Live Review by Inner Ear Report
This is a new company formed by two fellows who came together in an unconventional partnership. One Adrian Butts brings along years of experience in the electronics industry while the other Wayne Prince brings with him years of graphic and industrial design expertise. Wayne, an avid music lover, designed and built a prototype speaker for his unique customized home. Though his expertise didn't include speaker design, he reasoned that a strong physical structure such as a tetrahedron configuration which features a four-faced solid figure contained by four triangles might be the answer for his personal listening requirements.
The frequency response is from (a true) 29Hz to 20kHz; sensitivity is 89dB, 1w/m; impedance is 8 ohms and power handling is quoted as 250 watts, though we drove them with as much as 350 watts without damaging the speakers. The way we see it, the designer(s) had exceptional under standing of forms and how they relate to the acoustical environments of loudspeaker dimensions. While the Tetras appear to be intelligently built, the proof of the design is in ...
The Sound:
The minute we heard
the first few bars of music, we knew these speakers were something special. In
our studio, we registered variable grades of success, depending on what
amplification we used to power the Tetras. A Wyetech Lab Opal preamplifier was
used with the Parasound (350w/ch), the Bryston 8B ST (bridged to deliver 450
w/ch), the OCM 800 (300 w/ch), the Celeste Integrated amp and a proto- type
single ended amp made by the Wyetech Lab folks with only 4 w/ch. Interconnects
were the SPM and Quatrofill by Nordost Flatline and speaker cables included
Nordost SPM and Straightwire's Crescendo. Source components included the
Copland CD player reviewed in this issue and our in-house transport DAC.
The OCM did a
wonderful job in the midrange and bottom frequencies, but didn't accomplish
delicate inner detail at its best. We all thought the highs could be a bit more
radiant and that overall resolution wasn't as striking as in the system
configuration with the Bryston 8B-ST. As well, the Bryston introduced a sense
of clarity. Dynamics were exemplary with both of these amplifiers.
The Parasound,
reviewed in this issue, introduced "muscle" to the sound produced by
the Lives along with liquidly smooth high frequency information, utterly
astounding dynamics and a fascinating and clear sound-stage.
The 4 w/ch Weytech
Lab amplifier revealed the Lives' knack to deliver inner detail, staging, air
and overall coherency, but failed to fulfill dynamics at all but the lowest
listening levels. The Weytech amp, though we
couldn't achieve volume, did everything we admire in a great amplifier/speaker
combination. The highs were, well, perfect, the bass resolute and full-bodied,
but with limited energy. However, with this small amplifier, volume levels
didn't matter as the amplifier extracted finesse which is obviously built into
the speaker design
Adrian Butts, an experienced high-end audio devotee who worked with the now defunct loud- speaker manufacturer Esper Signals, saw possibilities for a high-end speaker design and the two formed a partnership. The Tetra Live (the company calls them "Tetra listening instruments") under review, is the culmination of their combined efforts. Both have the ambition to develop one of the world's greatest speakers and bring it to the consumer electronics industry. Although some of us had heard the company's two models before, we took a "wait and see" attitude. Finally, Butts and Prince brought both models to us. The first Model the Space we heard at the Toronto CCEE and they promised to better -than-average pair of speakers The Live, however, heard first at the Montreal show, were substantially better than your run-of-the-mill, high-end loudspeaker.
Appearance:
What describes the
Lives best is the word "unusual", because few loud speaker cabinets
offer a wedge-like enclosure, topped with another enclosure in the shape of an
equilateral (alp sides equal) four-sided pyramidal. However, the overall
appearance is very attractive and borders on exotic styling which hints at a
sound under-I standing of resonance control. The cabinet work is immaculately
finished with hand-rubbed cherry wood front; baffles to complement olive/black
poly ester enclosures. The panels and baffles fulfill the visual effects of the
Liver's shape and it all comes together in a modern and stylish structure. They
stand 46 inches high with a footprint of 21 inches (W) by 18 inches (D). Most
visitors to our studio commented that the Tetras are stunning, although
some didn't like the design. We expect that the Tetras' appearance is either
liked immensely or not at all. However, the speakers ' shape is enticing to
seasoned audiophiles-and to us, we may add. The Lives conjured up a sound-stage which can
only be described as "awesome". All amps presented the same
meticulous imagery with the Parasound and the Weytech lab amps just a touch
better than the others. All amps also showed that the Tetras tonal balance,
while meticulous in presentation, displayed a slightly recessed upper bass.
We were almost
finished with our listening tests, when the Weytech Lab Topaz amplifier arrived
back in our studio, having undergone some refur- bishment of tubes and binding
post which had been damaged during ship- ment. We decided that one or two more
listening sessions with the, to us familiar, single ended 18 watts/channel Topaz
were in order. These turned out to be the most interesting auditioning
sessions. This time we almost arrived at the finesse of the small Weytech Lab
amp, but with more pure "guts" which improved the dynamics and the
all- round body of the sound, making the slightly recessed upper bass almost
disappear. Thus, the best match is likely achieved with a similar design in the
high-end category of amplifiers.
Synopsis & Commentary:
To describe a
loudspeaker which attains a high level of excellence isn't routine. Firstly, it
must be understood that all loudspeakers have an ideal match out there in
amplifier land. The ideal amplifier will allow the loud- speakers to perform at
their best. We found such an amp in the prototype Weytech Lab unit, alas, we
couldn't get any higher than 80dB sound pres- sure level without clipping.
Though a great musical match, the limitation of relatively low amplitude is not
ideal. Secondly, we must understand the variations in listeners' experience and
ability to identify great sound when they hear it. During our tests, some
guest panelists preferred the sound produced by one or another amplifier, while
our Editor agreed with our regular panelists that the small Weytech Lab amp
delivered the best overall sonic finesse, sans volume of course.
Technology
Here the earlier
mentioned styling meets technology. The cabinets are made from 1- inch Russian
MDF, said to be the most dependable material available. The frond baffles
consist of an additional ¾-inch MDF added to the 1-inch thickness of the
cabinet. Bracing is achieved with selected hardwoods and staggered to
neutralize any internal standing waves which may develop while operating the
system The Lives' driver arrays are Dynaudio tweeters and customized, damped
polymer composite Morel woofers. The crossovers are Bu tterworht-type
components and feature Solen polypropylene caps, Litz coils and point-to-point
hard wiring. The wiring and the speakers' bi-wiring binding posts are made by
Cardas. The lives are unusual two-way systems incorporating woofer/midrange
driver in the top-the pyramidal shaped enclosure. The bottom enclosure serves
as the structure for the assembly and accommodates the loudspeaker's port at
the rear, termination in a large passage abut four inches in diameter. The Lives'
reaction to the various amplifiers used in our tests suggests that listeners
can find the kind of sound they might prefer. Thus, if you have a favourite
amplifier, audition the Lives with it to see if you have a synergistic match.
We believe that it is relatively easy to assemble a highly resolving and
musically accurate system, though you must do the "legwork" first and
convince your dealer to allow you to audition a few amplifiers so you can be
assured of the Lives" synergy with the rest of the equipment.At the recent
Montreal audio show, our Editor heard the Lives connected with Rogue Audio
electronics and this match produced one of the better sounds he came across.
Here in our listening environment, the Lives per- formed at their best hooked
up to the Topaz amplifier, set up about seven feet apart, slightly toed in.
This will allow one listener to get the ultimate imagery in the sweet spot, but
the sound-stage is apparent from almost everywhere in, even out, of the listen-
ing room. Be advised however, the best bass-energy perception is about twelve
feet away from the enclosures and, if there is enough room, try the Lives
twelve feet apart you'll not believe what you are hearing in this position.
For more information:
visit http://www.tetraspeakers.com
or contact:
Tetra Speakers Inc., 6-46 Antares Drive,
Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2E 7Z1
Tel: (613) 226-3550