One of the things about being an audiophile is that we continue to chase hearing every single note, desiring that ultimate resolution within our budget. During that chase a few audiophiles lose their love of music. Many people point to the supposedly famous Alan Parsons quote about audiophiles listen to their equipment. Well, I’m a music lover first, I listen to just escape and allow my brain synapsis’ to be lit up by the joy of notes and harmonies in instruments.
Recently, I emailed Thomas Tan about his new Galion P75 pre-amplifier as a review item. Unfortunately, Thomas informed me that the first batch is sold out and it will be a few months before he’ll be able to get one to me, but he said, how do you like how would you like to get your ears on the Voyager TL, his transmission line stand mount speaker? Now, I haven’t heard a true transmission line speaker design in probably 15 years and after a quick read up on the goals of the Voyager TL, I knew this would be a speaker that I would want to listen to.
The Galion website details Thomas Tan’s goal of creating a very smooth speaker that can be listened to all day. Thomas wrote: “The treble of the TS Voyager TL was carefully tuned to be not harsh and not sibilant” and “buttery smooth midrange”. Dr. Viet Nguyen did the initial design work, and the voicing was done by Thomas, with the desire to create a warmer well-rounded, mellow presentation. Starting with the Dayton Audio 1-1/8" silk dome tweeter, a 5” paper cone driver, and most impressive, Jupiter Vitamin-Q capacitors in the crossover. A very nice quality set of 5-way binding posts compliments the other quality parts.
A big difference comes in the type of cabinet material. Currently, fiberboard is the material of choice in the industry. But Thomas decided that he wanted the cabinet to be a part of the reproduction. Therefore, he chose to go with birch plywood finished in a dark satin stain. One surprise is that the speaker weighs just 13.5 pounds (6.10kg). The internal bracing is done in such a way as to achieve a curving tunnel that creates the impressive bass. The port is actually a rectangular slot on the bottom of the front face. This does allow for the Voyager TL’s to be placed much closer to the front wall. But still, play around with placement until you find your best room performance. I did have the speakers pointing at ball of my should socket.
In the system
Setup is absolutely crucial with the Voyager TL’s. With this kind of bass (using the full port plug, partial plug, or no plug insert used), along with the fact that birch plywood cabinet is designed to be an active part of the speakers sound, you may find that your usual placement is completely off your normal positioning. Nemo Propaganda in his review describes his efforts to find happiness.
I did try to power them with the SMSL a 200 with the Infineon class D chip. This little amplifier puts out approximately 30 watts per channel into the Voyager’s rated 8 ohms, but more current is definitely worthwhile. Therefore, if you’re looking for the smaller size class D amplifiers, make sure to get one with plenty of power and give it a serious try, but also make sure you can return it.
On the other hand, pairing them with their sibling TS A75 power amplifier, which is my reference unit, was a wonderful experience, the richness of the transmission line bleed through from the deep bass into the mid bass for lack of better term, created a really soulful sound, especially with vocals and acoustic guitars There’s something about hearing a non-auto tuned vocal with that artist’s individual characteristics being played through the speakers. While the Voyager’s won’t give me a detail of the Buchardt 400 mk II’s, it’s just old-fashioned enjoyable fun listening. One quickly forgets about the missing details and instead you just get immersed in the performance. In many ways it’s kind of soul-touching. I found myself letting go of the analytical and just enjoying the flow. Now I’m sure part of that comes from the plumped up midrange and mid-bass area which gives some weight to the vocals and other instruments as that is the true sweet spot.
Listening
Elton John‘s classic album Mad Man Across The Water, the track “Holiday Inn” is a great way to test the two different foam plugs for the ports that Thomas provides, or going without in the Voyagers. With the full plug, the Voyager TL’s sounds like a typical stand mount two-way, although you can hear the cabinet doing what Thomas wanted to do which was to provide resonance. With the half size cap you get a fuller presentation of the lower frequencies. Elton John‘s voice becomes richer, there is a definite improvement. However, this is one of those songs where even in my small 11 x 10“ room over a crawlspace, going without the plugs out is sheer delight. The bass has plenty of character, the notes impactful, and there is plenty of secondary detail.
Through the Voyager TL’s, Rickie Lee Jones’ “Youngblood”, the bass with the half size plug that I settled on as my preferred choice, her vocals actually seemed to hover slightly above the speakers. Upper bass is definitely a bit pronounced, but not overwhelming. Other frequencies tend to lay back behind the bass. The breathiness of her vocals is not overwhelming, natural but not effusive. The horns mid song are a bit flat, but not unpleasant. The bass guitar as expected, has very nice detail.
On “Easy Money”, the string bass is a bit chubby. The closed high hat is laid-back, definitely not sparkly or shimmery, just as Thomas Tan said that the treble would sound. The xylophone at the end of this song had a nice ring in the upper-mid registers. Ricky Lee’s very high loud notes in “Last Chance”, are rounded, but there is enough there that you know she’s reaching her limits and so you don’t hear the graininess or shrill. While the deep bass drum notes in “Koolsville”, radiates like waves. This is transmission line speaker design at its best.
One last Rickie Lee Jones song from her second album Pirates, “We Belong Together”. The song goes up-tempo. There is a great introduction of the drums. The kick and punch of the toms and bass are truly visceral, its songs like these with the Voyager TL‘s that make me wonder why more manufacturers of small speakers don’t go with the transmission line design.
With the Voyager TL’s paired up with fellow family member, the Galion TSE 75 amplifier are a joyful match, I found that the Peachtree Audio Carina X, with its 300 W per channel of class D Hypex N-Core power, to be equally as thrilling. Of course it also gave a bit more brightness to the upper frequencies due to the nature of chip amplification. For a really rich and warm body heavy sound, my Vista Audio i34 integrated tube amp was all sorts of warm fun. But with the temperatures in the upper 90s during most of this review, I limited my time with that unit to early morning listening (even though I do have air conditioning), as it just doesn’t take much to heat up my room.
The acoustic guitar in Dire Straits “Private Investigations” is silky, smooth, and rich. Knopfler’s finger picks are nicely clear, as is the xylophone during the mid song instrumental section. The stereophonic effort by the recording engineers in this track really shows off the channel separation of the Voyager TL‘s. The mid-bass tom strikes from the drum kit hit with a pleasant thud against the chest.
The Voyager TL‘s excel at up-tempo music, any song that gets your foot tapping is their bread and butter. Toto‘s fourth album with tracks like “Roseanne” and ‘Waiting For Your Love”, exudes the happy nature with these speakers. Of course the opening to “Africa” with the synthesizer notes in the mid-bass reminds me of first hearing this album during college not only on my Polk Audio Monitor 10B’s, but a fellow dorm floor system that had Cerwin Vegas. Short drum section just before the first chorus carries deep in to the sound stage in front of the speakers. While the mid song xylophone is a bit laid-back, the overall structure of this song is recognized for being one of the most ear pleasing of any songs of the pop era, and the Voyager TL expresses it very well.
Elton John‘s classic, “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” is sheer energetic fun with the Voyager TL’s. I admit to cranking this one up while the wife was out of the house one morning. Of course, “Benny and the Jets” is an absolute thrill ride. The Voyager TL’s get the energy, fun, and the enjoyment right in rock music.
Final thoughts
The Galion Audio TS Voyager TL’s at $1195 USD are a throwback in many ways in their sound signature to speakers from the late 70s and 80s. It’s not about the performance of individual notes but the compilation of all the instruments together that makes the stand mount speakers just a whole lot of fun. Yes I know. I’ve repeated that word many times but it’s true. It’s a nostalgic sound in many ways, these are not speakers that you should spend your life critically listening to music. No, they are designed to just enjoy the music. The basic sonic character of the sum is better than individual areas reminds me of the Klipsch Heritage Forte IV’s, which I reviewed some years back for my website.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a set of speakers for the whole family, whether it be home theater, which I did try and found quite enjoyable, or just a recreation room in general, whether it be the basement, main floor, or up over the garage in a hangout space, the Voyager TL’s are great choice for sheer enjoyment, nothing more, nothing less.
Comments
Post a Comment