From J.Valin at the Absolute Sound
“Alfred Vassilkov of Estelon debuted his €110k, four-way, five-driver Forza (ceramic midrange, 8″ aluminum-sandwich mid/woof, twin side-mounted 11″ woofers, and a diamond tweeter in a gorgeous, sealed, cast-stone enclosure), powered by CH Precision electronics, sourced by a Kronos turntable with ZYX cart, and wired with Kubala Sosna cable. On Heifetz’s Sibelius Concerto LP (RCA) the Forza was quite spacious and beautiful sounding. The Estelon’s sealed cast-stone enclosure also made for a superior disappearing act and super-tight, fast, and extended bass. Despite a touch of ceramic dryness on fiddle, brass, and massed strings, instruments were rich in timbre, well focused, and very finely detailed, with wonderfully lifelike pizzicatos on cellos and doublebasses. On my Chet Baker disc I detected a touch of hollowness and sibilance on Chet’s voice, and a glint of brightness on upper-octave piano, though the cymbal was good and the standup bass (once again) tight. Leonard Cohen’s voice had a neutrality that other darker speakers didn’t have, and the Forza was just plain marvelous on the backup vocalists and the Hammond organ, though there was still a bit of sibilance in the upper mids. Taut, neutral, detailed but a mite dry and airless in this MOC room, the Forza was still impressively good enough that I’d like to hear it again, maybe with different electronics.”
