Wes Phillips discovers magic when hooking up the Soliloquy Model 5.0

3/15/01- In his review of the Audio Supply AE-25 Super Amp, Wes Phillips discovers magic when hooking up the Soliloquy Model 5.0

“... Although the Super Amp can sound authoritative with the right speaker, you do have to exercise some care that you have the right speakers. Current-hungry designs, such as the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk II, simply didn't get the oomph they require with the AE-25. The Soliloquy 5.0, on the other hand, sang beautifully in concert with the amplifier. That particular combination gave me goosebumps, especially on vocals of any sort, as well as chamber music.

A polite form of self-imposed torture, the concert

The Tallis Scholars' recording of Josquin's L'homme armé masses [Gimmell CDGM 019] sounded particularly yummy through the Soliloquy/AE-25 combination. Missa L'homme armé sexti toni spaces the four vocal ranges widely apart. This performance features an astonishing transparency. The altos float above the other parts as if nudging at the hall's ceiling. In the final Agnus Dei à 6, Josquin placed two joined canons in the upper ranges against a double cantus firmus in the bass -- one part singing it frontward and one backwards. The effect is hypnotic and startlingly modern — it seems to look as much toward Steve Reich as toward Pope Gregory.

This is dense music with vocal lines lingering and twining amongst themselves. In the hands of lesser artists, it can sound as difficult as it actually is; however, the Tallis Scholars negotiate its trickiness with grace and an obvious love of the source material. Their performance is not just light, but suffused with light and lightness. The Soliloquy/Super Amp combo perfectly unveiled their sense of delight and illumination without even breathing hard...”

For the full review, see www.onhifi.com/product.shtml