Gadget review

I'm sure there used to be a Reviews section, but I can't find it. I hope it's OK to post this mini-review of the MIT AVT Speaker Module here.

What I got
Before I dive in a bit of context might be helpful, so here's a brief description of my system: Michell Gyrodec (RB300, Dynavector DV10x4); Quad 67 CDP; Art Audio Quintet (EL34-based integrated) with Border Patrol power supply; and Klipsch La Scala speakers (big fugly three-way horns).

Ooh, that's nice
So, what does this pile of stuff sound like? Well, I hate to say it because it sounds like damning with faint praise, but it sounds nice. Really, really nice. It's got just enough of that stereotypical valve warmth and that beautiful valve midrange that I love. It is wonderful on vocals, flatters string quartets, and makes pretty much everything pleasant to listen to. However.....Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers has got a fat lip because his bass lines don't funk and punch. System of a Down can't slam their way into the room. And Motorhead have packed up and gone home in disgust. This setup does not do bass enough justice.

AVT Speaker Module? What's one of them?
A year or so ago, I went to the hi-fi show at Manchester airport and sort of got hijacked by the MIT guy. Too polite to say no and extremely sceptical, I sat down for a demo of the AVT <http://www.audionerdusa.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=10>. It's a passive device and looks like a cheap plastic box about the size of a packet of fags. Cut your speaker cable in half, put the AVT in the gap, et voila. The demo was pretty convincing and some time later I bought a pair.

Raquel Welch
So I chopped my speaker cable, stuck these unimpressive looking boxes in, sat down and waited for the disappointment to begin (I'm British and therefore accustomed to disappointment).

Holy Mary Mother of God....I was looking for a better sense of the acoustic of the recording venue and maybe a bit better imaging. What I actually got was: the acoustic; waaay better imaging; bass depth, definition, speed and slam; massively increased clarity right across the frequency range; and great separation. Goodbye confusion and blodge in complex or busy passages. Everything sounded bigger, more alive, more real, more 'there'.

The Best of REM really did sound like the best; the Red Hot Chilli Peppers bounced, funked and grooved (Mr Flea was very happy); Jamiroquai, who has ever been to my taste, was great fun to listen to; Vaughn Williams was solemn and majestic; Brahms' German Requiem was relentless as the tide. Speed, weight, scale, insight, majesty, and ENERGY - everything I'd wanted and plenty I hadn't expected was there in spades.

Grin? Imagine me in a wind tunnel with the turbine cranked up to 11, hair blown straight back and eyes forced wide by the wind. With 70's-era Raquel Welch stood ten feet in front of me. With a bikini on <http://raquel-welch.fantribute.com/gallery/image12.jpg>. And her foot on a barrel of Taylor's Landlord (can't find a link for this). And a bag of chips in her hand. Grin? The corners of my mouth nearly met at the back of my neck. Grin any wider and my head would have fallen off.

So, were there any downsides? Any swings to offset my roundabouts? Well, yes. I found three:

1) There was a definite lack of weight, body and warmth in the mid that I really missed.

2) Closely mic'd (miked?) vocals, e.g Claire Martin, had an unpleasant sibilance and a sharpness at the top end.

3) Some recordings were so bad they were just unplayable.

A previously bouncy and joyful Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee blues outing was shrill. David and Igor Oistrach's violins used to sound lush but precise playing Bach's Double Concerto. Now they vibrated your fillings with a relentless screech. A languid Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano became an exercise in wincing - sharp, harsh, awful. Made you want to hide behind the settee.

The rockers were bouncing around the room full of energy and happy as Larry. But the jazz singers had the beginnings of bronchitis, and the small-scale classical bods had their eyes tight shut and their teeth clenched. Something had to be done.

Try taking those cogs off yer valves...
A friend and fellow hi-fi geek had an extended listen at high volume (sorry, neighbours) and concurred with all my findings - it was overwhelmingly marvellous in all directions, except where it wasn't, in which case it was painful. This only happened on a few recordings, but anything with a lot of upper mid (violin, harmonica) suffered terribly.

Anyway, it was suggested that I remove the EAT Cool Dampers <http://www.euroaudioteam.com/eatcooldamper.php> from my pre-amp valves to see what happened. What? My beloved EATs? Those beautifully engineered tweaks that had given me enhanced definition and weight? Take them off? Are you sure?? Oh well, anything to get back that lovely full mid....

Raquel? Have you eaten my chips?
Stone me, it worked. If I'm listening hard and being ultra-critical, there might - just might - be a slight reduction in overall clarity and punch. But I'd need to do a lot more a/b-ing to be sure. Perhaps I'm just searching for a downside to this de-tweaking that isn't there. Even if it is there, it's subtle, acceptable, and the trade-off is more than worth it. Vocal sibilance is gone. Violins and harmonicas don't pierce. The mid-range has warmed up, filled out, and regained the body and fullness it should have. Raquel has eaten my chips. And I'm a very happy man.