Issue 22, Mar/Apr 2003

Big Boys Toys
By Scot Markwell

Speaking of good subs, the next item on my list is the Thunderbolt sub from Acarian Systems of New York. In an effort to bring the staggering bass performance of his Exotica Grand Reference (EGR) towers to a more practical size and price so that mere mortals can have a taste, Carl Marchisotto has put together a rather ordinary looking powered box subwoofer that uses a driver similar to that in the EGR and a compact Class AB amplifier that is specifically tailored to the driver's operating parameters The result is a unit that is scary powerful and capable of prodigious output, while at the same time tight and coherent and pitch-accurate in the extreme. I can now hear bass detail and subtle tonalities that were heretofore lost in the quagmire through any number of other subs. It is a remarkably effective unit and one that seems to blend with various satellites much better than others I have used in the past. In particular it goes really well with its intended partner, the Alón Napoleon minispeaker a two-way design that reminds me (fondly) of the late lamented Radio Shack Minimus 7, of which I had eight of at one time in a previous life, wherein I used double-sided tape to make them into a mini-line source (four per side with the metal boxes laid on their sides, tweeters inboard). Also, you might remember the ADS 200, a similar-looking but even better sounding mini-speaker that many folks on this side of the pond used to excellent effect with a variety of subwoofers.

In any event, the Napoleon satellite (www.alonbyacarian.com) is unique in my experience in that it sounds full and has a reasonable mid-bass foundation, never sounding thin or screechy like many mini-monitors can. One can play without the subwoofer in the system and almost not be aware that the bottom bass is missing till it comes along, so well-balanced is the Napoleon. Plus it seems to be able to take an intense drubbing from the amplifier without giving up its bones for dust. I have played it to rather insane levels (without any kind of high-pass filtering, mind you) with a VAC PA 100/100 equipped with KT-90 valves, and the buggers did not even flinch. (I have heard stories of 300 watt/channel VTUs played full-tilt with no ill effects, either). They just play big and bold, with a refined tonal balance and a simply huge, though not overblown, soundstage presentation. In fact, with the lights out and with some material, I could hardly tell that they were not the 3A Master Virtuosos. Damned impressive in anyone's book for $2295 for two satellites and the Thunderbolt sub. This is a system to take very seriously indeed, and may be had in both stereo and surround-sound packages: all the same speakers, just more or less of them.

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Now the best for last. Once again, it is an Alón product. This has been a good year for that firm, at least in a design sense. Perhaps economics will someday catch up for them to the same level as in-house talent so that they can become rich and famous. Well, rich, anyway... The product is their Lotus Elite loudspeaker and it is a stunner. Available in the "normal" version at $3995, and also in an upscale, Alnico magnet-equipped version at $7995, the Lotus Elite is, pound for pound, the best speaker that Marchisotto has ever made, in this writer's opinion. I have heard it on a couple of occasions in Harry Pearson's room 2, as well as twice at different CESs (with totally different equipment each time), and each time the system has come off as if blessed with a magic tough for music and emotion. A medium-sized three-way design with an open-back midrange driver twin eight-inch woofers and good sensitivity the Lotus Elite gets my juices flowing in a way that I have not experienced since I fell in love with my Shahinian Hawks. Simply exploding with musical goodness and the ability to get the notes right and step out of the way of the music, the Lotii (is that a plural??) will, I predict, be a big hit and a boon to anyone who wants great sound on a reasonable budget in anything from a relatively tiny room to one that is almost baronial. And they go great with the Thunderbolt subs, as you may already suspect. Not to be missed, and I am getting a set of the regulars for full review, as is, methinks, your trusty editor. I hope I do not get in hot water for letting that slip...

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I first heard the latest range of Alón speakers in the shape of a pair of four-cabinet monsters (and I mean monsters) hung on the end of Harry Pearson's legendary reference system at Sea Cliff. SM informed me that Alón designer Carl Marchisotto was intending to use similar electronics at the show to the ones I'd heard at HP's, but this time driving his $8000 Lotus Elite Signature speakers. To this end, a Metronome CD player was feeding signal to a c-j ART line-stage and a pair of Antique Sound Lab Hurricane monobocks. The Elite Signatures are compact floor-standers with separate crossovers and almost European dimensions, which nevertheless extend down to 28Hz. The somewhat unnecessary addition of a pair of Alón Thunderbolt subs ($1695 each) provided additional underpinning, the extra space such a foundation provides making the most of the Elites open baffle mid and treble. Music really breathed on this system, backed up by impressive dynamics and an ultra stable presentation. The thunderous opening that prefaces Act Two of the Ghorgiou Tosca was scaled with aplomb, the cavernous acoustic combined with seemingly limitless power. But the really impressive part was the way in which the performance of the Elite Signatures mirrored that of the flagship version, offering more of the monsters' performance than they had any right to. With the Elite model starting at $4495 (internal crossover, -3dB at 35Hz) and the Signature adding Alnico magnets throughout as well as the extra extension and external crossovers, these are speakers that demand an early review. (www.alonbyacarian.com).