HiFi Test 03/2008

Rating: 1.0 reference class

"Sound:

The title’s voluminous and widely tiered basses come over with impressive power without tranquilizing or overwhelming the listener.

Right from the start the duo amazes me with the agility with which it goes about its work, and effortlessly reproduces the song with vigour and emotion without laying it on thick.

Especially the crisp, almost dry-as-dust aural depiction of the bass drum and the clean and precise performance of the instruments prove that the big Vulkans can not only generate a superb deep-down bass response but also offer an equally musical reading.

The bottom line:
In quadral’s AURUM series the name delivers what it promises. As expected, the VULKAN’s performance in our test room was very fiery and dynamic with acoustic consistency at all volume levels, and it impressed above all in the more deep-down, intense passages. However, the unit surprised me with its sensitiveness and agility in terms of acoustic detailing, two qualities that will not only make the VULKAN interesting for aficionados of rock music but also for musical aesthetes as well."

Assessment:

+ excellent trebles
+ deep-down, intense bass response