There are at least two threads running that ask about views on Jamo / Wharfedale and other speakers. I did not see any serious review, and TheVortex had sent me a special request. So I took off this afternoon to Cinebels to listen to the Jamo 606 and 718.
Here are my comments. I must warn that these comments are extremely subjective, though I have tired to keep them as objective as possible. Unfortunately all audition, that are not supported by extensive technical analysis, are subjective. This is the first time, I am undertaking such a review in this Forum. In addition the listening environment was not perfect. I had to listen to the speakers in a shop where they were lined alongside a number of other speakers. In addition, the listening room was right next to a road that had very high traffic.
1. The Jamo S606.
These are narrow speakers that are about 3.5 feet tall. They have two 5 inch mid range drivers, one 1 inch tweeter, and an 8 inch woofer. The woofer is side firing. The mid range and tweeter are shiny black that made them look very fragile. The 606 has a frequency range of 45Hz to 20Khz, and can handle 130-210 watts with a sensitivity of 89dB. The impedance is 6 Ohms.
This wattage specification sounded strange to me. Are these speakers hard to drive? You will see below.
2. The Jamo S718.
These speakers are broader than the 606, and have a silvery front, and shiny side panels. They have two 6.5 inches midrnage drivers, and one 1 inch tweeter in the front. They have a 10 inch sub woofer in the side. The speakers have a sensitivity of 92 dB, an impedance of 6 ohms, and a frequency range of 40Hz to 20Khz. Again, like the 606, the wattage specification is 200 to 300 watts.
The source used was a Marantz 5001 CDP, and the amplifier was a Marantz 7001 Integrated Amplifier pumping out 70 watts per channel.
The Audition
At the outset, I must thank Mr. B. Prasad, Customer Support Engineer at Cinebels. He was very patient with me and played each CD and track that I chose twice - once for the 606 and again for the 718. At the end he did not even push me for a sale, and just requested for my name and address. The only issue we did not agree upon was which speaker was better.
A. Shambho Maha Deva - OS Arun. Recorded by Charsur Digital Studio. Released by Tmes Music.
I started with OS Arun, as I know his voice very well. In addition, the track 'Pratah Smaram' is very simple with OS Arun singing, a Tambura in the back, and a Mridungam at the end. Since I know Arun's voice very intimately, I felt neither the 606 nor the 718 could deliver his voice with a natural transparency. The 718 had more clarity than the 606, but lacked the transparency that I was looking for. I must say both speakers rendered Arun's numbers well at low volumes.
B. Drums on Fire. James Asher and Sivamani, Times Music.
To have an immediate contrast to the soft number of Arun, I played the track 'Raindance' from Drums on Fire. This is a lively number that catches tempo very quickly into a Red Indian tune. It starts with a heavy drumming by Sivamani, followed by a male voice humming the tune. The heavy base that I was expecting was completely absent from both speakers. This was surprising in the 718 as it had 10 inch woofer. The 606 sounded very weak. .
C. Breathless. Music by Javed Akthar and Shankar Mahadevan. HMV.
The 606 started well with the first track 'Breathless'. The track starts with the gentle strings of a guitar followed by Shankar starting his non-stop singing. After about 10 seconds, the violins add to the sound stage, followed by electronic percussion. The percussion always gets me tapping my feet.
The 606 failed to present the percussion well, and got completely muddled as the electronic accompaniments piped in. The 718 had much more clarity in the beginning, and presented the percussion very well. Somewhere in between, the accompaniments step back a little. When Shankar starts singing, 'kaisi meeti bathein thi woh kaisi mulakhathen thi' the accompanients catch on in full gusto. This is where the 718 surprised me. I just could not hear Shankar's voice or hear his words clearly.
D, Fusion Mosaic - Vol 1. L Subramaniam, Shankar Mahadevan, Sivamani, Rahul Sharma, Bikram Ghosh. Rhythm House.
The first track - Tandav - start with the very gentle sound of a small triangle idiophone. This starts on the right speaker, and slowly moves to the background as the drums and tablas start the rhythm. When the flute starts, the triangle idiophone moves to the left speaker. With proper sound staging you can hear the triangle floating in the air some 6 to 8 feet above your left year.
The 606 again could not present either the drums or the tablas well. I could not hear the transition of the triangle as they moved across the stage.
The 718, again, had much more clarity and I could hear the triangle floating in the air. But, I would have been happy with a little more base.
E. 2002 New Year's Concert. Weiner Philharmoniker conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Philips.
The last track - Radetzky-Marsch by Johann Strauss is a beautiful number that has strains of a military band. I don't know how many have seen this particular album (it is available as a DVD). Seiji actually invites the audience to clap along with the orchestral drums. The sound of some 5000 pair of hands clapping together is quite overwhelming. In between when the violins take on, the audience goes completely quite. The swift change from the sounds of the violins to the thunderous clapping and drums need a very capable combination of CDP, amplifier and, speakers.
Both the 606 and the 718 failed completely with orchestral music. Neither of them could deliver the sound stage of the auditorium in which the concert was recorded. When the volume was raised substantially, the sound started becoming distorted and jarring. But the sound stage was completely absent.
Conclusion
Maybe the combination of CDP, Amp, and speakers were wrong, But I doubt it. One issue was that the speakers were kept next to each other in addition to a number of other speakers. It is possible, the speakers did not have enough space for the woofers to play well.
I felt that both the 718 and 606 were good at playing modern electronic music. The mids and high were rendered well. But the minute we had some percussion being played, the speakers came out weak and muddled. As the number of instruments increased, the speakers became less clear.
Between the two the 718 was far ahead of the 606 in terms of clarity and ability to render each note, voice, and instrument independently.
Cheers
