JansZen loudspeaker review -
by kach22i
May 30, 2010
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:15 PM
Paragon Sight and Sound, Ann Arbor, Michigan
http://www.paragonsns.com/
Disclosure: I have purchased within the past six years and had serviced at Paragon a previously owned tube amp and tube preamp. I have no complaints about them or their service and would recommend them to my friends. I have no grudge to grind or past disputes and no business relationship with them which would lend me to be overly kind either.
I called 15 minutes ahead on a spur of the moment impulse and asked them to hook up the JanZen speakers, which they did even though I admitted that I was not a serious buyer and only curious. Matt the sales rep on the phone asked if I had would prefer the tube McIntosh MC2301 at 300 watts
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/1112.asp
or the solid state MC501 at 500 watts
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/mcintosh-mc501-monoblock-power-amplifier.asp
I’m a tube guy at my core and if I don’t hear the full bloom of vocals done right, it is difficult for me to be impressed with gobs of beautiful power no matter how well done and grain free, so I opted for the MC2301’s.
Esoteric P-05, D-05 and G-03X were the transport, DAC and master clock generator.
McIntosh C-1000 was the controller pre-amp.
Matt had just turned on the tube amps a minute before I got there and was doing the final touches on some toe-in to the speakers using some furniture slider disks. The perforated grills were already removed per the manufactures recommendations. He had volume set fairly high (set to impress) on a test CD and right off the bat I could tell the sound was as large as the speakers. Soon after the set up was done he put my CD in and left the room so I could listen uninterrupted.
The room was large about 25’x30’, speakers well out into the room on the long wall,
and about 15 feet apart (I would have them only 10 feet ctr to ctr). Three high back leather home theater seats with cup holders centered. I tried to sit up in the chair to get my ears off the headrest, but that did not change the sound much. The chairs were about three or four feet off the back wall. Sorry, no photos I forgot my camera in the rush to get there before the 5:00 PM Saturday closing time.
Experience primer: I don’t think I’ve ever heard such an expensive system for this length of time,
the speakers alone are about $30,000. I think if you were willing to settle for getting “90% there” you could spend 1/10th the amount (used market) and be happy. However if I ever came into some serious money, I certainly would have nicer toys like this.
1st CD:
This is Jazz sampler, Track-1, Dave Brubeck – Take Five (picked free at Borders Books 14 years ago)
Good depth on drum solo which was left channel dominated. Drums were life-like, and the cymbals had the right amount of clash and splash.
Horn playing was a bit honky at those levels so I turned down the volume just a hair which cured it completely.
Piano on the right channel seemed a bit recessed, don’t think the tube amp was warmed up yet as it also lacked a certain energy or urgency.
2nd CD:
Finn Brothers, Finn Brothers, Track-1 – Only talking sense
Full bass and not too boomy which is a problem in some rooms and speakers (I’ve struggled with this at my home). These are not bass shy speakers, I say they are full range and sort of fill or load the room like big horn speakers do in that respect.
I was hearing things in the very familiar recording which I never heard before. New keyboard/piano cords emanating out of the left channel, oddly localized. I say oddly only because I’ve never heard them before and did not expect to hear them. This was a very cool discovery, I was starting to get into it now.
Overall I’d say these speakers are not as open and airy as other panel speakers. They are not boxy or congested though, just seemed meaty and solid and never wimpy.
I moved around to the other seats, and moved behind the seats squeezing between some box speakers stored there. Narrow sweetspot, not as narrow as Martin Logan’s and no phase shifting up and down like some M/L’s. There was no phase shifting side to side as one sometimes finds on large ribbon speakers either.
3rd CD:
Holly Cole, Temptation, Track-1 – Take me home
Track-2 – Train Song
This CD is known for the scale of the voice and warmth/detail of the acoustic bass. The scale of the voice was big, but not huge. I caught myself looking up at an invisible line bridging across the tops of the two speakers, like a high stage. If I kept doing this, I’d get a crick in my neck, very curious as I expect the vocals to be centered and in the middle not so panoramically diffused.
The speakers were several feet apart more than I would have placed them - edit. I’ve found most panel speakers tend to sound near-field if at or just inside the sweet spot. I was not listening near field this time, and standing behind the seats had no appreciable affect, but some questions were forming about psychoacoustics.
The radiation pattern is just too different from stats to conventional dynamic speakers to be setting them up following the same rules of thumb or standards.
4th CD:
Colourbox, Colourbox, Track-3 – Say you will
Female vocals with synthesizer effects not as open as it could be, seems flat compared to what I’ve known it to sound like. Should be deep, project well and yet have a distant canned sound all at the same time. However the voice does not unintentionally phase shift at all, and instruments are easy to single out and follow. It is not compressed, yet there is not a wow factor to the dynamics either. Perhaps the 500 watt S.S. MC501 would have been the better choice as Larry the store owner later popped in and suggested. In the end, this track was not as fast and perky as I would have liked. It should make you want to jump up and dance with its Caribbean techno rave beat.
5th CD:
Concrete Blonde, Bloodletting, Track-3 – Caroline
Lead female voice not as smoky as I would have liked. Rhythm a tad slow, not sluggish mind you. I can clearly hear the triangle being hit which typically gives me a tingle, but this time it was uneventful, almost boring or polite. Great detail, just not real intimate or immediate. Had the same issues with Holly Cole’s vocals (3rd CD), did not feel there was a real person I could rear out and touch.
6th CD:
Roxy Music, Heart still beating, Track-1 – India (live outdoor recording)
Track-3 – While my heart is still bleeding (live outdoor recording)
Track-4 – Out of the blue (live outdoor recording)
Turned up the volume for India as the crowd cheering on Maggie 3.6’s many years ago is something I have never forgotten. Imaging, sense of depth and capturing this outdoor event’s space on the JanZen is still not 100% of the best I’ve heard before. Might be a problem with the room, but what limited localized soundstage there was, seemed to be shifted to the upper left hand corner.
I turned the Mac preamp +3 to the right which helped until later when I closed my eyes and then returned it back to neutral.
The presence is still distant but not excessively and there is good overall frequency balance top to bottom. The midrange just did not jump out at me as I typically would like it to. This really could have been because of my choice of amp(s), the 501’s would have pushed it and opened it up more I’m sure of it. Also maybe the tube amp and speakers are both still being broken in a bit, I’m not sure of their hours of use or personal history.
About the detail, this is not a technical sounding speaker, you can just sit back and enjoy. My attention was not constantly drawn from the music to some nuisance or some special detail. However on several occasions I heard new things in the music which I’ve never heard before. Typically they were percussion trappings coming from the left channel, sometimes they were new piano notes on the right.
7th CD:
Annie Lennox, Little Bird, Track-1 – Little Bird
This is where Larry the owner pops in and asks me what I think so far. I take my time and tell him the imaging is not there, no center vocals of solid and definite size and it seems shifted to the left. He says; try closing your eyes.
I hit play, this is when I close my eyes, like an on/off switch the sonic experience becomes very headphone like, but like large headphones kept at the same distance as regular loudspeakers.
I get up again and turn the balance back to neutral because now it’s off a tad to the right. I also turn up the volume because this is a song known as sounding good loud, with lots of punch and drive galore. It hits all the right spots, but only with my eyes closed. I’m in a state of disbelief, but the clock is ticking so I keep feeding CD’s into the Esoteric.
8th CD:
Robert Cray, Sweet Potato Pie, Track-1 – Nothing against you
The tubes must have finally warmed up, keeping my eyes closed again this song has all the energy and bounce the other CD’s lacked. It really projects and has lots of attack speed.
See diagram 1 & 2 at end of review.
9th CD:
Nil Lara, Nil Lara, Track-1 – Money makes the monkey dance
Strong bass guitar, vocals have proper aggressive grit and character, Rock & Roll with soul. I purchased this CD after seeing Nil Lara perform live (free) on the second floor of Borders Books in Ann Arbor, just hours before another performance at the Michigan Theater across the street, this was about 13 years ago. See diagram 4 at end of review.
10th CD:
Ducan Sheik, Ducan Sheik, Track-6 – Serena
I’m still unable to visualize a center stage with my eyes open. With eyes closed it’s like good stat headphones. Rhythm is picking up too, rather Linn-like.
Gross Observation; vocals not dynamic speaker/point source like, they are not exactly electrostatic in character either. Could be “LIVE” sounding, depending on what “live” means to you and in what sort of venue you are at. For example if live music is amplified and coming out a PA system set up behind the singer like with Nil Lara at Borders Books (see diagram 4) then this approaches it (gotta have your eyes closed).
11th CD:
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Track-1 – So What
Opposite of congested, plus great textures and detail. Imaging less and less disappointing, getting used to it or it is getting better.
12th CD:
Eric Clapton, Pilgrim, Track-1 – My father’s eyes
Like the world’s best headphones when I close my eyes.
Summary:
1-1/4 hours of listening time. Matt said he had just turned on the amps a minute before I walked in. The tube amps in my estimation took a good 45 minutes to get cooking. Good speakers, but at that price range you could choose anything and be happy, right?
Psychoacoustics
Exploratory thoughts regarding imaging:
1. Does correct imaging fit a single standard, a finite mold?
2. What of the variances caused by the recording engineer and producer’s intent and goals?
3. Does live music ever image to what we have grown accustomed to and expect to hear in our 2-channel home systems?
4. What would cause such a shift in perception by simply closing one’s eyes?
I am left with more questions than answers. It makes me think and because of that this has been a good experience.
Some people don’t like headphones because images appear in the middle of their head. Others like nearfield listening, while still others like the listening position much further back.
There is something different, unique and special about the presentation these speakers make. If in the neighborhood you owe it to yourself to hear them. Try them with the S.S. McIntosh MC501’s and tell me what you think. They should be the better amp match from what I’ve been told and by what I’ve heard of their reputation.
My system peculiarities and taste in the past have left me at odds with set-ups at other dealers. Like I said I like speakers close together with a solid and tight center stage/phantom center image, and I’m willing to give up something in stage width to achieve this goal.
The one time I had a chance to listen to some BAT amplification the store owner placed the speakers very far apart, about 20 feet apart. I had a very difficult time discerning anything from that experience as it was so far out of context from any previous experience. This was not the case this time, however I would have certainly set the speakers closer together.
The guy doing the set-up (Matt) said he wanted the speakers closer to the front wall (they were 10 feet out), but some heavy amps were already occupying the real estate. This would have placed my listening position further back, and that in my opinion would be a good thing, and similar results to moving them closer together. I also like a good sense of depth, and despite these speaker being well into the room I feel they could have been deeper times. Although the drums on Brubeck’s “Time Out” did knock me out with their depth, and that was the first CD played.
Diagram-1
Diagram-2
Diagram-3
Diagram-4
Diagram-5
Share your thoughts on imaging, I know we have a few recording engineerings out there.
Would Diagram-3 be what you/we are shooting for most of the time on playback?