Okay.
We have just spent an afternoon with the 99.36s hung on the end of £20k+ of Naim system and it was definitely a day of two halves. The first part centered on trying to achieve a bass alignment that suited the room. tony @ suffolk has a very large room. It's not that wide (15ft?) but it is long; at least 40ft+, which is very odd compared to a typical modern house. It can reinforce bass notes in the mid 30Hz range due to it's width, whilst offering practically no reinforcement or room gain below that point, so positioning of the speakers is critical. Like most rooms, it was not designed with hi-fi in mind (no surprise given that it is a 200+ year old cottage), but it does also have a bare oak floor with not a carpet or rug in sight. With leather sofas and a metal wall of Naim occupying 8ft+
eek
of one wall, it's not going to be a forgiving room.
Even in a room that size, it was possible to achieve monstrous, but rather monotonous bass with the 99.36s in their native form. We ended up with the top section of the speakers, plus one port of the bottom section plugged and the speakers about 2m from the rear wall and about 1m from either side wall. This resulted in a tuneful enough bass that was perhaps a bit lighter than I like, but was far preferable to the alternative and you quickly adjust to it. I may be more of a bass head than I thought, because Tony (and friend) thought it about right, but as I say you get used to it.
On to listening and I must confess that the character of the 99.36s was diametrically opposed to what I hear in my own room. Tony's room is a lot larger than mine and even with the speakers as far from the rear wall as they were, the distance to the seating position is probably greater than the entire length of my room full stop. As such, you have to turn the wick up considerably to achieve similar volume levels to those I am used to and I must say that Tony likes to listen LOUD!
Tony immediately remarked that there was a hardness to the treble and I'd make him right in that respect. I know what I'm used to hearing from these speakers in my room, but whether it be due to the lack of carpet, sheer volume levels, weird Naim cables or indeed a remittingly revealing system, things always seemed to be teetering on the edge of uncomfortable.
I was non-plussed, but a superb lunch (thanks to Mrs T
) called a halt to proceedings.
Suitably saited, we sat down again and to be honest, it might as well have been a different pair of speakers. You can add any number of imponderables to the equation such as full stomachs, extra levels of relaxation due to a couple of glasses of wine, mornings being a less good time for loud music, or the speakers simply achieving a balance with the rooms temperature; Never the less, any number of annoying traits evaporated and the 99.36s finally sang.
During my original write up, I completely ignored the option of turning the tweeter down by 3dB that the links allow and this may have helped either earlier, or later on in proceedings, but the mid band lost its hardness and opened right up, as did the treble to my ears, even if the hi-fi boys might have enjoyed a slightly reduced level, more akin to the fully active Naim system we listened to later on.
Compared to the morning, the afternoon was less a case of looking for excuses for a budget speaker and more a case of being quietly impressed by what they managed within their limits. I think we all agreed that they handled acoustic recordings very well and my beloved female vocals sounded much more like I was used to without being tainted by the 'shouty' edge we'd heard early on. Dynamically, they were right on the money from the off, but in the afternoon, this stood out less as a single strength as a more even balance complimented it. Plucked acoustic guitar sounded particularly full bodied and rounded for instance.
Limitations? Well, the 99.36s would pass for quite a large speaker in most rooms, but they looked almost lost in Tony's. The Naim SL2s that stood behind them have never registered as a particularly large speaker on my radar, but they looked twice the size in comparison. This was an impression reinforced when we re-listened to several tracks throught the Naims later on - Size is everything when it comes to maintaining high SPLs for prolonged periods without any sign of stress. There was always a sense that the Naims could comfortably go louder without loosing composure, even if my ears wanted to actually turn things down slightly.
By comparison, to what is a very expensive top flight system after all, the 99.36s reached a point at which they were comfortable and they let you know it if you asked more. In the light of the complete cost disparity, this is not a criticism, it's simply a fact that the XTZs are a budget speaker and therefore are not boundless in their capabilities. Also, lest we forget, there is never, ever likely to be a circumstance where a £680 speaker would end up on the end of such a ruthlessly wide-band system unless fools like us are doing it for a laugh. You simply don't buy £700 speakers to hang on the end of £20k systems.
Having been relieved of the embarrassment I thought I and my original write up might suffer, the system was re-plumbed back into it's fully active bi-amped status and several tracks were replayed. It should be noted that the SL2s are placed (and designed to be so) against the rear wall and so for every comment about the 99.36s and their volume limitations in that room, the Naims were doing it from a further 6ft away. In most rooms, that would be 50% further - not a small difference.
Excepting the personal preferences of absolute treble level, I was pleased to note that certain tracks I had felt to be a touch sibilant, sounded no different through the Naims. However, their ability to render the subtleties of the way treble heavy instruments like cymbals were
struck was very impressive. Where as the the XTZs could tell you how hard a certain cymbal was struck, the SL2s let you know
where the drummer was hitting them. A subtle difference, but it's a listen through quality you will pay for if you can afford it.
An area where the XTZ's did stack up (as long as volume was kept on their side) was in spacial placement within the soundstage. They really do render depth, as well as lateral displacement extremely well. They also fare well with the expessive rendering of vocals, conveying all the emotion and inflection that makes a speaker stand out. Add this to their dynamic strengths as mentioned early on.
So, what did we prove?
Well, there's no substitute for budget. That's not news, but if you have it, it can provide effortless reproduction at all volume levels which only leaves your mood to decide where you turn your volume control to. It proved that whilst my friends think I'm a volume nutter, they really have no idea how loud some people like to listen. It proved Mrs T is a saint and bloody good with fish. It proved that metal coned speakers need longer than average to settle down and give of their best and in spite of knowing this, I was really surprised how much difference this makes. Be warned against quick A-B comparisons with such speakers be it these, or the likes of MA/Acoustic Energy stuff for instance. Finally, it proved that the 99.36s are surprisingly good for a £700 speaker.
Sure they have their limits like any other compact (really, they are in the grand scheme of things) budget speaker; but within those limits and given enough room to let that bottom end breathe, they're not embarrassed by considerably more expensive gear and provide a convincing alternative to gear more expensive than their price tag suggests, as long as you don't try and stretch that notion too far.
Russell