Hello friends.
Im sorry Ive not been able to post my impressions of Lyrita Audios new Amity speakers earlier; reason-my computer has been misbehaving since 12-15 days & has thankfully not hanged today so Im grabbing the opportunity.
Soundsgreat has given his impressions alongwith some lovely pics of this latest offering from Lyritas stable so youve already had a foretaste of this speaker.
I & some other audiophile members have been listening to this speaker over some extended listening sessions with a wide variety of music, in order to get an impression of this speaker & also to give our inputs to Viren as an aid to tweaking & finalizing the sonic signature- a very interesting & exciting process, I must say.
Viren is one of the designers who has an open mind towards comments about his products which has helped him in his quest to continually refine them; he does not react like a mother hearing comments about her fav child, like some other designers Ive interacted with in the past.
And now, on to the Amitys.
Design- 2 Way, Hybrid- Open baffle + Bass reflex, rear ported. Input jacks-1Pair.
Drivers- Mid
s&Highs- 6 full range Fostex FE 167E in the open baffle
Bass- 12 Eminence BETA-12A-2 ,in the bass reflex cabinet.
Sensitivity- 95db/ 1 Watt/ 1 Metre.
Frequency Response- 40 Hz to 18 Khz, into 8 Ohms.
Crossover- 300 Hz, 6db/ Octave.
Height/Width/Depth: 1100x365x400mm.
Weight 30kgs/pair.
Tonal balance- (3 way switch)- Flat, + 1db, - 1 db.
Listening impressions
The first session was on the 2nd Oct afternoon.
The initial objective was to find out how well the speakers met the design objective, viz , to provide enhanced bass energy at the lower end alongwith even more open sounding mids & highs , for the benefit of audiophiles who wanted greater bass slam than what the Fostex alone could provide, ( impt for the younger ones with a taste for hard/metal rock!), along with Bass definition.
We would also listen to the Tonal balance, Bass/Mid/Treble performance, Soundstaging, Detail & Dynamics, Coherence & , very importantly, Musicality
Present were HifiAshok & friend ,Rohit, Siddharth Trehan & friend ,self & our host Viren.
Partnering Eqpt-6C33CB SET Amp + Marantz 5001 CDP, Lyrita solid core Hi purity copper ICs & Spkr Cables, power thru an Isolation Transformer.
Listening Area- 15 x 20 x 10 Hall, medium furnished, open entrance on left doors to right & behind, doors mid & end of the left wall,window end of right wall.
We heard the following music:-
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Dire Straits- Money for nothing, Brother in Arms,
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Sarah Maclachlan- Just like me, Unchained Melody,
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Oliver Tuku Mlukudji tracks from album Nhava,
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Best in Lounge-Smooth Guitar-Pat Metheny-Last train home,Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rimbel-The Merced,
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Sun Lounger-Another day on the Terrace-Another day,
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Patricia Barber-tracks from-A fortnight in France, live in Paris,
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Definitive INXS-Need you tonight,
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Music in a Great Space, St James Church, Chicago-Choir & Cathedral Organ,
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Clarence Gatemouth Brown- You can disagree,
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FleetwoodMac- Rumours- The Chain,
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Sarah Maclachlan I love you,
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Kalpana Zokarkar- sach kaho more batiyaan
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Sufi Gold- Man kunto-Abida Parveen, Mera sohna sajan gharNusrat fateh Ali Khan,
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Rebecca Pidgeon- The Raven-Spanish Harlem,
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Mark Knopfler-Screen Playing- The Long Road,
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Rock On-Yeh tumhaari meri baatein
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Rene Olsted- Summertime,
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Michael Jackson- Thriller- Billie Jean.
As you would observe, we played a fairly wide variety of music from albums brought in by all the audiophiles interspersed with discussions on our impressions.
What we heard was a speaker with great promise, exhibiting excellent transient response,true timbral capabilities, outstanding bass definition & palpable weight, free floating mids & highs & excellent soundstaging capabilities.
Along with the SET Amp, it made a pretty musical system.
But, HifiAshok & I felt that some work was required in the tonal balance which we conveyed to Viren.
Thereafter, I went by myself for couple more sessions,( since others could not make it on weekdays) after Viren said that hed done some work on the speakers, & then some more, during the 3rd session.
The setup had been moved to Virens sitting room;
Dimensions 10x12x10, opening to a hallway on the front of the left wall, entrance door on the front end of the right wall, door to the balcony rear of the left wall, ceiling height book case rear of the right wall, two well stuffed sofas along the right & left walls ,2 listening chairs at the sweet spot,
Speakers positioned abt 6 .5 ft apart,
toed in 15 degrees from the horizontal
I spent many, many hours listening .
The following music was played during the sessions:-
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Mozart-Violin Concert ,D Major-Allegro,
Ensemble 96/0 Fevang-Nystedt-Immortal Bach, both from the 2L Sampler, very high quality recording,
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Unforgettables- Jagjit & Chitra-Baat niklegi, & Raat bhi neend,
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M.Jackson-Thriller- Billie Jean & Human Nature,
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Shirley Horn-The Ultimate Shirley Horn-tracks from,
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Beatles- Past Masters Vol II( 2009 Remaster)- Hey Jude & few other tracks,
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Classics Revival CD # 32- Lata,Aaj Socha Film Hanste Zakhm, ( one of my top 5 songs by Lata) & some other tracks,
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Ustad Rashid Khan- Albela saajan,
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Pt Channulal Mishra- some Horis from his CD,
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MS Subbulakshmi- Meera Bhajans- More to girdhar gopal & some other tracks,
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Bade Ghulam Ali Khan- Thumries- Saiyyan bolo,
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Kumar Gandharva- Raag Bhairav- Ravi ke karam hai,
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Pt Jasraj- Raag Multani,
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Ahmad Jamal- tracks from Legendary Okeh & Epic recordings,
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Shirley Horn-I remember Miles-My funny Valentine,
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Sonny Rollins-The sound of Sonny,
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Bill Evans Trio-tracks from Sunday at the Village Vanguard,
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Thelonious Monk-tracks from- Monks Music,
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Patricia Barber- tracks from-The Cole Porter Mix,
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Kari Bremnes- tracks from- Norweigan Mood,
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Sarah Vaughn- tracks from In Hifi,
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Ray Charles - Genius + Soul = Jazz,
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Vienna Boys Choir-tracks from,
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Fleetwood Mac-Rumours- Never going back, I dont want to know, The Chain,
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Ustad Vilayat Khan-Raag Gun Kalyan, Tilak Kamod, Lalit,
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Ustad Ali Akbar Khan-Raag Bhairavi & Dhun,
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Pt Nikhil Bannerjee-Thumri Raag Pilu,
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Sergei Racmaninoff- The Flight of the Bumblebee,
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Bach- Toccata & Fugue-Los Angeles First Congregational Church Organs, Michael Murray, Organist,
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Immortal Classics :-
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Smetana Ma Vlast : Vltava(Die Molda) Israel Philharmonic,
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Massenet- Meditation from the Thais-John Giorgiadis, Violin, LSO,
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Brahms- Hungarian Dance No 5,G Minor, Royal Philharmonic,
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Manger Test Disc, track # 2,
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Magic Moments-Dali Demo Disc :-
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Henri Mancini-Pink Panther,
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Nils Lofgren-Keith dont go,
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Hugh Maskela-Stimela,
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Ben Webster- Gentle Ben,
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Safri Duo- Samb Allegro.
I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the audition.
The Performance Of the Amity's with the SET
First & foremost,
Tonality & Timbral Accuracy.
In my view correct tonality ,ability to accurately convey the unique timbre of acoustic instruments is very impt for full emotional involvement in the music.
If this is not spot on , you keep getting the feeling that you are listening to reproduced music, your mind gets distracted & you cant enjoy the music.
I particularly took note of this ,whether the Amitys were conveying the unique sonic signature of the various instruments in the variety of music I was listening to.
The Amity did very well in this.
It was all there the rasp & bite of the trumpet, the honeyed, breathy, raspy tone of the Saxophone ( very complex timbre, not easy to get right), the majesty of the piano, the complex magical tone of the Sitar in the hands of a master with the rich harmonics, the tone of the human voice in speech.
I was well satisfied while listening to tracks featuring the piano, sax, trumpet, sitar, bass guitar & double bass,& the sarod- they sounded just the way they should sound.
Next,
Bass/Midrange/Treble performance.
Ive mentioned earlier as to how the Bass definition & weight of the Amitys took my breath away. This is bass of a very high quality- Tight, fast, articulate with not a hint of overhang.
In the Jazz Albums tracks, MJs Billie Jean, Dire Straits Money For Nothing Intro, the drums sounded taut & explosive, the strokes clearly differentiated, with the bass guitar & the double bass the separate tones of the strings & the fingerwork came thru clearly.
The bass was multi toned, not a single note boom, boom as is the case with improperly damped, uncontrolled woofers.
Granted, these speakers roll off appreciably in the bottom two octaves, but you still get that sense of deep thrumming bass-e.g, in Sarah Maclachlans I love you & Kari Bremnes The Ship.
But 40 Hz on, they do a superb job.
About the
Midrange, it has been said that if this isnt right, nothing else matters.
And Mids are where 80% of the musical information resides.
Here the Amitys were expected to shine , given Virens familiarity & experience with the Fostexs & they didnt disappoint.
Having got used to the Harmony speakers of Lyritas midrange magic I didnt really expect any improvement, but there is. Due to the open baffle design, the Mids & the Highs seem to float in the open air.There is a sense of ease, effortlessness, space & airiness that has to be heard to be believed.
Vocals, esp female vocals in the nos. by Sarah Maclachlan, Sarah Vaughn, Kari Bremnes, Shirley Horn, Patricia Barber,the pure vocals in The Vienna Boys Choir, were capable of moving you to tears, if you, like I do ,often listen to music for its own sake. And Lata, believe me, youll get a lump in your throat thatll refuse to go away.
I esp played the Ensemble track from the 2L sampler and it sounded absolutely ethereal.
The male vocals sounded natural, not chesty or nasal or honky .I lay back & enjoyed the performances by Rashid Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb( my benchmark for a male classical vocalist), Pt Jasraj , Pt Channulal Mishras lovely raspy & wonderfully controlled & evocative voice-they sounded so good with all the harmonics of their voice coming thru.
It is in such subtleties that the superb transient response of the Fostex drivers, their ability to project the low level details becomes apparent. In the male vocals where the lower midrange is more prevalent, the seamless integration of the Fostex with the Eminence driver is clearly evident.
As for
Treble , after the tweaks following the first audition, it sounds sweet & liquid as it should..
My test for this has been track number 2 from Jagjit & Chitras Unforgettables, Chitra's "Raat bhi neend bhi.."
If the treble is not controlled, she can sound unbearably screechy- here she sounded just fine so one could enjoy the delicacy of her high pitched voice which gets overwhelmed otherwise.
In so many other tracks e.g the Ensemble from2L, the violin track from the Immortal Classics CD, the Mozart track from 2L, the backing Tanpura in the Hindustani music tracks, the Sitar tracks , in the Music from a Great Space, the Bach toccata & Fugue, the high quality of the treble contributed to the sense of air, of space, of delicacy.
The open baffle design has really worked excellently for the Mids & the Highs.
Soundstaging : The Amitys threw up a wide, well delineated soundstage, spilling over beyond he speakers., . There was a strong centre image of the vocalist/s, with clear placement of the instruments on the either side.There was a palpable width & depth to the acoustic image.
With Hindustani classical music track, the sense of presence of the musicians was startling, as with other vocal performances.
There was a real sense of the presence of the orchestra with several layers apparent.
The Amitys created a perceptible sense of space in the Ensemble track from 2l, the Vienna Boys choir, The Great Space track recorded in Chicagos St James Cathedral, the Bach Toccata & Fugue, with their superb transient response, detailing ability,transparency.
The Amity's have a widish sweet spot & the soundstage does not abruptly collapse if one were a bit off centre.
High marks on this one.
Coherence & Detail : I have mentioned earlier re the seamless integration of the two drivers even with a lower than conventional crossover & a gradual slope.
This has largely been possible not only because of the careful design of the crossover but also because the two drivers share very similar sensitivities, apart from both being paper cone drivers. Thus there is no sense of lag in the performance of the woofer vis a vis the Fostex.Both seem to perform as one.
No doubt Viren's experience with the sound of his single drivers aided him as to what to strive for when designing this speaker.
Thus there is a seamless coherence between the bass, the mids & the highs.
What you hear is the wholeness of he music instead of transitions between these frequency ranges .
About the sense of detailing & transparency, Ive made mention at several places.
These speakers can pull out & present large amounts of low level details, the harmonics the subtle nuances that project the emotion of the music.
Musicality: To my mind , the ultimate parameter while reproducing music.
One of the major reasons why so much music was played during the listening sessions was to see if these speakers had the ability to deeply involve one in the music. If a system is unable to convey the emotion in the music, it becomes a boring affair & one soon loses interest.
How does a musician convey the emotion of the music?
Lets take an example, Ashaji singing Chain se ham ko kabhie.
It is possible for a singer with some amount of technical training and practice to sing all the words of this song in the right pitch & cadence.
Will it be the same?
No, because Ashaji due to her inherent genius sings those very notes with slight variations of volume, pitch, vibrato , emphasis which may be very small & subtle but which marvelously succeed in conveying the sense of sadness & desolation of the lyrics. She successfully conveys the emotion , & it moves us as no technically correct but emotionally sterile rendition can.
When a speaker, a system, can accurately & faithfully project all this subtle artistry of an accomplished musician, we will go through an emotionally satisfying experience .The system has successfully conveyed the emotional intent of the composer, the performer.
I played many tracks that Ive heard again & again over the years & which have never failed to move me deeply.
For example, the Album by MS Subbulaxmi. Ive worn out three cassettes & was desolate until SaReGaMa came out with a CD a few years back.
Mind you, the recording quality is nothing to write home about, Chesky would probably laugh at the fact that anybody could listen to it.
But, the genius of that artist & the ability of her music making to exalt!
Similarly, the Thumries by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan sahib, the magic of Latas virtuosity, the astonishing ability of Shirley Horn to establish a mood with a few deft touches, the timeless magic of Fleetwood Macs Rumours, the humungous talent of the Beatles( try singing Hey Jude-looks simple does it? Just try!), Jagjit & Chitra- how old do you think their Unforgettables album is? Ive got it on Vinyl, on Cassette, & now on CD, & still keep listening to it. Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan,Pt Jasraj, Ustad Rashid Khan &
When you can sit back & play all these old beloved favourites on a system for hours & not notice the time passing by, then surely that system is doing something right.You are fully gripped , emotionally.
The SET & the Amitys gel that well together.
Another session was held on Sunday, the 11th Oct, when Dr Sanjay Dhawan & HifiAshok made time from their commitments to come over & listen to the Amitys ,after all the tweaking.
Plus, we wanted to see how the Amitys would fare with Hard /Metal rock.
Sanjay & Ashok are old fans of this genre while I am not ,so it was fitting that they should get a selection, listen & decide.This was important for the sake of such of the audiophiles who listen a lot to this kind of music.
We heard the following:
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Whos Next- Getting in tune, The sing is over, Behind blue eyes, Baba ORiley,
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Dire Straits Sultans of Swing,
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Eagles-Hotel California,
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Nirvana- Smells like team spirit, Come as you are,
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U2 Vertigo, Mysterious ways,
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Hard Rock Caf Sampler Saving Abel- track-Addicted, Katy Perry-track-I kissed a girl.
And lastly, Ashok pulled out the
Sheffield Labs Drum & Track Disc & played the track-
Improvisations to see how a relatively low powered ( 15 Watts ) SET Amp would fare with tracks especially compiled for testing of bass performance.
We were all stunned at the quality of bass put out by the system, even Viren !
The Bass was Tight, Fast, Articulate & Palpable. It was a real treat listening to this performance . This was bass of a very high order, just as bass should be.
Sanjay & Ashok will be posting their impressions shortly.
Since then , the sound of the Amity has improved further as the drivers break in.
Viren figures that itll take at least 50 hrs for the speaker to settle down.
Will go over again for another listen & see if they can be partnered with a SS Amp & how that sounds.
I leave you with some pics of the Amitys & the system.
here is the curtain raiser for the Lyrita's Amity !!
hyeah:!!of course am sure the SET plays a huge role in the magic!!kudos!!
