Paradoxically, truly great listening experiences are few and far between at hi-fi-shows.
Still, there are rooms I return to every year, safe in the knowledge I will find both great sound and great music. One such room is that of Kevin Scott of Definitive Audio and Living Voice, the English maker of ultra-expensive horn speakers and somewhat less expensive dynamic speakers.
Jan Omdahl
The Living Voice R80 loudspeakers truly energized that large and beautiful space, yet still managed to sound light and airy and detailed at the same time. This was another room that was constantly packed throughout the show, and for good reason.
Mark Phillips
… so this is a pretty serious system but not the most expensive at the event by a long way, yet it provided highly engaging sounds as well as the broadest selection of music with everything from Shostakovich to Scientist dubbing Culture. The system proves that 9 Watts is all you need if the quality is high enough.
Jason Kennedy
Teamed here with the top-tier SJS electronics and the latest turntables from Kuzma and Grand Prix Audio, the sound was as bold and engaging as it was effortlessly involving. Kevin Scott’s range of distinctly non-audiophile discs kept things interesting and this room was permanently packed – probably not helped by the comfy bucket seating which, along with the astonishingly entertaining musical performance encouraged the audience to take root.
Roy Gregory
…for people looking for that elusive emotional connection with music and not just sound effects, these speakers will give you more than a taste of their vastly more expensive horn offerings.
Adrian Wu
With a suite of SJS valve amplification running Takatsuki and Living Voice 300Bs, Kuzma XL AIR and Grand Prix Monaco 3.0 turntables – the latter of which in all its compactness and carbon fibre construction is a dream record deck for yours truly with a Viv Labs Rigid Float tonearm for the ultimate in energy preservation and visual understatement – a custom Consolidated step up transformer (a work of art in itself), all of it sitting on Living Voice’s own equipment stand and fed by the fabled bank of batteries that always gets taken to Munich… the sound was as dynamic and musically expressive as I ever experienced in this room. Utterly convincing.
Erik Van Spelde
manufacturers of living voice loudspeaker systems