Swiss Voice Aluminum Series No. 3 Stenheim Alumine Three
In the 2021 American Audio Book Stereophile magazine Stereophile No. 10 issue, Swiss Voice Aluminum No. 3 speakers ranked among the best in 2021 In the autumn A-level list, critic Herb Reichert gave a very good review of the Aluminum No. 3 speaker:
The Swiss-made Swiss Voice Aluminum No. 3 floor-standing speaker is not only the best I have ever reviewed The most expensive audio equipment, and its cost is 10 times that of Falcon Acoustics Gold Badge LS3/5a speakers, so I naturally thought: Is Aluminum Gold Badge 3 really so good? If it's really 10 times better, then what is so special about it that makes it so good?
Aluminum No. 3 is a slim floor-standing speaker, 41.3 inches high, 9.8 inches wide, and only 13 inches deep. It is a box made of aluminum alloy and weighs 154 pounds. Walter Swanbon, the Swiss Voice distributor in the United States, put them on an air-cushioned trolley and pushed them to the location I designated. He told me that I guarantee you will like this speaker. It is noble and has a paper cone unit design. The sound is very natural in terms of expression of both vocals and instruments. In order to compete with the speaker designs of Magico and Wilson, Swiss Voice Aluminum 3 came into being. Aluminum Gold No. 3 is particularly easy to push, and can be pushed with a small power amplifier; and their size is very suitable for the family living room, they are not as fat as Harbeths, and not as tall as Wilsons, so this thing is really good Cool! But I am still a little hesitant, and I have some doubts about whether Aluminum No. 3 can perform well at 25 watts of power? It is standing quietly in front of me now. Its appearance is neither flashy nor shiny. I am still shocked by its special European matte design. In my tests, the Swiss Voice loudspeakers always showed their Swiss craftsmanship, their natural and harmonious production, and the reproduction of music and vocals that put them at the center of attention.
After Walter Swanbon left, I connected the Aluminum 3 to my 25Wpc Pass Labs XA25 amplifier and started playing Balbalou's Cheikh L? album. Yes, this speaker is very expensive, and expensive is a sound descriptor I've never used before. Here, it really means exquisite and noble. Walter Swanbon was not lying when he said it was easy to drive. Under normal circumstances, the Stenheim is the Swiss Voice 25 watts that can effortlessly demonstrate its musical quality.
The first fundamental sonic quality I noticed about the Aluminum 3 speakers was their exceptionally smooth frequency and detail clarity. During my listening process, the most attractive qualities of the Aluminum No. 3 were its good musical structure and excellent evenness, focus and clarity. After playing a few random tracks, I suddenly felt that the power of this three-inch-tall Pass Labs might be more than that. Its output was really higher than 25 watts; then, I am sure that Stenheim can easily use 10 watts. Push it. The Aluminum 3s sound great, and with just 10 watts of push, the Aluminum 3s breathe easily even at higher-than-normal volumes, even Evelyn Glennie's Electroacoustic Concerto at 85dB. Distortion, so it's really outstanding.
The first fundamental sonic quality I noticed about the Aluminum 3 speakers was their exceptionally smooth frequency and detail clarity.
During my listening process, the most attractive feature of Lijin 3 is its good musical structure and excellent evenness, focus and clarity. After playing a few random tracks, I suddenly felt that the three-inch-tall Pass Labs might be more than that. Its output power was really higher than 25 watts. Then, I am sure that Stenheim can easily use 10 watts. Push it. The Aluminum 3s sound great, and with just 10 watts of push, the Aluminum 3s breathe easily even at higher-than-normal volumes, even Evelyn Glennie's Electroacoustic Concerto at 85dB. Distortion, so it's really outstanding.
Tall, handsome, high sensitivity
According to the Stenheim website, the sensitivity of Aluminum No. 3 is specified as "93dB, half space". I recognize what "half space" means from buying the original speaker driver, but I'd like to know why Stenheim states so in its specs. "For this measurement, our speakers were placed directly on the floor, a boundary, hence what is called a half-space," Panchard, Stenheim's CEO and lead designer, also said in an email Told me: Ceilings, back walls, and side walls may all have different effects on frequency-dependent sensitivity based on speaker location and wall material. The half-space value is the minimum sensitivity the user can achieve in a well-damped space, all Stenheim specifies a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, with a minimum of 3 ohms.
The Aluminum 3’s driver lineup includes two 8-inch woofers and a 5-inch midrange driver, all made from a “proprietary multi-layer cone material,” in Panchard’s own words It's "high-strength cellulose fiber impregnated on both sides and coated with damping resin." The midrange and bass drivers are made by PHL Audio, and above the midrange cone is a 1-inch silk dome tweeter with sound from Scan-Speak neodymium magnet; the bottom woofer features a "high-excursion half-volume HBR rubber surround"; the upper 8" woofer has a pleated fabric surround. It also says it is a "transducer with a rubber surround for bass extension, with The woofer has a fabric surround for better transient reproduction; the two bass transducers are tuned to share the same low-frequency cabinet volume, but the two drivers have different low-pass transition points, both The back wave of each driver is pushed out through the narrow slot port located at the bottom front of the cabinet. The crossover of the aluminum gold 3 uses Mundorf components and is divided into two parts: the bass part is installed in the bass chamber with switching points of 145Hz and 300Hz. The tweeter section is housed in an upper chamber with a 2.4kHz crossover frequency. Its cavity-type internal support cabinet is made of CNC-machined aluminum sheets with thicknesses varying between 0.5" and 1". Settings
Before two Swiss Voice dealers handed me the aluminum No. 3 speakers, they told me on the phone: "I know your room, and I also know the sound of the speakers in your room." "SwissWide really blends the speaker into your room." He was absolutely right, it was only a few inches away from where I specified it. After he left, I did some Adjusting, bringing them a few inches closer, and constantly testing the distance between the speakers and the wall, I found that their character and focus barely changed much as I adjusted them at different distances, and their listening windows were on the horizontal plane. Very wide too.
Finally, I separated the Aluminum No. 3 by six feet, and the distance between the front of the speaker and the rear wall was 33 inches. At this time, the focus of the sound field and the high-frequency tonal performance were the best. All the Aluminum No. 3 launched The sound effects all converged just above my head. The feeling is beyond words!
I usually lie lazily on the sofa. At this time, the distance between my ears and the ground is about 34 inches to 36 inches, and the position of the treble of Aluminum No. 3 is 38 inches, so I Raising my head a little or moving my seat back a little, I tried both.
Panchard said: "The listener should form an equilateral triangle with the speakers, or an isosceles triangle, where the speakers are closer to each other than they are to the listener. This will be an "The best range of sound is between 18 and 60 inches from the back wall," he adds. , I played the album Dead Magic by Anna Von Hausswolff repeatedly. Dead Magic is an oceanic music composed with many evocative layers and heavily processed vocals. In some systems, these sounds are difficult to Appreciate it, but Aluminum Gold 3 is very good at classifying these data, placing each music-soaked echo in a suitable space and displaying it. It is true that when the music is transmitted, the lingering lingering sound lingers in the ears, beautiful and clear.
During my time with the Aluminum 3, I noticed very clearly how quiet the Aluminum 3 is, very quiet, when compared to Falcons and other brands of speakers. What I mean by quiet is that there is almost no harsh sound produced, even at the ultra-low frequency limit. The extraordinary transparency reproduced by the XA25 Stenheims has never been more noticeable than when playing Trio Medieval's Solacium. In Solacium, Trio Medieval sings sacred lullabies in a way that blends ancient and modern expressions. The Aluminum 3 excels at reproducing the purity and lively character of Trio Medieval vocals. Acoustic bass notes are delivered with fast, tight and accurate tone. The Pass Labs-Stenheim combination showcases Solacium as a beautiful work of human art, radiant and awe-inspiring.
It took my brain two weeks to constantly accept the reality that a pair of expensive speakers are powered by a simple 25-watt Class A amplifier that is only 1/5 the price. This fact made me finally start to wonder what it would be like if Stenheim used Single ended triodes. To find out, I had the 22Wpc, 845-tube Line Magnetic LM-518IA driving the Stenheims while playing Charlie Parker's Encores – The Savoy Sessions. The instrumental sounds, especially Max Roach's drums and Miles Davis' trumpet, feel satisfying, with tonal and rhythmic changes just where I can notice and feel them, with just the right tone, rhythm, and texture .
While the above albums play easily at low power, if I were into big symphonies and floor-shaking soundtracks, I would choose to pair these SwissWound speakers with an 80-watt amplifier capable of exceeding the XA25, For example, Parasound's Halo A21 can output 250Wp at 8 ohms and 500Wp at 4 ohms. When the A21 pushes the music to the Aluminum 3, it's hands down the most powerful amplifier in its class to me, with the largest heatsinks and highest damping coefficient.
At all times, I could feel Parasound's control over the Swiss Sound, the way it framed and separated instruments on the album, and the A21's nearly full-range Aluminum 3 made it so much better than my Falcons or DeVores. This type of music plays louder, clearer, more open, easier to follow, and more fun. This music, this amplifier and this speaker are designed and made for each other.
During my review for the Swiss Voice, Roon sent me a brand new version of Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem's ??recording, which reminded me of the need for tall, beautiful speakers and poise to play such large-scale music. , powerful amplifier. I had forgotten how effective large amps and loudspeakers could be in mining vast, wide-range recordings, such as this powerful 1940 Benjamin Britten composition, compared to the diminutive Falcons and unobtrusive DeVores. Acoustic Aluminum 3 delivers a bigger "sound" thanks to high-fidelity volume, unbridled dynamics and absolute clarity, and of course more, deeper and less distorted low frequencies.
***Knowledge
I used to laugh at glossy, oversized, expensive speakers like any other fool. To me, they were show horses, not work horses, and I secretly called them "farm trucks." But the Swiss Voice dealer sent me professional grade beautifully matte aluminum gold 3 speakers and before I listened to them I admitted that I would like them, but only just that, but never as much as I liked the price. Cheap Falcons or DeVores like that. However! I was surprised by how much information Aluminum 3 would bring into my room, and how powerful and compelling this newfound information would be. So now I have to ask myself: Is Aluminum Gold 3 10x better than Falcon Gold Badges? Yes, I firmly believe it!
In addition to a smooth, coherent response between 50Hz and 250Hz (which the LS3/5a lacks), the SW Aluminum 3 also exhibits a completely colorless mid-range, which is less pronounced than the LS3/5a Quieter, more focused, clearer lens transparency. Overall, what makes the Swiss Voices 10 times better than the Falcons is their greater bass power and extension - as well as their extraordinary mid-range clarity.
My conclusion
When I review audio equipment, I always compare the equipment I want to review with equipment in the same price range to find their differences or advantages and disadvantages. So as to make an evaluation; but this sometimes becomes difficult because it is difficult for me to accurately grasp the differences between the equipment. However, this time when I reviewed Swiss Voice Aluminum Gold 3, I was able to draw a conclusion very easily. The difference between Aluminum 3 and other top luxury speakers lies in two points: first, Swiss Voice gives us a feeling of home and companionship; second, and more importantly, Aluminum 3 is not difficult to drive. There are some inefficient speakers that can only be used with some large expensive amplifiers capable of driving 2 ohms. Of course the SwissWaves respond very well to large amounts of high-quality amplifier power, but they're equally exciting when driven by 25W Class A solid-state amplifiers and 22W single-ended triodes. I think the Swiss Voice proves that a well-designed loudspeaker doesn't have to be difficult to drive.