Be-718 Setup and Listening Tests

Setting these speakers on my height adjustable stands I put the center of the woofers at 28 inches high which when accounting for the slight angle the front panel is placed at, opened the soundstage up significantly over the 30 inches I had originally set them up at that made them sound like they were almost talking above my head so to speak. This height also meant that the tweeter was more accurately placed in relation to my listening position, further expanding the soundstage. I placed the speakers 4.5 feet out from the front wall, 4 feet from the left and 5 feet from the right outside walls of the room, which was about 16-18 inches wider than I normally would for ideal placement in my small room. The reason being my display in that room is an old 36 inch Sony XBR CRT TV, and it’s mighty sensitive to magnetic interference so I spanned the speakers out far enough to prevent any problems.

Once placement in the room had been determined I began with the speakers parallel to each other and listened to several reference passages from some of the artists below to get an idea of the ideal position for both soundstage depth and tonal accuracy. Working in 2-3 degree increments, I found the ideal toe in for the speakers to be between 9 and 11 degrees from parallel. Once that magic range had been reached, I was taken aback by the sheer volume of space that the speakers gave to most of my favorite recordings. They opened up some of my music as if the artists had just been released from singing behind a curtain, with greater attention to detail than any bookshelf I’ve yet tried. The picture isn’t all rosy and pure however, as you will read in the listening tests below. They can make brassy vocals and some large ensemble band passages sound harsh and unpleasant, but that is more the exception than the rule.

Listening Tests

Fleming and John – The Way We Are

Let it be known that I find there to be something eternally gratifying in love being expressed through music. The married couple of Fleming McWilliams and John Mark Painter aren’t afraid to air their affection and trepidation in ways that are uniquely musical and heartfelt without being kitschy or obvious. Their stripped down style gets at the very heart of the matter with brilliant guitar work and unique supporting instruments such as a rain stick occasionally added by Fleming, they approach music with a unique ear for expressing emotion through music.

Track # 11, Rain All Day - is a very simple arrangement with Fleming lilting ethereally as if in a distant place with a hollow sound to her vocals right from the start of the track, this early introduction to the song pointed out the incredible way the speakers were able to deliver depth and presence to something that other speakers almost treat as gossamer and too delicate to truly represent fully. This initial fawning sensation was quickly tempered however when her vocals, already brassy and some may say unrefined, came across as being more harsh, even grating, than I had ever experienced before, including the two times I’ve seen them live. I would attribute this to the fact that her voice comes at a range that puts it squarely between where the tweeter crosses down to the main driver, taxing both of them equally, and never giving sway to either in order to soften the presentation. Track # 9 – Ugly Girl – Which was co-written by Ben Folds, gives the speakers much less of a vocal conundrum to try and work out, and as a result I was once again taken into the incredible depth of imaging with Fleming nearly dead center, and the distinctly affected guitar of John deeper in the soundstage without being distinctly to one side or the other.

Blue Man Group – Audio (DVD-Audio)

With the now immortalized “Drumbone” better known as “The Pentium 4 Song” now thoroughly imprinted on the psyche of every music lover and computer user around, these unique creations of performance art and music are ingrained in our popular culture through the creation of one of a kind instruments made of PVC pipe and piano’s turned on end. The percussive assault their music can offer is a true challenge to any bookshelf that wants to reproduce deep bass without running out of breath.

Track # 10 – Drumbone – Using the instrument that gives the song its name, a series of pipes ranging from 4” down to about 2” with sliding appendages used to affect the tone, nearly the entire song is played using only this one instrument which requires all three “men” to operate. It truly isn’t a test of imaging, but the quality with which it is recorded and the frequencies that the instrument can produce make a unique test bed for any speaker, and the Tiny Dancer’s were up to the challenge. As mentioned above, I originally had setup my receiver to include the subwoofer in 2 channel reproduction, and my impression of the speakers was one of jaw dropping depth and remarkable recovery time between notes until I noticed a paper I had dropped was rattling in front of the port of my sub, which gave me the pause necessary to readjust the system and listen to the song again. I came away even more impressed if that’s possible, due to the fact that while I didn’t have that sternum vibration produced by the subwoofer, I instead had spine tingles as the instrument seemed to become more musical and less magical. Individual strikes of the Drumbone with drumsticks became a report of their own, and the way the sound was pushed ever so gently outward without being “in your face” brought a smile to my face. I also used this as my break-in song to flex the woofer for about 8 hours and truly let the surrounds settle in. I did this at THX reference level (0db on my receiver) while out running errands, and in the time it took to me to return there was an audible improvement in their ability to produce the more impressively low tones of these unique percussionists.

Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams and Brushfire Fairytales

“Hi, I’m Jack Johnson, and I like to keep things real mellow” as a friend of mine recently remarked in a mocking tone while we were driving and listening to this album in my car. His idea of mellow by comparison is Ween, so we are on two different planets in that regard. It did bring to my attention however, the fact that Jack Johnson is my choice when I just want to imagine myself under clear blue skies with a light salty breeze blowing across my sand encrusted toes while sipping daiquiri’s from a refrigerated cement mixer. That being said, I took the time to “mellow” and truly examine the artistry of this Hawaiian surf rock master.

Track # 12 – Belle - from In Between Dreams: It’s almost an interlude rather than a song, and quite simply JJ and his Guitar well mic’d and dead center stage. As near as my middle school language lessons can tell me it’s simply “Hey Beautiful” in a variety of the “romance languages”. It is however extremely expressive and the acoustic guitar has resonant tones that these speakers are more capable than most at being able to reproduce. There are other speakers that have made a greater impression on me in this short song, but at less than half the price, the difference is far from dramatic. Track # 6 – Sitting, Waiting, Wishing – from In Between Dreams: For some reason, his voice came across in more of a baritone in this track than I had remembered hearing him before. Is this a function of the speakers, the recording, my room? I can’t honestly say, but what I can say is the short and sharp percussive stabs on the simple drum kit firmly staged behind Jack in this passage have felt more muted and less a part of the ensemble than with the Tiny Dancer’s. Each strike of the drum elicited a fresh sizzle from the snares which faded in time to let the next beat sound distinctly separate from the former. Other speakers have made the drums feel like a tacked on addition rather than an instrument that’s a true part of the song. Track # 2 – Middle Man – from Brushfire Fairytales: The hollow rim shot of the percussion in this song which seems almost to emanate from everywhere and yet still has a presence in the soundstage while the simple arrangement gives crystal clarity to his voice which seems just slightly left of the center of the soundstage. I truly felt as if I was being transported into the environment of the studio with this track, and the depth of that illusion was most certainly the result of the combination of cabinet, crossover, and creativity that has made these small speakers a welcome, if temporary, addition to my listening environment.