Brief impressions...
Quad ESL-2805 @ Boomerang:
Good:
Exceptional linearity, speed and timing though the upper mid-range to the treble.
Nice mid-range.
Bad:
Lacks the dynamic power to render an orchestra at full tilt.
Very, very muted in comparison to dynamic speakers... not much headroom in terms of loudness... not much slam.
The pair I heard had something wrong tonally in the bass, mid-bass and lower mid-range. Sounded very weird.
Also, loud dynamic peaks clipped heavily showing distortion aplenty.
Monitor Audio Gold GS10 @ Boomerang:
Good:
Very nice, natural tonality in the mid-range, upper mid-range. Very clean, extended treble, although not as good as that of the electrostat.
Nice timing.
Fairly tight bass.
Bad:
Small upper bass hump to give an impression of deep bass extension.
Upper bass a bit colored, lacking adequate texture and resolution.
Overall resolution of detail very average compared with my AKG K702. Small ambient noises, inner detail of piano notes(sensation of hammer hitting string), players breathing, turning notation pages, some poor fellow coughing, something squeaking/creaking somewhere... the AKGs take it to another level!
Summary: Leaving the slightly colored bass aside and the lack of detail retrieval, the GS10 impresses with very natural tonality and dynamics.
Dali Helikon 300 MKII
Very nice, but bass is loose and vague... so I am not interested.
PSB Platinum M2 @ Lakozy:
Quite a lot more transparent than the Monitor Audio GS10, but still not as resolving as my AKGs.
Highs nicely extended, but a little dry, lacking sweetness.
Very nice upper mid-range too!
But, one HUGE FLAW in a nice speaker.
The lower mid-bass, mid-range and the lower mid-range have this weird hollow echo-ey coloration; as if the music is playing inside a closed metal tank... as if somebody put a hollow tube to your ear and played the music at one end. Or just imagine, you cupped your ears with one hand... Never heard this coloration before and it was disgusting.
The NAD CD player and amp were probably not the culprit.... but I honestly don't know.
Sonus Faber [email protected]:
Cute and tiny bookshelf with a nice mid-range, upper-mid and treble... but that's where the positives end.
Lacks the scale and soundstage of the larger bookshelfs.
Also timing is just not snappy enough... the sense of speed and rhythm of the other speakers and my AKG phones is missing.
B & W [email protected] Audio Vision India:
Best bass of this group and also has the highest resolution of detail... approaching my AKGs and surpassing them at times.
However, overall tonality somewhat weird and not as balanced as that of the Monitor Audio GS10.
The Blu-ray player feeding them could be the culprit.
Focal Electra 1008 BE @ The Atrium:
Excellent resolution of detail, but a sterile listen, lacking involvement and finesse.
Just not enough integration between the treble and the rest of the spectrum. Violins sound too sharp and tilted up, lacking enough connection with the body resonance.
Also, the left speaker had a slight bug in the driver, that caused it to distort a bit.
Winner overall:
Monitor Audio GS10, in spite of its low resolution and slightly colored bass.
Overall sound quality wise, my AKG phones still rule over them all... although they too are not without flaws and are beaten by the above speakers in a number of areas... But not across the board.
