TEST WINNER - Heco

Celan 500
„Very well-balanced
speaker with low
range levels and extremely
fi ne resolution..“
TEST WINNER
Price/performance „excellent“

Celan 500
Heco’s developers appear to have chosen different priorities
when selecting their materials:
The cones are made of a high-density paper mixture,
while the enclosure is impressive with a genuine wood
veneer. However, this certainly doesn’t have to be a disadvantage,
as already shown by the top test results for the
Metas 500 in Audio 4/07. From a distance, only a trained
Heco enthusiast would recognise the difference between
the two ranges: While the Metas 500 for € 760 only has a
foil covering, the Celan is also equipped with a subwoofer
reinforced with woven Kevlar. Despite the completely
different shape of the cone, it works with the woofer to
achieve a common volume and looks after the bass range
in the team. It is only above 400 hertz that the crossover
gently fades out the more powerful lower woofer, i.e.
a classic 2.5 way concept.
The treble range was one of the particular strengths of
the Metas. A similarly designed tweeter, though more
refined and with a larger wave guide, now helps Celan
to achieve an even more natural sound. The cone has
been strengthened through the application of additional
nano-particles so as to reduce partial vibrations, which
is designed to place the tweeter in a special position between
hard metal calottes and fabric calottes with a softer
tendency. A metal bridge enables the level to be raised
by two decibels when an excessively dampened room
threatens to absorb the trebles. And there has been no
economizing on the housing: the basic hexagonal form
for avoiding standing waves is more complex and expensive
to construct than a simple box and the veneer has
a very high-quality effect thanks to the good choice of
lacquer used.
The two bass reflex tubes at the rear bring a touch of
heavy industry to the product: made of solid cast, they
are particularly impressive technically through their very
pronounced rounding with a large diameter, leaving
absolutely no possibility for blur or compression. Heco
performed the first round with “linear” level-adjusted jumpers,
setting itself apart from the more effect-accentuated
Focal with pleasant, finer sounding strings. However, the
deeper tones of Dvorak‘s 9th symphony (Järvi, Telarc)
sounded somewhat too good-natured over the Heco,
while the brass section blew distinctly more aggressively
in the final movement with the jumper on “+2b”, without
the never irritating string tones - now even richer in detail
- losing any of their fine beauty. Compared with the Focal,
space projection came across as much more plausible.
Whereas the musicians all seem to be jostling together at
the edge of the stage like would-be soloists in the French
product, the Heco drew a wide arc in which the entire
happening takes place with a more coherent and harmonious
effect. The Heco showed that it is certainly not soft
with its precise rendition of Sting’s “All This Time” (The
Soul Cages, A&M). Although the Heco will often lose in
a quick comparison at the store with its neutral design
matching, those who buy this speaker will be rewarded
with long-lasting audiophile qualities.
What goes together?
…The Heco is entirely uncritical, suited to more stable
tube amplifiers with a good efficiency level (86 dB) and
impedance minimum of 4.6 ohms, while remaining tame
in sound and dynamic in the bass ranges…
Partner question
Final round: combining with different amplifiers. The Heco
really distinguished itself in this regard, eliciting astonishing
dynamics from the not particularly powerful Opera
Audio Consonance M100 Plus tube amp, with even a brief
“overriding” of the amplifier hardly affecting the sound …
Conclusion:
HiFi means “high fidelity” – can there be a matching
or balancing of tastes in this respect? If your answer
to this question is “no”, I would then really recommend
the natural sound of the Heco…
Readers’ comments
Rüdiger Fröhlich
„The Celan 500 sounds the most natural – it makes the
cymbals ring out and gets the basses grooving“.
Jürgen Kaufmann
„My favourite is the Heco – it’s clearer than the KEF and
also harmonises well with the tube amp.“
Ulf Kuhlmann
„The clear winner for me is the Celan 500 – it is much
more subtle in all respects. The Celan 700 is even better.
Dietmar Pfeffer
„My favourite is the Celan 700.“
The products used for comparison were:
FOCAL CHORUS 726V , KEF IQ 9