I doubted the straitlaced, extremely neutral Technics speakers could handle such twisted madness, but they did . . . at least sort of. The SB-C700s turned this stinking Two Penny Opera into a slightly more fragrant package of honky-tonk cabaret—but still with an enjoyable dose of wink-wink tongue and cheeky.
Two Penny Opera is a "live in the studio" album recorded at London's Pathway Studios. Much to engineer Jim Custence's credit, the recording presents a convincing illusion of a fully energized smoky cabaret with only the dimmest colored lights for guidance. Custence has struck an enjoyable balance between closely miked presence and more distantly miked room sound. The SB-C700s displayed the room volume very realistically, but played the Tiger Lillies' artistic expression a little straighter, with a little less chaotic, shambolic revelry than I prefer. I think the SBs couldn't help it: More than any other audiophile speaker I know, these little white boxes possessed the nothing-but-the-facts gene of recording-studio monitors, which always forced them to deal with business first. The SB-C700 did drunken cabaret groping—ie, richness and romance—only when I forced them to by playing them extra loud. But to their credit, in the end, they did actually do it. In my small room, the SB-C700s played loudly extremely well. Additionally, they retained their sparkle and atmospheric texture when playing vespers and masses at late-night whisper levels. Very few speakers can do both volumes well.
Simaudio Moon Uhuru: When I switched from the 22W LM-518IA to Simaudio's Moon Neo 350P preamp and 125W Moon Neo 330A power amp, I played Black Uhuru's Red (LP, Mango MLPS 9625). Want bass? Powered by the Neo 330A, the Technics SB-C700s had it—down to, like, 50Hz, and with some room-pressurizing power. Want clarity and transparency? The Technics had that too, but unlike most high-end speakers, the SB-C700s did it with a completely unobtrusive and naturalistic presentation.
I played King Sunny Ade and His African Beats' Live Live Ju Ju, recorded live in 1988 on a Calrec Soundfield four-capsule microphone, on DDD CD (Rykodisc 014431004728) and DDA LP (Rykodisc RALP 0047). I am not kidding or exaggerating: I experienced a wider soundstage—through the door and out into the hall!—than I'd thought possible only moments before. I could hear drum sounds decaying and diminishing into a background that seemed extremely far away. The depth felt nearly infinite.
To my ears, the Technics speakers had a rather unusual way of projecting energy into the room. Again, spatial content had linear tangibility: Soundstages were more deliberately described than I usually experience. Images of individual musicians/instruments weren't the most solid I've heard, but were firmly positioned in an almost geometrically proportioned soundscape matrix. When the music included copious bass energy, as with Live Live Ju Ju, the SB-C700 had an almost visual way of opening up and showing me the bass notes' expanding wavefronts. Bass quantity and quality always seemed just right. The Technics projected energy in a way that made me constantly aware of energy volume, energy-source location, and movement.
With the Pass Labs XA-100.5s: Driven by the Pass Labs '100.5 mono amplifiers, the Technics SB-C700s sang with more vivid texture and transparency than even my references for these characteristics: the original Quad ESL 57s. Bass felt supranatural. Symphony orchestras sounded appropriately large, highly resolved, and powerful. Indie rock, country, and jazz felt more authentic. This was a very exciting combination of speakers and amp with which I could easily live happily ever after. As we listened, I asked an old friend, "Does it get any better than this?" He smiled and shook his head.
With Technics' own Premium Class SU-C700: The nice people at Technics/Panasonic were adamant that I review the SB-C700s as part of their complete Premium Class C700 Series. I told them that my editor would not allow that. They sent me the complete system anyway, in a single giant box on a shipping pallet. About halfway through my six weeks of listening, I installed Technics' sleek and sexy-looking SU-C700 ($1599), a 45Wpc (into 8 ohms) integrated amplifier. And I still haven't removed it. The SU-C700, a digital amplifier with a linear power supply, played music in a new-fashioned way that took me a week or more to appreciate. It presented music in a richly textured, fast-moving boogie dance that I found totally compelling, but it also sounded more mechanical and less organic than the other amps I used with the SB-C700s, with a kind of dry silveriness to its sound.
Then I remembered: On the SU-C700's remote control is a button mysteriously labeled LAPC. This stands for Load Adaptive Phase Calibration. According to Technics, LAPC is "a speaker impedance optimization algorithm, using digital signal processing to flatten both the amplitude and phase-frequency response to make the most of your speakers." As best I can tell, LAPC generates a test signal from an internal app that measures the signal amplitude vs load impedance and phase angle at the interface of amp and speakers. After measuring, the app makes corrections to linearize the frequency response.
Hoping for improvement, I pressed LAPC. A yellow light appeared at the center of the front panel, and the amp ran the test signal. I listened again and was completely surprised. Missing colors reappeared. The music got more chunky and funky. The sound had gone from great boogie but lean tonality to extraordinary forward momentum with more-than-satisfying musical presence. Corrected by LAPC, the SU-C700 became one of the more enjoyable integrateds I've auditioned.
Vs. the KEF LS50: The KEF LS50 is a stand/desk-mounted minimonitor that has earned itself "reference" status in the listening rooms of countless reviewers, myself included, and is listed in Class A (Restricted Extreme LF) of Stereophile's "Recommended Components." Compared to the Technics SB-C700, the KEF LS50 sounds noticeably slower and a tiny bit less transparent. The SB-C700 was more dynamic, with more slam and startle factor, and was lighter on its feet. The Technics went lower and presented a wider spectrum of bass detail than the KEF, as well as more clean air between singers and their mikes.
Vs. the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a: The Falcon is my current reference for transparency, realistic tone character, and full-tilt pace and rhythm. The Technics SB-C700s were about 10% less transparent than the Falcons. The Falcons are more dynamic and colorful, but the SB-C700s went considerably lower in the bass, and had none of the treble exaggerations of the BBC's venerable LS3/5a design. The Technics developed more weight and body than the Falcons or KEFs. When I returned to the Falcons after weeks with the Technics, all I could hear was all the bass that wasn't there.
Conclusions
Fujichrome, Ektachrome, Cibachrome = beauty, saturated color, image clarity. I always objected to the photographic metaphors of the late Harry Pearson, founder and editor of The Abso!ute Sound, but everything I have ever mocked I have become. So here goes:
I like reproduced sound to have sparkling, crisp image clarity, beautifully rendered light and shadow, and effulgent hypersaturated musical hues. I like rich colors so much that I rarely mind if my audio images are a little extrasaturated—like my old Ektachromes.
The Technics Premium Class SB-C700s generate crisply clear images, well-described spatial perspectives, and naturally detailed bass down to about 50Hz. But be forewarned: the SB-C700 are definitely not like my old Ektachromes. On the scale of saturated to unsaturated, they are precisely at the center—just as they are exactly in the middle of the feminine painterly (colorito) to masculine linear (designo) scale. Instead of sounding luminous and slightly romantic, like my DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93s, the SB-C700s lean toward the analytical. More precisely, they have a new, 21st-century sound that is evenly balanced but retains just enough color and tonal richness to play all types of music in an emotionally engaging way. As I type, I wonder: Could this new 21st-century neutrality I'm noticing be the result of new driver technologies and substantially reduced cabinet colorations? I think maybe.
Whenever audiophiles claim they can't live with colorations, and that they require accurate or neutral reproduction, I laugh, choke up, and expectorate. I don't believe anybody when they say this. All that any audiophile or reviewer—myself included—really wants is his or her favorite colorations. We want recordings to sound like we want them to sound. If you think I'm full of it, I dare you to audition these beautiful, well-engineered speakers. Technics' new Premium Class SB-C700 is not only accurate, transparent, and neutral, it's an excellent value. Highly recommended.
Fujichrome, Ektachrome, Cibachrome = beauty, saturated color, image clarity. I always objected to the photographic metaphors of the late Harry Pearson, founder and editor of The Abso!ute Sound, but everything I have ever mocked I have become. So here goes:
