Carfrae Little Big Horn - Audio Evidence
Carfrae Little Big Horn - Audio Evidence Carfrae Little Big Horn - Audio Evidence
on a far-field in-room averaged measurement from 20Hz to 18kHz. This is a total contrast to the Beauhom Virtuoso’s behaviour, which is deliberately tuned to give a smooth and flat midband, while gently rolling off the top and bottom ends. The more time I spent looking at the Little Big Horn, the more I became impressed by the sheer cleverness, not only of the overall concept but also the fine detail of the design. The driver is carefully arranged to be at seated ear height, and the boss on which it’s mounted is a seriously chunky hardwood fabrication, cleverly put together to create patterns in the grain orientation. Subtle hardwood curves frame the horn mouth, and the profile of the subwoofer is curved too (creating an irregular shape which will help avoid standing waves). Sonically I’m a bit of a sucker for Lowther-driven speakers and indeed for high sensitivity speakers in general, so the Little Big Horns immediately ensnared me in their enchantment. The sheer immediacy and vividness of the sound catches the attention straight away, much of which comes down to the effortless and natural way they reproduce dynamic contrasts and shading. Most of the listening took place immediately after I’d carried out a group test on 12 ‘normal’ loudspeakers (averaging around £1,000/pair and 89dB/W sensitivity), and these Carfraes instantly sounded like ‘real’ speakers, where the others had been mere pipsqueak pretenders, lacking genuine scale and limiting expression and communication. First off I didn’t connect up the subwoofers, and just listened to the horns alone. This was very beguiling, and honestly didn’t seem as lacking in bass extension as the measurements had indicated. On speech it was particularly magical, with great expression and a marvellous freedom from timesmear and chestiness. Individuals somehow managed to sound more distinctly individual, and regional accents were clearer and more easily identifiable. On simple material with little bass content, such as string quartets, the horn alone was lovely. I half expected to find the subwoofer a let down, as all my previous experiences of trying to use active subwoofers alongside high efficiency ‘satellites’ have been tinged with disappointment. While the Little Big Horn’s integral subwoofers did compromise the time coherence very slightly the effect was indeed very small, and I happily left the subs connected up for the duration, enjoying the worthwhile extra weight and gravitas they brought to anything with serious bass content. The other slight weakness is that their dynamic tracking didn’t always match the horns, so the balance seem to shift very slightly with level, but the overall integration was unexpectedly superb, and I was only conscious of their existence on odd occasions. The one fly in the ointment - more of a dragonfly in fact - is that presence peak, which just happens to be in the region of the spectrum where the ear is most sensitive. This proved difficult to ignore, at least when using my regular Naim (NAC52/ NAP500) amplification, which itself has a rather shiny and forward character, and made me reluctant to listen at realistically high levels. I could probably live with it, just as I can live with the slightly higher frequency peak of my Rehdeko RK175s, but I’m rather more tolerant than most in this regard, and tend to find most conventional speakers (which usually show a presence dip) a little shut in. As I’d expected from show demonstrations, the Little Big Horn is rather in-yer-face, and not exactly polite or smooth by conventional standards. But that’s partly because it’s exceptionally revealing of either the sources or amplification. The trick is to find the right components to create a sympathetic whole. High efficiency Lowther horns originally stem from the era of low powered valve amplification, and make natural partners for the revival of interest in single-ended triode
amps, especially as the impedance stays above a comfortable 9 ohms throughout. Jim Carfrae had brought along a pair of monoblocks from Glass Audio Tube Engineering, the GATE SE300 (from £3,335/pair, depending upon the source of the 300Bs), which he felt were a good match for the LBHs. I’ve always had a soft spot for this type of amp, based on the magnificence of its midrange reproduction but tempered by major reservations about bass softness. However, Little Big Horn’s active sub means it does its own thing in the bass region, and the system amp doesn’t need to supply any serious current below 80Hz. Major reservation dismissed. Measurements taken with the valve monoblocks showed the same presence peak as before, but above that region the treble output proper was some 2-3dB less, and this is probably a major reason for the altogether ‘kinder’ and less aggressive sound which they produced. In fact the combination was an absolute delight. Background hiss was reduced while hum increased slightly - but those seem to be the inevitable consequence of going from transistor to valve operation when using a super-sensitive speaker. Best of all was the way the SE300’s classic thermionic sweetness took the ‘fierceness’ and aggression out of the system. It remains a moot point whether one should choose an amplifier or the speakers first. Given the Naim amps I probably wouldn’t have chosen the Little Big Horns; given the Carfraes, I probably would have chosen the GATEs (or something similar). There are many reviewers who try to describe the sound of their favourite recordings, an approach I avoid, because it’s highly unlikely that these happen to be your favourite recordings, or even that you’ll enjoy them in the same way that I do. I could ramble on about the brilliantly layered production of the Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty, the Iyrical lucidity of Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP, or the delicate and subtle interplay on the Grateful Dead’s Reckoning acoustic set. But I’d rather report on the effect a speaker system has upon my actual behaviour, as this seems much more meaningful. A major strength of the Little Big Horn is that it makes even ‘difficult’ material that much more accessible than regular speakers. I found myself listening to a lot more Radio 3 than usual, and getting sucked into the wonderful textures of orchestral instruments and instrumentation. I’ve now been listening to the Little Big Horns continuously for about three weeks, across a broad range of programming which includes a mixture of vinyl, CD and radio, plus an (un)healthy dose of dayto-day television watching. Jim’s coming back to pick them up tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to his arrival one little bit! With a speaker this coherent, temporally and dynamically, choice of source and amplification components becomes extra critical, and I’d certainly suggest valve amplification is likely to be preferable to the solid state variety. Indeed, the enormously high sensitivity of the Little Big Horns is a powerful incentive to go straight down the singleended triode road, as the modest power outputs will be no handicap, and their sonic marriage might have been made in heaven. As I sat ruminating while Radio 3 was playing some Mozart, the thought came over me that if I ever get to retire from this loudspeaker reviewing game, this could well be the speaker system to retire with. It’s not perfect - no speaker is - but it’s such a fine combination of the various qualities I personally rate most highly that I reckon it would fill the bill very nicety indeed. Others might prefer the smoother, more mid-oriented sound of the Beauhorns I reviewed a few months back. But I strongly urge any reader interested in getting closer to the ‘real thing’ to take the time to audition a Lowtherbased speaker system, as the combination of single-driver coherence and massive sensitivity brings its own unique magic to the proceedings. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Type: Single driver horn with active sub-woofer. Main Driver: Lowther DX3 Sensitivity: 105dB Impedance:
on a far-field in-room averaged<br />
measurement from 20Hz to 18kHz.<br />
This is a total contrast to the<br />
Beauhom Virtuoso’s<br />
behaviour, which is<br />
deliberately tuned to give<br />
a smooth and flat<br />
midband, while<br />
gently rolling off<br />
the top and<br />
bottom ends.<br />
The more<br />
time I spent<br />
looking at the<br />
<strong>Little</strong> <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Horn</strong>, the more<br />
I became impressed<br />
by the sheer cleverness, not only<br />
of the overall concept but also<br />
the fine detail of the design. The<br />
driver is carefully arranged to be at<br />
seated ear height, and the boss on<br />
which it’s mounted is a seriously<br />
chunky hardwood fabrication,<br />
cleverly put together to create<br />
patterns in the grain orientation.<br />
Subtle hardwood curves frame the<br />
horn mouth, and the profile of the<br />
subwoofer is curved too (creating<br />
an irregular shape which will help<br />
avoid standing waves).<br />
Sonically I’m a bit of a<br />
sucker for Lowther-driven speakers<br />
and indeed for high sensitivity<br />
speakers in general, so the <strong>Little</strong><br />
<strong>Big</strong> <strong>Horn</strong>s immediately ensnared<br />
me in their enchantment. The<br />
sheer immediacy and vividness of<br />
the sound catches the attention<br />
straight away, much of which<br />
comes down to the effortless<br />
and natural way they reproduce<br />
dynamic contrasts and<br />
shading.<br />
Most of<br />
the listening<br />
took place<br />
immediately<br />
after I’d<br />
carried out a<br />
group test on<br />
12 ‘normal’<br />
loudspeakers<br />
(averaging<br />
around £1,000/pair<br />
and 89dB/W sensitivity), and these<br />
<strong>Carfrae</strong>s instantly sounded like<br />
‘real’ speakers, where<br />
the others had<br />
been mere<br />
pipsqueak<br />
pretenders,<br />
lacking<br />
genuine scale<br />
and limiting<br />
expression and<br />
communication.<br />
First off I didn’t<br />
connect up the<br />
subwoofers, and just listened to<br />
the horns alone. This was very<br />
beguiling, and honestly didn’t<br />
seem as lacking in bass<br />
extension as the<br />
measurements had<br />
indicated. On speech it<br />
was particularly<br />
magical, with great<br />
expression and a<br />
marvellous freedom<br />
from timesmear and<br />
chestiness. Individuals<br />
somehow managed to<br />
sound more distinctly<br />
individual, and regional<br />
accents were clearer and<br />
more easily identifiable.<br />
On simple material with<br />
little bass content, such<br />
as string quartets, the<br />
horn alone was lovely.<br />
I half expected to<br />
find the subwoofer a let<br />
down, as all my previous<br />
experiences of trying to<br />
use active subwoofers<br />
alongside high efficiency ‘satellites’<br />
have been tinged with<br />
disappointment. While the <strong>Little</strong><br />
<strong>Big</strong> <strong>Horn</strong>’s integral<br />
subwoofers did<br />
compromise<br />
the time<br />
coherence very<br />
slightly the effect<br />
was indeed very<br />
small, and I happily<br />
left the subs connected<br />
up for the duration, enjoying the<br />
worthwhile extra weight and<br />
gravitas they brought to anything<br />
with serious bass content. The<br />
other slight weakness is that their<br />
dynamic tracking didn’t always<br />
match the horns, so the balance<br />
seem to shift very slightly with<br />
level, but the overall integration<br />
was unexpectedly superb, and I<br />
was only conscious of their<br />
existence on odd occasions.<br />
The one fly in the ointment -<br />
more of a dragonfly in fact - is<br />
that presence peak, which just<br />
happens to be in the region of<br />
the spectrum where the ear is<br />
most sensitive. This proved difficult<br />
to ignore, at least when using<br />
my regular Naim (NAC52/<br />
NAP500) amplification,<br />
which itself has a rather<br />
shiny and forward<br />
character, and made<br />
me reluctant to listen<br />
at realistically high<br />
levels. I could<br />
probably live with it,<br />
just as I can live with<br />
the slightly higher<br />
frequency peak of<br />
my Rehdeko<br />
RK175s, but I’m<br />
rather more<br />
tolerant than<br />
most in this<br />
regard, and tend<br />
to find most<br />
conventional<br />
speakers (which usually<br />
show a presence dip) a<br />
little shut in.<br />
As I’d expected from<br />
show demonstrations, the<br />
<strong>Little</strong> <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Horn</strong> is rather in-yer-face,<br />
and not exactly polite or smooth<br />
by conventional standards. But<br />
that’s partly because it’s<br />
exceptionally revealing of either<br />
the sources or amplification. The<br />
trick is to find the right<br />
components to create a<br />
sympathetic whole. High efficiency<br />
Lowther horns originally stem<br />
from the era of low powered<br />
valve amplification, and make<br />
natural partners for the revival<br />
of interest in single-ended triode
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