Date: 2023-07-31
Until recently the title Danish brand was a kind of desire object, we would like to make closer contact with, but due to the fact, that in Poland there was no distributor, chances to get out of this impasse were not very high. But fortunately for a vast number of music lovers, this brand is such an interesting item, that since a dozen months, we do have an energetic distributor. And I did not use the description “energetic” by chance, as his works does not end with just lending gear for testing and listening sessions, but together with the Polish turntable manufacturer Benny Audio, he arranged a meeting in Sopot, with lots of music and Marcin Oleś as the host. But what brand am I talking about? Well, about the Danish loudspeaker specialist, Peak Consult. And the Chełmża based distributor Quality Audio, not without some logistic issues, provided us with the smallest floor stander from the company portfolio, the Sonora.
Looking at the photos, you can clearly see that it is a floor stander. But when you have a closer look, it turns out, that this is more a two-way monitor than a typical floor stander. Albeit with a passive membrane instead of a bass-reflex port, to manage appropriate reach and quality of the bass and packed in a larger cabinet. Why so? Well, a heavier box allows for better management of vibration, something that is the main goal of the manufacturers. This is combatted using thick layers of HDF glued together. Of course, this HDF does not diminish the beauty of the speakers, because, as it is tradition for this brand, the top and side panels are covered with real wood, in this case walnut, and the front baffle and back panel are covered with real leather. To make the external design even more appealing, in the middle of the of the side panels, there is a strip of shiny acrylic, which contrasts nicely with the walnut and leather panels. Another important element of the construction of the cabinet, is that the walls are not parallel to each other, the angles between them are not right. Similar to its bigger brethren, the Sonora has the front baffle section with the mounted drivers quite a way up. On the top end of the back panel we have the mentioned passive membrane, while below, just above the floor, proprietary wire terminals, separate for the bass and treble sections. As you could expect, the loudspeakers are supported on transverse feet with adjustable barrels, bolted from below, a solution typical for Peak Consult. Finalizing the description with some technicalities let me just mention, that according to the manufacturer we have here a two-way speaker, with a sensitivity of 90dB / 8Ohm, with a height of about 113cm and weighing 48kg a piece. The speakers are supplied to the clients in solid, dedicated transportation boxes.
Starting to write about the smallest loudspeaker in the Peak Consult portfolio, let me tell you that, “All is quiet on the Western front”. Sonically, the tested Sonora are moving on the same path as the its larger brethren, the sound esthetics is very similar. It is still based on full timbral emotions, vividness and essence of the reproduced music. But in contrast to its predecessors, it has a tad different approach to the energy package in it. And of course it is not about lacking it, but about a different projection of its lower registers, which are tuned differently here. This comes from the exchanging the bass-reflex port to the passive radiator, which adds some nobleness to it. On one hand it allows the base to become a bit lighter, avoiding the effect of a “pump”, which is tiring on the long run, but on the other hand, it should allow to have it reach lower. And what is the effect? For me it is formidable, as music, with a seemingly lower weight, did have appropriate pulse, but did not try to reach the size as reproduced from bigger speakers. Do you think it is a bad thing? Absolutely not, this approach eliminates the effect of a steroid pumped boxer, trying to knock us out, leaving us with an agile lady inviting us to spend a few moments with our beloved music. Personally, I prefer the second, unconstrained world, this is the reason, that I have such big speakers myself. But if I would not have such possibilities, I would have searched for something like the tested speakers. Not very big speakers, with a sound that also does not reach record size, but with complete freedom of reverberation; with a full palette of information required to listen without straining your hearing. I know, that this may not be very fashionable, because we love, when the sound coming from the speakers kicks us, but for me, that would be a fight, and not a way to spend my evening. So when you love the second option, and your listening room is somewhat constrained, the choice is simple – Peak Consult Sonora. And I will try to show you the reasoning behind this based on a few disc examples.
Let us first take a listen to our Polish singer, supported by a world-class guitar player, Anna Maria Jopek and Pat Metheny, on the album “Upojenie”. This is a recording that is known to probably all music lovers in Poland, and many outside of it, and in most part a very moody one. And well recorded too, not needing the lower registers to be upped, and as such, showing all the assets of the tested speakers. The music was reproduced very airy – of course, when it had to hit it did, but the airiness and the brilliant decay of individual, well exposed sounds, produced not only by the delicate voice of the singer, but also by the virtuoso guitar, pushed the emotional content of the reproduced material to a rarely achievable level of reaching my senses. And it was not just about skillfully avoiding the “wow” effect in reproducing the expressiveness of the recording, but also about interestingly putting it in the ether and making it vivid, and with this intensifying the amount of evoked emotions.
Another disc, that shows well the assets of the loudspeakers, was the album “I have the Room above Her” from the Paul Motian jazz trio, with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano. This is another very picturesque recording, where the saxophone of J. Lovano is very important. It is not too light, but also far from being obese, and due to splendid vividness, full of “wooden” artifacts and is a great counterpoint to the rest of the band, in a very readable arranged, wide and deep virtual stage. And this is only one of the many important aspects of the material, as also the resonant guitar from Frisell and the rhythm support from the contrabass of Motian, showing the full size of its body, as well as the work of the fingers on the strings, were also vital to the overall story. All in all it was another well reproduced test disc.
Finally something that also worked well, although for lovers of this genre, it probably could have sounded stronger. I am talking about the newest rock album from AC/DC “Power Up”. Again, everything was OK, but such kind of bands like an abundance of mass and energy in the lower octaves. Without that, the gravity point of this music can travel upwards and become a tad clamorous. This the more, as the gentlemen do not shy away from guitar show-offs, which often turn out to be little engaging, if not backed with sufficient mass. So how did this disc finally fare? Surprisingly ambiguous. Due to the loudspeakers avoiding overexcitement, things went off without any clamor; the timbre was well seated. But in terms of creating appropriate amounts of energy, things turned out to be a bit too light. There will be plenty of people supporting this approach, but let us not kid ourselves, the guys from AC/DC do like strong sound. So was it a setback? No, not completely. And there are many reasons for that. First of all, are the mentioned assets of those loudspeakers, but in this case the choice of appropriate speakers for your repertoire is key. Nobody sane will buy speakers designed to shape each and every music note to listen to rock and similar genres. And even if you would do that, please bear in mind that the test was conducted in a room too large for them, and yet, they still managed to impress. So what would happen when you would place them in a more appropriate space? I think I can guess, but you can try it for yourself and, probably, will be positively surprised.
Trying to summarize all pros and cons of this test, I can easily say that the Peak Consult Sonora speakers were victorious. This is in fact just a bookshelf speaker, albeit with an enlarged cabinet, so you cannot judge it in an inappropriately large room. Of course, with its assets, it will much easier shine in a quieter repertoire, directed more on the emotional aspect of music, but even “wired” gentlemen showed some nice symptoms of drive, so if you are not looking for the most offensive and ruthless part of music, the tested speakers have a chance to find their place in most potential systems. There is one thing though, you need to give them a chance.