I went over to The Listening Room here in Bangalore to listen to Trigon Energy amp + Blumenhofer Fun 17 speakers. I have not listened to either of these and was keen to listen to horn speakers from Blumenhofer. From what Jochen had told me, the Fun17 speakers were beyond my budget (they are ~2.75L) and Genuine 4.2 (?) (< 2L) were more likely within my range.
Set-up:
Unfortunately, Jochen did not have the Energy int amp as it was out for a home demo so he played the Fun17 speakers through Trigon pre and power (mono blocks) amps. The source was a Trigon CDP and the speakers were slightly toed in and kept around 7-8 feet apart.
Jochen characterizes the Energy amp as being more fast paced than the pre/power combo that I was going to listen to. As for the speakers, they can be characterized as mildly warm. As compared to the Fun 17, the Genuine 4.2 are significantly warmer as per Jochen. Net-net, the anticipated signature for me was a warm one.
Audition:
I started the audition with R.E.M tracks. The tracks are peppy with loads of guitar play and some drums with the songs being dominated by vocals. As compared my Monitor 9, I could make out the warmth of the Fun 17 speakers. They are not as warm as Wharfdales but are they what I am looking out for? May be not. They have metal tweeters but you would never say that if you hear them. Very unlike my ported Monitor 9 which are also having metal (aluminium) tweeters. The reason I am comparing these two altogether different speakers is that I had always assumed a particular characteristic with a type of tweeter material. Clearly, a TL speaker can sound very much different than a ported speaker with the same type of material. This was my first exp with a TL speaker.
The sound stage was not very expansive but I could clearly place the vocals centrally. I often use the term "sparkle" to define my preferred forward sounding signature as I want to stress on the good part of brightness but stop short of being uncomfortable. The sparkle of the guitars which I hear in my Monitor 9s was missing and they were laid back in the set up. Clearly, it is a matter of taste but for me, I would have liked a slightly more forward sounding set up. The vocals sounded a bit recessed and came to fore only when I cranked up the volume a bit.
This is where the unfortunate infra of India cut in and there was a power cut. So I hung around for 15-20 mins but I realized that there was no certainty when it would be back. Jochen and his wife were being a gracious host and I did not want to over extend myself so I decided to come back later, particularly when the Trigon Energy amp would be available.
I was not able to listen to most of my CDs which help me understand better the separation and imaging of the set-up. But I came back clear with the idea that Blumenhofer are warm speakers in the classic mould and so are Trigon amps.
If you were to ask me for my initial preference, I would have ProAcs over Fun 17 speakers. As for the amps, they remain in contention as they have been defined as being more dynamic than the mono-blocks but are clearly more expensive than Exposure amps.
I must state that Jochen is giving sizeable discounts on most of his portfolio as these products cost significantly more as per the MRP.
I will post my further observations when I get to audition the Trigon Energy amps specifically.
Good speaker.
hyeah:
