Fleet Of Foot
I’ve said that the eye is first drawn to
the Vulkan’s bass chamber, but it turned out that my attention was drawn to
exactly the same area when listening began, as the bass offered is nothing
short of astonishing, and it endows them with a magnificently controlled,
dynamic and powerful sound. Some placement experimentation was in order to get
the best from them, although surprisingly not in bass terms: the low end was
quite amenable to variety of locations. Equally, my listening seat put me at
almost exactly at ear level with the tweeter, so no problems were encountered
there, but I found that it was necessary to toe-in the Quadrals by less than
the customary amount, so that they were firing either side of my ears rather
than directly at them. This had the twin advantage of turning a previously
competent sense of imagery into a very impressively focused one and
simultaneously removing a touch of midband hardness. With optimum positioning
established, the Vulkan VIII-Rs very quickly won me over with their overall
uniformity of sound and superlative cohesion from the top to the bottom of the
frequency range. The tweeter is a fine design and along with a glorious
sweetness, exhibits a fleetness of foot and lightness of touch that could
potentially leave accompanying drivers struggling to keep up.
The
bass offered is nothing short of astonishing, and it endows them with a
magnificently controlled, dynamic and powerful sound.
Fortunately, Quadral has designed its
ALTIMA-coned drivers to take care of this and everything coalesced superbly
with no hint of anything being left behind or glossed over. Playing Handel’s
‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ [Philips 289-412612-2], the Vulkan VIII-Rs
captured everything perfectly and laid it out before me in an effortless
manner, switching the action between instruments with a swiftness that belied
their size. Interestingly, their soundstage does not initially appear to extend
hugely in any particular direction, but when a subtle detail from the extreme
rear or side of the recording appears, the directions. Equally, Gretchen Peters’
voice in ‘On a Bus to St Cloud’ [The Secret Of Life, Imprint 10000] was locked
right in the center of the soundstage and projected out in a perfectly judged
manner. The vividly rendered piano that backed her was almost the icing on the
cake but, again, I found myself sitting in absolute wonder at the Quadrals’
low-end performance.
With
optimum positioning established, the Vulkan VIII-Rs very quickly won me over
with their overall uniformity of sound and superlative cohesion from the top to
the bottom of the frequency range.
Timing and detail
Deep, plentiful bass is relatively easy to
obtain with such a large cabinet and the Vulkan VIII-Rs certainly had no issue
with this, as was proven by Nitin Sawhney’s ‘Nadia’ from his Beyond Skin LP
[Outcaste CASTE9LP]. Yes, Swati Natekar’s vocals were a tremulous delight, but
the thunderous bass notes were being delivered to me straight through my sofa –
and as I pushed the volume higher and higher, I was the one who felt the strain
first!
Plentiful
bass is relatively easy to obtain with such a large cabinet and the Vulkan
VIII-Rs certainly had no issue with this
Perhaps even more astounding than their
magnificent sense of impact was the staggering levels of detail and rhythmic
security that these speakers were capable of. Each individual synthesizer bass
note from Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygene 4’ [Oxygéne, Polydor 2310 555] was
vividly distinct from its neighbors and overall the Quadrals imbued the track
with a sense of purpose and vitality that I have seldom encountered before.
Lab report
Quadral claims 90dB sensitivity for the
Vulkan VIII-R but our pink noise figure of 89.0dB, 200Hz-20 kHz, suggests that
this is slightly optimistic. Specified impedance is 4-8ohm; if we take this as
4ohm nominal then that is consistent with our minimum modulus of 3.2ohm. I
speculated with the Titan VIII [HFN Nov’ 12] that impedance correction
components had been fitted to the crossover; if so then the Vulkan benefits
from not having them as the modulus is higher at low frequencies and phase
angles reduced, and as a result the EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation
resistance) falls to a relatively amp friendly 2.0ohm at 38Hz, in contrast to
the scary 0.8ohm min. of the Titan VIII.
The
Vulkan VIII-R’s forward response is flat and extended provided you sit high up
enough (ear height of 1.1m from the ground)
As with the Titan, though, you’ll need to
sit high in order not to lose extreme treble. The 1m responses [Graph 1, below
were measured at a height of 110cm above the speaker’s base, just as with the
Titan. At this height the response errors are commendably low at ±3.2dB and
±2.5dB respectively, but they worsened rapidly as the microphone was lowered.
Pair marching is impressive at ±0.5dB up to 14 kHz but the two tweeters’
responses diverged rapidly thereafter. Bass extension is difficult to measure
with Aurum’s unusual bass loading but -6dB/30Hz (re. 200Hz) is the same as
obtained with the larger Titan VIII, and a good result. Ultrasonic extension
improves if measured on the tweeter axis, but that is not a likely listening
axis. The cumulative spectral decay waterfall [Graph 2, below], although
characterized by fast initial energy decay, is less clean in the treble than it
was with Aurum’s previous leaf tweeter, and 10 kHz distortion at 90dB SPL was
very high at 2.7%.
Energy
decay is quick but the extreme treble (>10 kHz) shows numerous untidy
resonances
Specifications
·
Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83Vrms –
Mean/IEC/Music)88.7dB/89.0dB/89.2dB
·
Impedance modulus min/max (20Hz–20 kHz) 3.2ohm @
31Hz11.5ohm @ 56Hz
·
Impedance phase min/max (20Hz–20 kHz)–23o @
24Hz37o @ 45Hz
·
Pair matching (200Hz–20 kHz) ±2.4dB
·
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200 Hz/10kHz) 30Hz /
23.3kHz/30.8kHz
·
THD 100 Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) 0.3% /
0.1% / 2.6%
·
Dimensions (HWD) 1220x280x500mm
Verdict
The ninth version of the Quadral Aurum
Vulkan loudspeaker sees it mature into a truly high-end design. A smooth and
detailed ribbon tweeter tops off an expressive, lucid and captivating midrange
to make the most of any music. Add in a healthy portion of some of the finest
bass I have heard at any price and you have a recipe for a truly exceptional
loudspeaker. The only question you need to ask is – which color?
Sound
quality: 85%
