![Listen and review: Audio Tekne SP8716, legendary carbon block speakers. [Hi-Fi High-End Audio]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
Three music tastings and a review. As usual, not a textbook one, instead an overview from a higher ground, with an eye on the correct approach to these speakers and their background philosophy.
We are talking about the early model Audio Tekne SP8716: hand-made by Kiyoaki Imai with a tasteful mix of wood, graphite dampening paint, slabs of carbon block and a 16 cm fullrange Diatone P-610MA "anniversary edition" driver.
The package yields a power rating of 7 (seven) watts maximum, with a 92 dB/W/m sensitivity.
Are these the ingredients for a boring, lifeless and uncapable bookshelf speaker? Surprisingly not. You couldn't be farther away from this, but... You outta know what you're doing here.
Let's dig into this together.
00:00 Intro
00:57 Description of the speakers
05:20 Second music sample
06:09 Listening philosophy
13:00 Third music sample
16:00 Conclusions
Speakers are fed by the notes of a Loth-X JI-300 integrated amplifier: Western Electric 300B single-ended, rated at 8 watts per channel. An ideal companion, both on paper and to my ears.
For the first two tracks, the source is a Revox B-226S CD player. For the third one, we jump on vinyl with a Technics SL-1000 mk2, its EPA-100 tonearm and a Fidelity Research FR-1 mk2 cartridge, stepped up by a Manley Steelhead RC phono preamplifier.
The speaker stands are authentic, made by local distributors upon drawings provided by Imai-san himself.
It was the only way at the time, when Audio Tekne was in a more "experimental" stage and relied upon the active collaboration of distributors worldwide for such accessories. The stellar price tag justified some effort by the resellers, indeed...
Nowadays, modern versions of these speakers are available with matching - and terribly expensive as well - carbon block stands.
Track list:
1. "Blues Danzon", Tom Gullion (Naim label, Top Audio Selection Vol. 10)
2. "Prelude", Patrick Noland (Naim label, Top Audio Selection Vol. 10)
3. "The Battle of Napoleon", Kodály, Istvan Kertesz, London Symphony Orchestra (Decca label, Music Of Kodály)
13 июл 2024
