|
Quadral Vulkan VIII Floor standing speakersWould it set our listening room alight I wondered? Hmmm...
As a loudspeaker designer myself I understand the various approaches and their reasons and can feel what the designers of the Vulkan VIII had on their head with this particular towering monster, one that stands 1.27 metres high no less. Thread tweeter and a metal coned midrange will collectively sound 'rapid', but it is not easy to get equivalently 'quick' bass capable to keep up and you get a two part loudspeaker, sound wise. If a couple of 8in drive units are used, as in Tannoy's DC8T deep bass can be wrung from interfaces, and loads of it
This solution never gives the bass slam in or 15in bass unit in a cupboard that is giant of a large 12. It is something once they have heard it, usually from large, old loudspeakers bearing likenesses to your broom cupboard many crave. Having lived with Leak 2075 then Leak 3090s and s, followed by Tannoy Yorkminsters I know something or three concerning this broom cupboard experience. It is like having one thrown at you!
Yet, use a 12in bass unit in you are confronted using a creature in the lounge and a loudspeaker. Merely look at contributor Adam Smith and his Escape 2075s, using their Leak Sandwich 13 in bass units. Great aren't they! But the front of this type of loudspeaker stretches out to broom cupboard width to accommodate a 13in sandwich bass unit and not everybody is happy in regards to the outcome that is visual, specifically the remaining family. Also, broad front baffles picture badly.
Then it cannot handle anything above 100Hz, although faced with this problem makers are tempted to place the bass unit on the right or left side of the loudspeaker. This strategy enables them to keep the front baffle acceptably narrow, merely 29 cms, which lessens the feeling of looming existence.
So although you are unable to see it, the big Vulcan VIII is a three way, and also a heavy one also, weighing 55kgs apiece. It's ported and you cannot see this either, as the port is underneath downward. As it were, with a back facing port a plinth holds the cupboard just above the floor to provide breathing room.
So the Vulkan VIII is a three way with reflex loaded '12in' bass unit arranged so as not to look like a broom cupboard. Enormous bass units generate low distortion, our measurements show, and give cleaner, tighter bass than fighting 8in units the Vulkan VIII has possible.
Nonetheless, it truly is clean, too as the ribbon tweeter that establishes the pace, because these matters are rapidly.
The Vulkan VIII has Quadral's own design, recently enlarged to go louder and lower, 10dB louder they say.
All the ribbon tweeters I've used in the past reached down leaving an awkward gap to be filled by expecting quite too much from the midrange unit. Celestion's Graham Bank has done before, notably enormous ribbons that go low, however they're expensive and difficult to make.
Ours came in deep gloss black although there appear to be five distinct finishes. The back joining panel has tough screw terminals that take spades bare cables or 4m plugs and enable biwiring. As you may anticipate, the Vulkan concluded and is very well assembled.
SOUND QUALITY
There isn't any running preface to sound quality because - mercifully - run was come by our review samples in. Them ran with Monitor Audio's Detox disc for 24 hours and I began listening with our Icon Audio 845 valve monoblock power amplifiers set to 4 Ohms. In this scenario bass seemed a bit one- note and boofy and not quite correct. As there's an input signal blocking capacitor this may well need to 'see' a low source impedance, which it would not. So placed, and firing right down the space, is how the Vulkans were reviewed.
Quadral put effort into getting an evenly balanced loudspeaker, a property I greatly value, and their philosophy subsonics are followed by the Vulkans in check.
Going up and down facing the loudspeaker showed vertical integration really good out at ordinary listening distances - fairly a lot better. Finest ear stature was just below the ribbons but the change in sound balance wasn't great as I moved farther up or down. Listening on the central axis of the thread unit, meaning high up, did add in the hiss of strong treble that is high occasionally, however just from CDs possessing lots of high frequency content.
The opening drum strike of Angelique Kidjo's 'Agolo' was muffled when it comes to subsonic content. It came and went fast, seeming strong but well damped. There was none of the resonant boom that I regularly hear from ported loudspeakers. The sound stage has a celestial quality, something I always love, with the ribbons sitting high, I 10 cms over the floor. And with lots of treble bouncing side walls off the stage seems broad, even though we use enormous acoustic damping pads on our walls as part of the room's settee. Kick drum was tightly managed and powerful too. But, the loudspeakers possess a slight boxy thud occasionally, when pressed like this, and here I firmly guess box colour is not being let through by the huge bass cones, not helped by a closeby baffle . Bass comes over as tight, dry and strong, giving a strong kick to the enormous Vulkans. Adele's vocals had all the power expected from them and were formed.
Nigel's Stradivarius came across as large and solid in nature, smooth and deeply comprehensive - impressive by any standard. There wasn't the phasiness common on dome tweetered competitions, presumably due to the ribbon tweeter. My only small concern here was that his violin lacked the timbral signature of a wooden bodied instrument with gut strings; it was strongly. With no peaks or dips or manufactured emphases, our measurements show, they sounded deliciously smooth and natural, rare with ribbon equipped loudspeakers whose designers like to raise treble just to illustrate the arresting properties of ribbon treble units -tremendous, speed, detail and incision. Quadral have resisted this, so I found I could love their wonderful ribbon unit without needing to wince at sonic lances, for ribbon tweeters to can be challenging if too forth. The midrange unit integrates well, to mar crossover without any change of character, and bass has been engineered to be tight and quick, rather than obvious and big. In strong check bass energy was held for this kind of big loudspeaker; the Vulkans are not Tannoys! Achieving this helps by keeping slow the loudspeaker play with a bass tune-to-disintegrate treatment that is acoustic. Maracas rang out clearly and metallic percussion instruments that were great hung in space beautifully.
Swathes of complex detail accompanied the backing singers as well as the layered instruments of Kidjo's backing band, bringing an occupied that was lovely feel to proceeding. The Vulkans sound clean and distortion free, yet they sound relaxed although they move along in a lively pace. Able to resolve strong dynamic contrasts for a loudspeaker which is fleet of foot engagingly dynamic too, this makes.
Turning volume up with Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' the Vulkans became wickedly loud but remained clean and relaxed, almost blowing me back over the a color too metallic in nature. I was using Eminent Technology LFT-16s as a reference here, due to their capability showing that such properties do exist in the recording. The English Chamber Orchestra sounded lush and big behind Nigel, instruments and each other well discerned .
They saw into this record, surrounding him with cues, along with myriads of fine detail into the encompassing studio, in a performance that came over as simple, unforced yet powerful. Carton colour is highlighted by deep male vocals though and again I became aware of some boxiness that is little, almost definitely coming from the bass unit that is huge. It was unintrusive and a relatively modest effect though.
DECISION
Large loudspeakers often have surplus treble, substantial bass and powerful features too.
Quadral mostly succeeded in producing a sound of large scale but great control and have tried in the Vulkan VIII - not properties that are not difficult to join. It runs cleanly without abnormal emphasis within the whole sound range from the greatest highs all the way down to the lowest lows. This really is a dry, managed, delicately balanced but precise loudspeaker. With copious dynamics, it's big hearted also, yet goes from loud to soft with an alacrity that is uncommon. This gives it a smooth ability that defies other loudspeakers.
With so much effort in the design, including an excellent knowledge of how you can tie together the various elements in terms that are subjective to reach a cohesive whole, as opposed to a disparate set of sonic parts, the Vulkan VIII is one notable loudspeaker. That is one you ought to hear, in the event you wish to hear a modern, nicely engineered loudspeaker, with excellent imaging and astonishing detail, plus deep, rapid bass. I am happy to report it didn't burst into flame so it gets five globes that are complete. Vulcan may not be too joyful - but I was. |