FRANCO SERBLIN Accordo Essence

It all begins with warm bottom end that lends sufficient volume and rounded attack to a plucked double bass. The instrument has real size which was not achievable for the Accordo monitors as MJ commented in his review: “The Accordo’s physical dimensions cannot exploit the full harmonic envelopes of instruments that operate in the low end of the frequency spectrum. A double bass provides a deep and exciting journey into techniques of plucking, depicts how resonances of strings rise and decay, yet you do not feel the body of the instrument. Similarly a Steinway is a downsized version of the instrument and a symphonic orchestra is rendered in a zoomed out perspective. I missed the flesh, the mass, the scale. This is not a criticism of the Accordo, rather the criticism of any stand mount speakers.” With the Accordo Essence the sonic pictures are specific and sizable without being overdone – you know, the piano stretched all across the front wall and similar naughtiness does not happen here. The sound is very solid and images keep locked in their places. As said the bass is slightly more ear-candy than it could be, yet it provides you with what I would call Italian bel canto - the beauty of tone comes first and the technology is just the way to reach it. The sound of the Accordo Essence owed also quite a lot to the Jadis electronics so I could savor authentic instrumental recordings like Alia Vox (Montserrat Figueras & Jordi Savall), but also ECM discs (Jan Garbarek), which were pure and tonally saturated through the Accordo Essence.