Yesterday when I signed off, I had just finished connecting the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover in the right "Stokowski" Altec loudspeaker, and did a little listening to compare it to the Altec N-500-D crossover in the left loudspeaker.
The "Stokowski" Altec's actually sounded really good with their original Altec N-500-D crossovers, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but even after a short listen it was apparent that the Duelund CAST crossover was in a completely different league of performance compared to the original Altec N-500-D crossover.
Today I finished connecting the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover to the left "Stokowski" Altec loudspeaker crossover, and sat down to do a little listening to get an initial impression of what the loudspeakers sounded like with both of the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover in place.
First up for a listen was Balalaika Favorites on the Mercury Living Presence label, which features both a superb recording and an impressive musical performance.
The first thing that caught my attention was how utterly natural the overall tone was with the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers in place. Natural, rich, colorful, gorgeous tone!
The next thing I noticed was how exhilarating the music felt as I was listening. The Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers have a very emotionally engaging way of presenting the music, and I found that it was really easy just to sit back and let the music flow over me and forget about everything else.
I'm going to have to think about this aspect of their performance for a while, as I'm not sure I know how to articulate how powerful this effect is yet. I'm at a complete loss of words on this front, and as you know I'm never at a loss for words when talking about music and audio!
There's a lot going on in Balalaika Favorites from a musical perspective, and there's a rather enchanting relaxed clarity evident with the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers that allows a lot of meaningful musical nuance to come through in a way that I found thoroughly consistent with live-like musicality.
Imaging performance is leaps and bounds better than the original Altec N-500-D crossovers, and the images possess an impressive amount of body and presence that makes for a particularly engaging performance.
The Harrow & The Harvest by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, highlighted how much prowess the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers have in the realm of rhythm and beat. Gillian's rhythm playing has never sounded so apparent, articulate, and satisfying to me as it does with the Duelund crossovers. The Duelund crossovers are next level, plain and simple.
How many times have you listened to an album and you couldn't quite make out what the vocals were saying? Vocal articulation is much better with the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers as well, something I really enjoyed.
I'm going to keep this initial listening report short and sweet, primarily because I'm having trouble articulating why the Duelund CAST tinned-coppers sound so incredibly good. I'm going to have to sit back, listen, and process what I'm hearing for a while to get a better handle on describing it.
The pair of Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers have elevated the performance of my "Stokowski" Altec's in ways I couldn't have even imagined yesterday. I'm just completely dumbfounded by the result.
Here's what I can tell you: Frederik has done something absolutely amazing with his line of Duelund CAST tinned-copper components, and I am in awe at what I'm hearing and feeling as I listen to music with them on the Altec's. This isn't just evolution in musicality & sound, it's a revolution!
All I can say is those of you who are in the process of building crossovers for your speakers with the Duelund CAST tinned-copper components have something to be very, very, excited about.
Much more to come!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!
