TK-5C Listening Tests

CD: Fourplay – The Best of Fourplay

What do you get when you combine some of Jazz’s most talented musicians in one band? Bubble gum “radio friendly” jazz for the most part unfortunately. There are moments of excellent musicianship on this CD; a few more meaty non radio friendly songs that seep through the pores of any jazz lover like spicy Mexican food does through a person suffering from IBS. Track #5 “Chant” separates the men from the mice when it comes to determining a loudspeaker's true dynamic capabilities. The kick drum at the opening passage will either radiate beautifully through a loudspeaker's bass drivers, or send their voice coils slapping out of the magnetic gap with a non-orgasmic popping sound. Trust me, it isn’t pleasant, nor is this punishment beneficial to the driver over prolonged exposure. Needless to say, the TK-5Cs handled this passage with much more grace and finesse than the Usher S-520s. The bass was tighter and cleaner on the TK-5Cs while it was more extended on the S-520s. As I cranked the volume up, the TK-5CTs began showing signs of distress, though never bottoming out, while the Ushers were bottoming hard sounding like one of those newspaper poppers I used to construct as a child to torment my bigger brother while he was napping. Basically the RBH’s traded off extension for greater power handling and dynamics. This, in my opinion, is a good trade off when dealing with small speakers as one could always add a subwoofer or two to achieve greater bass extension and impact. This of course is a requirement of home theater and I believe a necessity for all small single woofer speaker systems should you desire to reproduce the full frequency spectrum of your music.

CD: Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat

Morph the Cat is quickly becoming a regular in my test disc arsenal because of its excellent recording quality and the fact that some of the songs have really started to grow on me overtime. Track #8 “Mary Shut the Garden Door” has a lot going on percussion wise that really reveals a speaker's mettle. The TK-5Cs handled this track nicely placing the vocals upfront and center with good depth and detail in the percussions. I did however feel that the S-520s presented a wider soundstage, though somewhat more recessed in the vocals. The Ushers conveyed more smoothness in the top end at times but both speakers provided an equally enjoyable experience, though from a somewhat different perspective. Some of the tracks with embedded female vocals again proved the RBH’s more forward nature. Though they did well with vocals overall, at times they conveyed an almost “cupped” sound, which I suspect was due to a bit of cabinet resonance. This was a phenomenon not as apparently obvious when listening on the Ushers.

SACD: Patricia Barber – Modern Cool

I had to dust the cobwebs off this SACD as it’s been some time since I incorporated it into a review. Track #7 “Company” got my juices flowing. This is one of those songs that you simply have to hear in its entirety, especially the awesome drum solo midway into it. The guitars were very distinct sounding and in your face on the RBH’s while the vocals were a bit more natural and the top end more refined on the Ushers. The RBH’s were clearly outgunning the Ushers in dynamics and dare I say “quickness” in the bass. I was able to pick up more reverb cues from the snare drum hits on the RBH’s. Track #6 “Silent Partner” really gave the tweeters in both speaker pairs a work out. While both systems did commendably well here, I felt the Usher’s took on a more floaty feel with the brush strokes against the cymbals and Patricia’s voice sounding a bit more natural, but the guitars were bolder (in your face) sounding on the RBHs which was very enjoyable.

As I listened to some of the other key tracks it occurred to me that on close mic’ed recordings such as these, the TK-5Cs almost overemphasize the vocals. Though I suspect the thinness in the lower bass was adding to this effect so I tried throwing a subwoofer into the mix and this did seem to smooth out the overall sonic balance.