 3 drivers
in sealed boxTreble Unit: 1,2-30mm Accuton Cell Ceramic Driver
Mid-Bass Unit: 5”-124mm Accuton Cell Ceramic Driver
Bass Unit: 10”-290 mm SB Acoustic Aluminum Driver
Power handling: 200 watts
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohm
Sensitivity: 84 db
Frequency response: 30-40k Hz
Dimensions (hwd): 420x307,5x 300mm
Net weight each: 18.6 kg
If gold could morph into hi fi, this fantasy is captured
in the technical prowess of the Da Vinci. I wanted to hear its fullest
potential so I decided to save up and invest in a pair of Crystal Cable
Reference Diamond speaker cables at 1.5 metres in length. At the shop, Norman Audio
(Adelphi Shopping Centre, Singapore), it was tested on an Ayre AX-7e integrated
amplifier with matching CX-7e CD player. It was not even run in yet, but
initial listening to assorted Latin vocals ranging from ‘Besame Mucho’ by Trio
Los Panchos to ‘Perfidia’ by Edmundo Ros to ‘Tiempo’ by Manuel Franjo made my
hairs stand – in a very good way! It was a very musical sound, and the timbre
of voices stood out for its emotional realism. One can add that it was transparent,
‘live-like’, ‘studio-like’ and so forth. These speakers commanded all the
attention of your aural senses.
According to the EmmeSpeakers website, the rotund design
was intended to radiate sound waves across the room instead of projecting them
mostly through the front firing drivers. As a non-engineer, I thought it was
rather clever of the designers in Milan to position the bass driver – the
biggest one of all facing rearwards! Tweeter and midrange forward. Visually the
‘facial curves’ of the rear reminded one of typical late sixties and early seventies
lounge décor: black and white, or red-orange-yellow concentric rounded designs that
evoke the atmosphere of so-called space age pop!
Checkout this picture blog
dedicated to 70s lounge culture while it is still available: http://blog.hippiecouture.com/2009/05/that-70s-style-part-one.html. The front tweeter and midrange were covered
in limited black netting set against a full gold leaf surface. The contrast in
colours was intriguing and engages intellectual contemplation even before you
hear the sounds that the design generates.
As a student of mass media theory, I can only sum up this
effect in a time honoured quote from Marshall McLuhan: the medium is the
message! The message of the Da Vinci is style, good taste and high culture.
I don’t have Ayre equipment in my home – or at least not
yet – but I was very eager to test out the Da Vinci on my own eccentric Hi Fi
choices. Let’s start with an unlikely partner – the SANSUI AU-555A. I should
add that for good measure, I paired the SANSUI with my earlier reviewed Bel
Canto CD2 player and the Pathos Digit player, hooked up respectively with
Straightwire Serenade and Crystal Cable Piccolo interconnects to the SANSUI.
The Pathos Digit was supplied with power by the Crystalpower Diamond Standard
cord while the Bel Canto was supplied by a US$67.00 custom made power cord from
Gear City, an online ‘mid budget’ electronics retailer based in Hong Kong. The
AU-555A was supplied by a pair of Crystalpower Reference Diamond cord. This is
not a ‘perfect’ test set up but it should give you a decently good idea of the
possibilities should you have the spare cash for upgrading. It is needless to
say that Crystal Cable falls within the ‘ultra performance category’ of Hi Fi
cables. Therefore, each upgrade has to be made carefully in respect to one’s
wallet.
The Stunning Vintage Charm of the SANSUI
Test selection number one: the Reader’s Digest (UK)
compilation from 1990 titled ‘Easy Listening Magic’ Disc One: Timeless
Favourites and Hit Melodies from the 1950s. Richard Clayderman’s interpretation
of ‘Night and Day’ for piano and small string quartet and percussion swung and
swirled very naturally in its swiftly flowing notes. Ray Conniff’s big band and
chorus evoked the centrality of a trumpet-led slow foxtrot on ‘Moonlight
Serenade’ abetted by a very pleasant tinkling piano evoking the shimmering
passage of moonlight across the gentle waves. Manuel and the Music of the
Mountains on ‘La Bamba’ was grand, broad in soundstage and extremely
expressive. The overall impression from this almost 100% analogue set was open,
transparent and wide in terms of reproducing soundstage.
Since I
am not an engineer, I would refer you to the excellent blog stereonomono.blogspot.com
for detailed analysis of its
specifications:http://stereonomono.blogspot.sg/2014/02/sansui-au-555a.html. And
for those who want a balance to my amateur review here’s a popular one on the
AU-555a on YouTube, while it lasts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5v3xYqeMeM
In brief
the statistics are:
Specifications AU-555A
Power Amplifier Section
Power Output (at rated distortion)
Music Power (IHF):
80 watts ±1 dB into 4 Ω at 1,000 Hz;
60 watts ±1 dB into 8 Ω at 1,000 Hz
Continuous Power (each Channel):
33/33 watts ±1 dB into 4 Ω
25/25 watts ±1 dB into 8 Ω
Total Harmonic Distortion: less than 0,5% at rated power output
Intermodulation Distortion (60 Hz : 7,000 Hz = 4:1 SMPTE method):
less than 0,8%
Power Bandwidth (IHF): 20 to 40,000 Hz
Load Impedance: 4 Ω to 16 Ω
Frequency Response (at normal listening level): 20 to 40,000
Hz, ±1 dB
Input Sensitivity: 1V at rated output
Input Impedance: 100 kΩ
Damping Factor: 50 at 8 Ω load
Channel Separation (at rated output 1,000 Hz): better than 60 dB
Hum and Noise (IHF): better than 100 dB
Preamplifier Section
Output Voltage [Maximum/Rated]: 5 V / 1 V
Total harmonic Distortion: less than 0,1% ata rated output voltage
Frequency Response: 20 - 30,000 Hz ±1 dB
Channel Separation (at 1 kHz rated output voltage):
Phono 1 and 2 : better tahn 45 dB
Tuner and Aux : better than 50 dB
Hum and Noise (IHF):
Phono 1 and 2 : better than 70 dB
Tuner and Aux : better than 80 dB
Input Sensitivity / Impedance (1,000 Hz for rated output):
Phono 1 and 2 : 2 mV (50 kΩ)
Tape Mon (Pin) : 180 mV (50 kΩ)
Tape Rec (DIN) : 180 mV (50 kΩ)
Aux : 180 mV(50 kΩ)
Recording Output (at 1 kHz rated input voltage):
Tape Rac (Pin) : 180 mV
Tape Recorder (DIN) : 30 mV
Equalizer:
Phono : RIAA NF Type
Mic : flat NF Type
Controls
Bass: +12 dB -12 dB at 30 Hz
Midrange: +5 dB -5 dB at 1,500 Hz
Treble: +10 dB -10 dB at 15,000 Hz
Loudness: +8 dB at 50 Hz; +3 dB at 10 kHz
Filters
Low: -8 dB at 50 Hz
High: -7 dB at 10,000 Hz
General
Switches:
Mode: Stereo / Mono
Tape Monitor: Source / Playback
Selector: Phono-1 / Phono-2 / Tuner / Aux
Speaker Switch 1 and 2: On / Off
Semiconductors: 23 Transistors; 2 Diodes
Power Requirements: 100, 117, 220, 240 V 50/60 Hz
Power Consumption: 130 watts Max.
Dimensions (H x W x D): 135 x 395 x 278 mm (5⅜ " x 15⅜ x 10⅞") excluding rubber stand and knob
What is impressive to me is that SANSUI designed the
AU-555A to offer separate pre-amplifier and power amplifier sections within one
unit. An integrated amplifier rarely makes this distinction nowadays except
perhaps for the PATHOS range. The Da Vinci speakers are nominally rated as 6
Ohm speakers so that places the AU-555A as pushing out somewhere between 25W (8
Ohms) and 33W (4 Ohms) of power. A good guess is that at 6 Ohms, the AU-555A
would push out 29W! Perhaps, this is why the figures and the Sansui’s compact
size (mind you, it fits into a large sports bag of the type you’d carry for an
overnight business trip or to a football training session) fool most newcomers
to the SANSUI line of high fidelity. It seemed even visually weirder putting
the AU-555A in between the left and right barrels of the Da Vinci speakers.
This becomes less so if you start associating the gold ornamentation with art
objects – especially from East Asia’s rich ancient past – gold vases,
decorative circular vessels for adorning palace cabinets, opulent resthouses,
restaurants and so on. Just “google” search phrases like ‘Asian art objects
gold’ or ‘art objects 1920s’ and the visual and artistic association becomes
obvious. There is no reason why the Da Vincis would not sell to Hi Fi fans who
are also art collectors! And I might also add, those who enjoy Art Deco
fashions from the 1920s and 1930s. Art Deco is the sort of style that tries to
infuse vibrancy and glamour into modern scientific objects. Is this not the
very essence of Hi Fi as the art of hearing beauty?
Surgery and Upgrades
Some of you might ask – leave the art aside, is the
SANSUI powerful? Yes indeed! Not only is it ‘powerful’ beyond volume setting
number two, it stretches the soundstage as wide as the room it is housed
within. My only gripe – and a slight one in contrast to its many virtues – is
that its sharpness of sonic definition fades at the edges of the soundstage at
the distant ‘rear’ of the recording venue judged from where you are sitting, or
at the extremes of the left and right. That said, since I am a 100% Compact
Disc fan, the sound that comes out from the AU-555A via the Da Vincis are
sublimely analogue. The sound of LPs played through the AU-555A can be sampled
on a half dozen clips available on YouTube – and they are highly positive,
exactly according to SANSUI legend!
As you can see from the picture below, the AU-555A has
been upgraded selectively. The speaker terminals have been changed from the
clip system to the screw-in/plug-in receptacles found on most amplifiers from
the late 1980s onwards. The power socket has also been changed to accommodate the
increasingly standard ‘US Power plug’ and its corresponding ‘IEC plug’. This is
done in order to run the SANSUI on the more advanced shielded power cords
available on the market. I was also advised by the engineer that certain
circuit board sections had to be recapped since the pre-restoration sound
lacked the proper balance of a two channel stereo at position zero on the
balance dial. I was assured that 50% of the original circuit boards could be
and were retained. The Speaker B facility was also disconnected upon his advice
since it was likely to drain power from Speaker A channels. In any case, this
made sense since one could only operate one set of speakers at a time. The
walnut brown wooden cover was also given a new coat of varnish so it now looked
almost brand new, notwithstanding some signs of wear on the edges. Contact
cleaner (or DEOXIT in the US) was used on all the contacts and switches. With
the exception of the ‘High’ filter, all other toggled switches and knobs worked
without hiss or crackle even though this was a vintage 1971-2 piece of kit.
Magic of the Midrange
One of the most distinctive advantages of this amplifier
is the ability of the listener to tinker with the midrange. This is that part
of the sound spectrum that produces the most ‘body’, transparency and warmth.
Of the next three recordings that I have sampled for this review, the two most
digitally recorded – Shirley Horn’s I LOVE YOU PARIS and Laura Fygi’s THE LADY
WANTS TO KNOW – required setting treble and bass to zero, and then pushing the
midrange to position 4, just short of the maximum at 5. The female vocals
attained a remarkable level of presence I had never heard before. The
instrumental backing receded to their proper places in the sound stage without
obscuring the singer. Subsequently, I tried the same with the digital ‘DDD’
type recordings of light classical and crossover operatic pieces such as Peter
Aronsky’s choral version of Mozart’s piano concerto no.21, The Celtic Tenors’
‘Love of my Life’ and Katherine Jenkins’ Italian version of ‘I Will Always Love
You’ (L’amore Sei Tu), the voices came out livelier and emotionally engaged.
The goose bump effect was there. I tried turning on the classical music radio
channel playing Renee Fleming’s rendition of ‘Casta Diva’ – it was equally breath-taking.
[Note: Tuner not shown in picture since I moved it out into the living room the
day I took the pictures.] In short, with the AU-555A, digital recordings are
treated with analogue tenderness. When it comes to the Reader’s Digest analogue
to CD remasters, it was exactly how you would have heard it in the studios of
the original recordings. Disc Three of SENTIMENTAL SONGS THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER
featured Rosemary Squires, Sandy Stewart, Margaret Whiting and Beverly Kenny
amongst others.
These torch singers of the sentimental song of the 1940s and
1950s demonstrated their vocal prowess with ease and tremendous authenticity.
Their diction was a thrill in itself. Every singer seemed to be virtually on
stage in your listening room. If you’ve never liked these classic songs - ‘I Only Have Eyes for You’, ‘I Had the
Craziest Dream’, ‘Bali H’ai’, ‘People’, ‘As Time Goes By’ – the AU-555A in
tandem with the Da Vincis will convert you in no time.
In closing this review, I can only say that listening to the AU-555A in tandem with the Da Vinci Emmespeakers is a trip to musical heaven every time. The performer is virtually present by virtue of the extended dimensions of the sound. The rotund shape of the speakers sending the musical waves out radially is probably instrumental in perfecting the 3D-like sound! The sheer involvement in the music is nearly inexpressible. This is an effect which, thus far, I thought the PATHOS Frontiers Prime were best at. Additionally, this partnership also attests to the ‘legend’ of the SANSUI AU-555A. Two classics, matched in one heavenly production.
ALAN
21 August 2015
