Finally I got some time with this speaker yesterday at a store in Germany. They already measure well. Tied to Canor CD player and integrated, I listened 5 songs from Justin Timberlake’s man of the wood album.
These are my impressions:
1. Mids- BBC sound territory. With dip in upper mids, nothing harsh, polite, but also then quieter upper mid details just like in Harbeth/spendor. Vocals has heck of a body like the largest Harbeths I have heard
2. Smooth, tiny bit of roll off to avoid harshness
3. Big surprise: damn thing hits hard like a large floorstander! This week I demoed 3 large speakers - Kef Reference 3, Quadral aurum Vulkan, focal spectral 50th anniversary. This small bookshelves has same or more bass presence than all these 50 kg towers! It’s naturally rolled off, so you hear low notes though feeble, and with good room gain you may not need a sub.
4. Imaging/soundstage - this is more room dependent, but at the demo room I listened they were placed in between some large speakers so, soundstage width normally should be bit limited. But still they filled the room, with very good 3D Sound. I could point out each instruments in space as it should be.
5. Compression- tried playing them loud, and again another surprise, they didn’t get compressed or got distorted even with bass as I pushed them up above 100db. Tonality remained exactly same as the volume climbed up suggesting very good low distortion.
Overall, in 2023 I guess, before jumping into one of those typical British tuned speakers, give this a try if possible.