Recording - May 2014 - 45

Grundman Mastering with Chris Bellman,
and we ended up with something that we
really liked... but it wasn't flat. It has a
slight rise from 6 kHz up and an interesting bell curve dip centered at 150 Hz.
What essentially happened is that Chris
moved the low-frequency fundamentals to
a point where the low-frequency overtones got out of the way of the midrange
fundamentals. It ended up with amazing
midrange detail, especially in Bernie
Grundman's room, so we left it as
Boundary position 3."
There is a mysterious connector port
that users are warned to stay away from,
it is for factory calibration purposes only.
The 3-prong A/C connector for the
detachable power cord and the on/off
toggle switch complete the rear of the D8.
The cabinet appears to be solidly braced
and baffled internally-the knuckle test
reveals no suspicious hollow resonances.

The upper midrange of the D8, where
the intelligibility and direct appeal of voices and the raw expressiveness of wind
instruments lies, has uncanny forwardness
and honesty. Not shrill, but shining a
unapologetic spotlight on the sonic
details, just what you need when mixing.
Case in point: The D8 revealed a telling
detail in a piece I had listened to hundreds
of times, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic
Dances (a great tool for evaluating speakers!). When a new CD of the same work
arrived, this one by the BBC Wales orchestra, starting in measure 16 I heard an
alarming sustained sound that made me
grab my orchestral score. It sounded like
someone was twirling one of those ratchets
that go something like "brrrrrrrrrr". But
there's nothing like it in the score...
It turns out that it has to be the contrabassoon: it's the only new instrument entering and sustaining at that point, playing its

Coaxial speaker design aims at delivering
the entire sound output of the speaker
in a time-aligned manner.
Sonics
This can't be a direct one-to-one comparison with the D5-too much time has
elapsed and too many speakers have
come and gone for review in the interim.
So let me describe my impressions of the
D8 on its own merits.
I was listening mostly with the
Boundary switch at 2. I didn't want to
add a bass or treble boost or dip, even
though the speakers were freestanding,
at least five feet from the nearest wall in
all directions, and with no desk or console between the stands and my ears. I
know that this setup is slightly unrealistic,
but why would you want to hear what my
furniture does to the reflected sounds
from a speaker under evaluation, when
it's the speaker's direct sound that matters? 'Nuff said.
First impressions: Fullness, heft, and
midrange detail. The D8 is not a small
speaker-you saw the measurements-
and you'd expect a bi-amped 8" model
of that size to have a certain bigness
about its sound when you turn it up. What
struck me, though, was how the D8
retains the big-speaker sound even at low
volume.
The low end is not just full and present,
but it reveals fine detail when reproducing music that contains such detail, without ever sounding boomy unless the
boom is in the tracks. The highs are
revealing; string sections only sound silky
if mixed that way, but if the instruments
have been attacked with vigor, and closemiked, you can just smell the rosin.

low C (about 33 Hz). I then remembered
that the contrabassoon produces the lowest notes of any orchestral instrument, and
one of its idiosyncrasies is that it makes
that buzzing, clattering sound, especially
when played loud. That noise would be
hard to specify in Hz but it is certainly in
the higher midrange. I'd never heard it so
clearly before, and in the D8, there it was!
That the mixing and mastering engineers of this release let that buzz remain
so prominent is one thing, but for the D8
to highlight it as strongly as it did speaks
volumes for the success of Equator's stated design philosophy. If I could hear this
example, imagine how you'll be hearing
telling details that can make or break the
success of a critical project!
All in all
The D8 continues where the D5 began,
delivering uncompromising sound for
those who want their audio precise and
clinical rather than just "pretty". While the
D5 can be had with a carry case to go
anywhere, the D8 is a bit large for that.
But it is not too large for even the smallest
project studio-I had the most fun with it
when I sat real close, absorbing the fine detail
it provides from up close and at modest volume levels! If there is room in your workspace
and in your budget for the Equator D8, your
ears and your clients will thank you.
Price: $749/pair
More from: Equator Audio Research,
www.equator.com
RECORDING May 2014

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Recording - May 2014

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