Dynaudio, Hovland, Bow – A Reference Class Setup

As any really hard-core highend enthusiast, Keimo has invested sumptuously not only in his audio system but the listening room as well. The room is built in a separate building next to the main building. Professionals carefully designed the acoustic treatment of the room and implementing the solutions was meticulously carried out. As a consequence, the effect of standing waves is minimized and diffusion characteristics optimized. To my ears, the acoustics of the room is top-notch and serves exemplarily the planned purpose.

The system

Keimo’s current system features three recognized highend brands: Dynaudio, Hovland and Bow. Here’s the full list:

CD player Bow ZZ-8 (Pathos Endorphin during the first visit); Preamplifier Hovland HP-200; Power amplifiers Hovland Stratos monoblocks; Speakers Dynaudio Evidence Master; Speaker cables Hovland Reference; Interconnects Hovland G3; Hovland Main Line; Equipment rack Stillpoints ESS 324; Equipment bases: Stillpoints Component Stands.

We did not discuss how Keimo had ended up with this particular constellation. Instead I learned that some of the gear Keimo had chosen after careful auditioning but some other items he had bought blind, based only on what vendors and some other experienced people had recommended. Sometimes this is simply due to the fact that some very expensive products are not available for personal listening. No matter, it is the end result what really matters and Keimo’s choices surely are well grounded, and serve his audiophilic needs quite perfectly.

Keimo had positioned the speakers wide apart and quite close to the sidewalls, and very far from the back wall. The listening distance was almost identical to the distance between the speakers, ie. formed an isosceles triangle. At the listening position the listener’s head is far from all the room boundaries. The speakers were toed in almost toward the ears of the listener. While I was listening to music I moved the chair a bit forward and then a bit backwards. I might have preferred to be a tad closer to the speakers than the suggested position, but there was no dramatic sonic difference between the positions.

The sound

As always, I had my own test-CDs with me, in addition to which we played Keimo’s records as well. All the samples told one story: what a great, huge and impressive sound! I know that all audiophiles do not fancy such a big sound but in my mind, when the aim is to arouse live-like concert feelings and atmosphere, a big and spectacular sonic image is a prerequisite. At least I haven’t experienced a miniature sound in any concert hall? Although the soundstage possessed dimensionality its side-to-side division and stratification were not quite knife-cut. Rather the sound was airy and a bit generous.

Because the overall performance of this system was of such high quality, mentioning some minor defects could be considered as hair-splitting. But I do mention some all the same. Although the low end was dry, and yet extensive and dynamic, I felt that a bit more punch and richness in the bass would not done harm to the sound. Mids and highs were reproduced effortlessly and cleanly leading to great tonality of wide spectrum of instruments. I only missed very last bits of transparency, resolution and micro-details, or perhaps such details were not really missing but softened. For sure, Keimo’s setup did not seem to emphasize resolution and details over other characteristics.

If the low end was dynamic, so was the rest of the frequency spectrum. I could play very demanding orchestral music such as Minnesota Orchestras Respighi (RR-95CD) without problems; the full range music blows were greatly reproduced. Less demanding rock and jazz samples sounded naturally even more effortless. Despite this all I’d say that music’s dynamic contrasts could have been even more obviously highlighted. I wished a bit more speed and control.

Returning to essentials, the sound of Keimo’s setup was respectably coherent from top to bottom and proved once again that complex big multi-way loudspeakers can do without notable flaws in timing and tonal cohesiveness. This was verified by several samples, like violin music from the Burmester Test CD III. In addition, I could not detect any such intrusive sonic features, which would have distracted my listening. This is vital for long term enjoyment of listening.

Summing up

It’s evident that when listening takes place in a strange environment, subjective impressions aren’t as confident as they would be in a more familiar surrounding. This time for example the listening position caused some uncertainty.

But I did hear enough for being convinced of the high performance and potential of the system. It was entirety, which made this system to be so good, including the exemplary listening room!

Comprehensiveness came over complexity, and the overall flatness and smoothness of the sound made my listening sessions very rewarding. This may not have been the best system I’ve heard in my life - if such a system can be meaningfully appointed – but it certainly found its way to my brief list of reference setups. Thank you Keimo! I know you will continue to make experiments with new gear etc. but I also believe that you can intensively, ambitiously and totally enjoy what you’ve achieved sonically so far.