The Kiva’s listenability began with its tweeter. As I listened to “Little Paradise,” from Eliane Elias’s Dance of Time (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Concord Jazz/Tidal), I immediately concluded that the Kivas’ big soft-dome tweeter were striking a nice balance of detail and tonal friendliness. The piano had enough sparkle to tickle the ear, but it never sounded strident or too hot -- at all. This recording is slightly warm sounding to begin with, so perhaps this wasn’t the best test of upper-frequency balance, but still -- the sound was just beautiful in my room, and required no effort on my part to enjoy it.

As I listened to more midrange-centric music from Tidal’s Folk/Americana genre, I came to largely the same conclusion about the Kiva’s midband as I had about its treble: This speaker was inherently listenable, never assaulting me with its sound. I also concluded that the blend of the outputs of the tweeters and midrange drivers was seamless. Music was all of a piece -- never did I hear any problems related to audible handoffs of frequencies from driver to driver.

To assess the Kivas’ reproduction of bass, I began where I often do: with the title track of Donald Fagen’s Morph the Cat (24/96 AIFF, Reprise/HDtracks). I use this cut to see if a speaker has power in the lower bass and punch in the midbass. If I can’t feel the percussive impact in my chest, then I know that the speaker in question is too lightweight in the lows and will ultimately not satisfy me. You’ve got to have some volume for this song, so I raised the level to a peak of about 90dB and let ’er rip. The EgglestonWorks played with real growl in the bass, and physicality from the kick drum. They didn’t produce the seismic shifts that I’ve heard from the super speakers I’ve had in past years, but I heard plenty of low-bass energy, and at impressively high volume levels.

The EgglestonWorks Kiva is a relative bargain in a large, almost full-range speaker that effortlessly delivers beautiful music. It doesn’t need to extract a pound of flesh, it’s not in the least idiosyncratic, and you won’t spend months dialing in a pair of them to get your music to sound as it should. Their solid build quality and excellent finish guarantee that you’ll be proud to display them in your room. And if my time with them is any indication, you won’t feel the need to go out and spend twice their cost to get marginally better sound. I think that, for most audiophiles, buying a pair of Kivas can be a set-it-and-forget-it proposition -- and these days in high-end audio, that’s rare.

Link do recenzji: Eggleston Kiva – SoundStage Ultra