Tidal contriva se vs Hansen The Prince V2

Enzo618, I am one of those that have been posting about Tidal ever since I fell head over heels with their products in 2005. I first read about Tidal in a small cord manufacturer's blog, was curious, auditioned, the rest is history. Had I gone the usual path to inform myself (reviews), I would probably not even know the company today. Even in Germany - no, make that especially in Germany - utter silence in all magazines, some detractors in forums - but that is what German forums are all about, always. Following my "discovery", I want(ed) to inform, share my elation and perhaps enable a few people to make the same musical discovery. But that is just as much true for AMR's wonderful products, for instance.

There have been reviews since then, I think in particular of the bemourned John Potis on 6moons. However, they seem to remain systematically ignored in Germany. I myself have actually grown suspicious about why that may the case apart from advertizing budgets...

I believe it is necessary that we all remain wary. I also believe we must be able to share our enthusiasm about products, especially if they are not available on every street corner. I have seen many other examples thereof on Audiogon and I have all read them with interest even if, after listening myself, I don't have to agree with all of them. The important thing is to be informed where to look. Imho it's all about conveying not convincing.

Which would sum up to one of the worst speakers around. May I ask where you heard this catastrophe? Also, could you tell us what speaker you would consider realistic for orchestral music and piano?

Well, no explanation in sight, then. It's interesting you mention Magico, speakers that I agree have their merits but I fail to grasp the hype around (especially something like Q5, now there's a speaker I would have to call a bad synthesizer from what I heard so far in a big bucks show environment).

On the other hand, I absolutely admire Avalon and not just for classical music. If I have to think of two others I like that seem voiced for classical, then Brodmann and Shahinian leap to my mind, where would those rank in your auditory world, then?

Anyway, a large part of the music I hear is actually piano (jazz as well as classical) and much of my decision in favour of the Contriva is actually based on exactly that kind of music. Call me stone-deaf if you want, but I still stick to that judgement. Again, though, I'd be interested to know where you heard that system? At your home, a dealer's, a show?

Something else I wanted to ask you in respect of your previous posting. Why would you say Contriva may be a speaker for audiophiles if it cannot render classical music at all?

Clavil's specific critical findings had me spending a good part of the weekend listening to strings (solo, small ensemble and massed):
Salvatore Accardo on Fonè/Signoricci vinyl (Paganini);
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester on Tacet vinyl (various composers, including the strange "Battalia à 10" by Biber: better make sure your system plays correct or this becomes downright unlistenable);
RSO Stuttgart on Hänssler cd (Haydn);
so that should clear any questions on artistic as well as recording quality.
Details of the gear used can be seen on my system page. I notified the neighbours that I would be pumping up the volume, way up now and then.

In short, I'm happy to say even when I deliberately tried to make my Contrivas sound hard or congested, let alone sound like a synthesizer on classical music, I couldn't manage to do so. (Make no mistake, they will pound and whine and screech when I play, say, Squarepusher working himself into a frenzy where they are meant to screech.)

Searching for cable influence, I tried two different looms. With Purist Venustas violins did sound "sweeter" than with Virtual Dynamics Revelation, and if I would mainly be listening to strings, Venustas would surely find their way back into the system. With piano Revelation has the edge in my system and is presently standard cabling between preamp, amp and speakers. I expressly also mention piano here since we actually chose the Contrivas i.a. because of the way they render piano, not in spite of it.

I guess to the OP this must appear confusing. Nevertheless, I must and can only describe what I hear and have had many occasions to confirm in comparison with a goodly number of other speakers over the last few years. To me, the Contrivas now in their 3rd generation remain class reference, no matter what you listen to, as references should.