SOUNDBOXES XIV: The Sensational COPERNICUS Speakers from Emmespeakers of Italy
I had originally wanted to post this review three years
earlier but given the relative newness of this product from their range of
speakers dedicated to ‘human genius’, I wanted to find the perfect match
between the COPERNICUS and the vintage amplifiers my blog specializes in. Rest
assured, those of you reading this blog and owning modern amplifiers from
renowned brands such as Ayre, yBA, Prima Luna and the like will encounter no
difficulty finding the perfect union of sound with the COPERNICUS: punchy bass,
versatile reproduction of mid ranges and high frequencies and wide soundstage
etc. When these speakers first arrived at my favourite retailer in Singapore,
they were indeed tested with the aforementioned brands in tandem with SILTECH,
Kimber, MIT Cable and Crystal Cable supplying interconnects and power cords.
Adapting
to Vintage Amplifiers
With vintage amplifiers, it took a slightly longer journey
to find the perfect match. Many SANSUIs and LUXMANs produced harsh upper
frequencies through the COPERNICUS. I could not explain why this was the case.
I suspect it had to do with the newfangled asynchronous crossover system used
to direct the front and rear drivers. According to the Mono
and Stereo review site these are the “2 inch ceramic mid-tweeter
by Accuton, and two 10 inch aluminum woofer in asynchronous mode and front-rear
layout”. Recordings had to be dynamic enough to adapt to such a sophisticated
manner of reproducing sound. Also, the stated nominal impedance of 4 Ohms could
mean that the COPERNICUS would be ideally matched with amplifiers designed with
the same resistance. This is a matter of speculation and opinion. Most audiophiles
and engineers tell me that few speakers are built today with specific bands of
resistance in the design. Usually, 4 Ohms speakers can accommodate 6 and 8 Ohms
amplifiers without strain. My other all-time favourite from Emmespeakers, the
Da Vinci, boasts the nominal 6 Ohms and has never had problems mating with any
vintage amplifiers to date.
Before I go on about the strengths of the COPERNICUS, I
should state which amplifiers I tested the COPERNICUS with. My results – and I
emphasize these are my own subjective findings through simple home listening
with no firm scientific measurement involved – is in favour of this ascending
order of perfection: 3. SANSUI AU-999; 2. KENWOOD KR4200; 1. PIONEER SA-8500.
With the exception of the Kenwood, the other two are integrated amplifiers with
no tuner section. What the three had in common was that their specifications
mentioned that these were 4 Ohms amplifiers or accommodated 4 Ohms speakers and
upwards.
Initially the three vintage amps were matched to a
combination of SILTECH and Crystal Cable for both interconnects and power
cords. The harshness was reduced significantly by the sheer compatibility of
these amps with the COPERNICUS. But the harshness disappeared completely once I
started experimenting by switching the power cords and speaker cables to
Western Electric wires (the 1960s Nassau and 1940s US Navy vintage versions)
supplied by an independent local online retailer in Singapore. And this is where my review begins in
earnest.
Box
Shape Sound Enhancement (BSSE)
After the COPERNICUS premiered at the
2015 Munich High End Show, I was immediately impressed by its shape. It
reminded me of the family of medieval musical instruments collectively known as
the Lute. Mr Lorenzo Martinelli confirmed that the Lute was indeed the
inspiration for the COPERNICUS. And as I researched on the Internet, the Lute
was also featured in the famous painting by the Italian Baroque artist,
Caravaggio. The Mandolin is of course one of the most famous versions of the
Lute. Its shape was distinctive: an elongated boat-like main body, not unlike a
long serving bowl sealed with a flat top, and a hole over which musical strings
were tautly overlaid in neat rows; additionally, the stem where the strings
terminated at the upper end was vastly shorter than the boat-like main body.
Compared to the acoustic guitar we are all familiar with in the hands of a
Francis Goya, John Williams or the Romero family of guitarists, the Lute seemed
bloated and certainly looked heavy. Yet the Lute was designed to fill medieval
chambers with an expansive, pure, plucked musical sound. The large, bloated
body functioned as a massive resonance chamber ensuring that its sound
travelled widely and in unmistakable notes. The history of the Lute has it that
it was traditionally played by a male singer who also sung in high pitch.
Emmespeakers believes that speakers’
shapes have to make full use of the physical setting they are put into. Hence
their buzzword ‘BSSE’ as I have spelt out in the subtitle of this section. Like
the Lute, the COPERNICUS speakers radiated sound naturally across the entire
listening room with jaw dropping naturalness, doing justice to the Lute. When
one listens to classical music, the impression of the Baroque and the beautiful
simplicity and air of the violin, flute, and of course the Lute, transport you
blissfully to the musical chambers of old. Listen to oboe music, you will feel
the soul in classical music right away too. The accompanying information sheet
signed by the Emmespeakers’ Chief Product Officer suggests that the speakers
should be positioned 80 centimetres from any rear wall. My experience concurs
completely with this advice. I would even add that the BSSE design allows this
set of speakers to be positioned comfortably in even small listening rooms
without losing musical coherence. A small room in my estimation should be as
big as, or no smaller than, a single occupant hotel room in a four-star hotel.
Realism
via Asynchronous Output between Front and Rear Drivers
Typically, of Emmespeakers’ original
three piece range of the Da Vinci, COPERNICUS and the Galileo, their speakers
were meant to accentuate the realism in every recording whether it was streamed
digitally, reproduced through CD or vinyl.
Additionally, the rear facing large bass driver was an innovation rarely
seen in most modern loudspeaker designs. The brilliance of a bipolar direction
of reproducing sound is said to mimic how a live concert should be. Concert
halls seldom fully damp or successfully direct the sound from the stage to
every corner of the seated audience. So much depends on reverberation,
randomness of the spill over and radiation of sounds from all kinds of room
surfaces. I hate to admit it, but this is why live performances are always
special and the benchmark against which HiFi listening at home is always
assessed against. The COPERNICUS plays to this expectation. This is also why this
pair of speakers challenges vintage gear to match its sophistication.
I played the early (i.e. late 1980s)
Japanese remasters of Perry Como’s And I Love You So LP and a
compilation of the Anita Kerr singers titled The Sound of Silence – both
on CD – for this review and was deeply impressed by the analogue clarity of
these recordings. I chose these recordings because they would always be
reproduced in dull tones accompanied by lots of instrumental detail by more
modern amplifiers. With the COPERNICUS, it was almost as if these 70s singers
were present in three dimensions in my listening room. Every artistic
exaggeration of vowels and consonants was captured and revealed in surprising
detail along with a thrilling soundstage. This is of course, also a fine
testimony to the engineering genius of vintage amplifiers of the 1970s. The
sound of Anita Kerr’s singers is particularly exacting because they were trying
to blend a classical soprano style with a jazzy swinging sound without trying
to copy Ray Conniff or the Gunter Kallman Singers.
Transparency
The COPERNICUS are extremely
transparent speakers, but they are also slightly demanding on volume outputs.
All three vintage amplifiers tested here required volume settings at least
number two to bring out the best in the COPERNICUS. But the transparency in
every recording from Tina Turner, to ABBA, to Mantovani, Paul Mauriat and even
Taylor Swift is astounding in the dream combination of vintage amplifiers, the
COPERNICUS, and Western Electric cables. If a HiFi system can trick the mind
into time travel listening mode, this is as close as it can get.
Some of you may wonder how COPERNICUS compares with the Da Vinci I raved about in earlier reviews on this blog. First of all, both are veritable art objects with their gilded metal leaf designs and worth keeping for life, each colour choice customized to your taste. The Da Vincis are vastly easier to match with virtually every amplifier I have ever owned and sold, sketching a sonic presence far larger than its almost bookshelf size. But the COPERNICUS is a statuesque presence unto itself – a postmodern celebration of the medieval Lute – and an exceptionally demanding pair of speakers that rewards you with living presence stereo once you make the right pairing. Under the creativity of the Martinellis, this pair of speakers are more than worthy of their historical namesake, the mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus. Moreover, it is dressed up with a therapeutic circle of blue light for mood effects which can be turned on or off with a simple switch at the back of each speaker. In my modest review here, I am also offering you the reader three gorgeous samples of 1970s analogue amplifiers matched to a timeless pair of audio sculpture – try them in combination, you won’t regret it.
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