Issue 125 / August / September 2000
HP'S EDITOR'S CHOICES
The Alón Exotica Speaker System
BY HARRY PEARSON
The Alón Exotica Speaker System
BY HARRY PEARSON
The Alón Exotica Speaker System
This is such an abrupt change of pace for designer Carl Marchisotto that I think it might well develop a cult following. It has little of the darkly romantic, even lush fullness, of virtually all of his designs until now, but is, instead, tonally uncolored to the point of a sheer transparent neutrality reminiscent of ribbon designs. Part of this he achieved by using a classy ribbon tweeter - the other part through doing what Charles Hansen did with the original Avalon design, and that is putting the resonant break-up points of both his midrange and bass drivers well out of audibility (with, of course, considerable help in the way he designed the crossover points). The result is a speaker, of lean profile, that has solid bass down into the lower forties of Hertz, and with hard-to-detect colorations at any point in its operating range. Yes, there is a discontinuity between the ribbon and the midrange driver - the ribbon seems to remove a kind of dimensionality and harmonic richness from the upper partials. It's not all that overt, but it is there and you will hear it. With the Exotica, aptly named I think, you can hear "into" the orchestra and into orchestral textures in a way you simply cannot with most smallish systems, and what you can hear! (Try any of the James Levine, Met Orchestra recordings on DG, yes, DG. For instance, the Strauss Tod und Verklärung, or his out of print CD of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps. Try either of the two gloriously engineered CDs of Tchaikovsky's Manfred, that by Goosens on Everest or that by Chailly on Decca, both with a sound to live for on the doublebass and celli.) If you want a system you can live with for the long haul, you'll probably want to add a subwoofer, and I'd suggest the old reliable Carver Signature Cube, set to roll off above 40 Hz. The combination is mesmerizing. Oh yes, it likes tubes. Especially Jud Barber's Joule Electra Grand Marquis. (But it can take more power than most reasonably-priced tubed amps can put out.)