What is value for money? I think its a relative term. Of course if the price stays the same and performance goes up, then that's an increase in VFM. If the performance stays the same and the price goes down, then that's also an increase in VFM. But what about something that has reduced performance and reduced price? Is that similar VFM or lower VFM or what?
The reason I raise this here is that I do like to spot VFM options at Hifi shows - usually its a case of a system that's performing above its price point in comparison to other systems at the show - hence its relative. A very good sounding system at 6,000 GBP compared to a poor performing system at 15,000 GBP is an easy call. But can a 100,000 GBP system really be considered as VFM? Well, yes and no. In terms of absolutes, probably not. But in terms of comparisons at a show that features multiple 500,000+ GBP systems and one at over 1,200,000 GBP, then yes, relative VFM is possible.
Both iterations of this set up involved mainly Moon by Simaudio electronics. The Moon streamer fed a DAC08 from Danish company Newontech, at around the 5,000 GBP mark it was performing very well in the context of this show. The power amps made up the bulk of the cost at 50,000 GBP the pair. A reasonably serious front end for a diminutive pair of standmounts from new to 'Musings brand Storgaard & Vestskov. Here they used special one-off versions of their speakers, featuring a finish inspired by the current Aston Martin F1 racing car livery - beautifully done. This finish added around 6,000 - 8,000 GBP to the price of each pair of speakers, the standard standmounts are 13k GBP, the floorstanders 17k GBP. Total system prices are therefore in the 100k GBP ballpark.
The speakers are constructed from 22mm High Density Fibreboard (HDF), and an internal layer of 7mm MDF coupled by bonding that remains flexible over time, hence acting as a damper. The front baffle is a very substantial machined aluminium billet which is also bonded to the cabinet using the same damping material. These boxes are very heavy for their compact size. High quality drivers are said to come from SEAS for mid-bass and the tweeter looks like an SB Acoustics.
We start with the standmounts - and an observation that applied to both speakers - don't sit in the second row of the dem room - the room node effect in that row ruined the sound. But from the front row this system really sings. On all kinds of material - rock, deep dirty electronic, opera, americana, EDM, you name it and there was little to nothing to criticise here. Agile, crisp, flowing, coherent, well imaged, emotional content is all there. Even reasonably deep bass is available. A really engaging listen. The floorstanders are also a 2-way design and add more depth but retain all the qualities of the standmounts. Remarkably high volumes are possible too - without apparent strain from the speakers. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Would like to hear what they can do with their flagship Fenja floorstanding speaker - but wisely they chose speakers that were suited to the size of the demo room.
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