Now, as I sit enjoying the perfectly poised grace and joyous interplay of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien playing the later Mozart Sonatas for Piano and Violin [Hyperion CDA68143] -- wonderful performances to thrill and caress anybody who appreciates the beauty of Mozart’s effortless musical symmetry -- it is the Reference Ultime, once again paired with the big CH Precision amps, that are producing the music. That symmetry extends beyond circumstance and into the music itself. Simple on the surface, beautifully executed but with hidden depths, the Mozart sonatas might well be the perfect metaphor for the Stenheim’s elusive nature.

Unfashionably upright with way too many flat surfaces and right angles on show, these four-square Swiss speakers are easy to dismiss as beefed up throwbacks to the glory days of JBL or Altec Lansing monitors, a parallel to the reconstituted theatre systems so beloved of horn diehards. Yet, even at first glance, there is something subtly distinctive and decidedly different about all of the Stenheim speakers. Perhaps it’s the pleasing proportions, derived from the golden ratio; perhaps it’s the absence of visible fixings and the flawless surface finish; perhaps it’s just that they look like everybody’s idea of what a loudspeaker should look like. Ask a child to draw a loudspeaker and the chances are the end result will be distinctly Stenheim-esque. In many ways that’s no accident; as impressive as the speakers are sonically, there’s an almost naïve simplicity underlying Stenheim’s engineering. But then, doing the simple things really well is a proven route to audio success.

A very large, resolutely rectangular box, the Reference Ultime, with plain exterior, has hidden layers that quickly emerge. The cabinet stands a full 1670mm (66") tall, 370mm (almost 15") wide and a substantial 560mm (almost 24") deep. Weighing in at 240 kilos (530 pounds) each, the monolithic structure that is the Reference Ultime is imposingly solid and immobile -- as you’ll quickly discover when installing it. Walk around it and you soon discover that the six forward-facing drivers (two 12" woofers, two 6 1/2" midranges, a 1" tweeter and a ribbon supertweeter) are augmented by a further two 12" bass drivers firing to the rear. Now imagine the speaker with one of its side panels removed and the reason for its massive weight quickly becomes apparent. Built from machined aluminum-alloy plate, this isn’t one cabinet but six individual nested boxes. Each woofer enjoys its own sealed enclosure, the upper drivers occupying a smaller volume compared to the lower ones.

Stenheim dubs the central baffle the MTM (midrange-tweeter module), and it is actually a massive, independent element machined from a 25mm-thick (1") slab and then combined with 15mm (3/4") "walls" to create a block that weighs in at over 20 kilos (45 pounds). This not only offers individual enclosures for the midrange drivers, it provides owners with the opportunity to opt for remote control of tweeter and midrange-driver toe-in, as the whole MTM can be motorized to pivot around its inner edge. What might seem like a gimmick soon makes sense once you remember just how heavy and immovable these speakers are. Behind the MTM lies the final, sealed volume containing the crossover elements that feed it. Add it all up and that’s not just a lot of aluminum, it’s a lot of cross-braces too, meaning that despite the apparent size of the panels (the tall sides are actually each constructed from three interlocking and differentially dimensioned sections) unsupported spans are actually relatively short, making the whole structure incredibly rigid. Resonant frequencies within the panels are well distributed but also critically damped using the same sophisticated three-layer damping pads used in the Alumine Five.

This composite approach to cabinet construction seeks to maximize the structural rigidity of aluminum while ameliorating its tendency to ring like a bell, first subdividing the panels themselves and then damping their individual resonant characteristics. Identical in thinking to the cabinets used in the Two and the Five, this is built on a much grander and more ambitious scale, really testing the theory. That’s not surprising; the Alumine Two was the company’s first product, a proof of concept, if you will, combining the low-mass drivers with their traditional diaphragm materials, crossover topology and the golden-ratio cabinet dimensions and composite construction; in turn, it was followed by the Reference Ultime, applying the concept, materials and thinking to a genuinely wide-bandwidth flagship design. In other words, does it work, and does it work if we take it to the logical extreme? The answer to that, as I’ve already suggested, is an emphatic Yes!

Having touched on the subject of drivers, perhaps it’s time to discuss the Reference Ultime’s moving parts in detail. Developed in close cooperation with French pro-audio driver supplier PHL, the bass and midrange drivers in the Stenheim speakers employ laminated and doped paper cones, a stark contrast to the resolutely high-tech carbon-fiber, ceramic or metal-based drivers employed in so much of the aluminum-clad competition. These are high-sensitivity units with massive motor assemblies, contributing directly to the Reference Ultime’s 96dB sensitivity -- although more on that when we start discussing the crossover options. The tweeter is a fabric-dome ring-radiator, and the supertweeter is a short ribbon, perhaps the purest form of driver there is. The drivers are arranged on the front baffle in a classic D’Appolito array, the supertweeter offset to the inner edge. The rear-facing bass drivers are positioned immediately behind their front-firing partners and connected in phase, making this a bipolar, as opposed to dipolar, radiator -- an important distinction. Where dipoles risk comb-filtering effects from rear-wall reflections that cancel forward-firing output, bipolar speakers "suffer" the opposite tendency, with increased bass reinforcement as opposed to diminished bass energy. It’s an approach I first experienced with the Mirage speakers and one that, despite its requirement for careful setup, I’m surprised is not used more often.

Which brings us, finally, to the true heart of all but single-driver loudspeaker designs -- the crossover. Any loudspeaker that tries to combine the outputs of eight drivers of four distinct types needs an inspired crossover design if it is going to stand any chance of success. With the Reference Ultime, you get not one but two crossovers to choose from: both hybrid and part external, one passive and one part active. Housed in an aluminum cabinet that looks suspiciously like the enclosure used for the Alumine Two, the passive crossover accepts single-wired inputs and one output for the bass drivers and another for everything else -- the midrange and treble legs being handled by the network housed in the cavity behind the MTM; in this guise, the speaker can be driven by a conventional stereo amplifier, or a pair of monoblocks. Alternatively, owners can opt for (or upgrade to) the active crossover, an approach that drives the bass units directly but which requires four channels of amplification rather than two -- preferably all identical. Note that in "active" topology, the MTM is still fed via its own passive network.

These crossover options tell you a lot about Stenheim's philosophy, both in terms of the options' existence and in terms of their execution. As seems to be the way with Stenheim, things ain’t exactly what they seem. The natural assumption might well be that the advantages of the active crossover would be seen in terms of the ability to equalize the bass electronically, adding not just extension but allowing a degree of shaping, to better match the room or make the speaker easier to position. In fact -- and in keeping with the overall conceptual simplicity of the design -- the Stenheim electronic crossover is quite different in function and effect. It offers fixed equalization and zero DSP adjustment (although there is one alternative setting that backs the low bass off from flat to ease issues in small or difficult rooms). Instead, what it does is two things: first, it brings the significant benefits of directly coupled bass drive, removing the normal low-frequency inductor from the crossover; second, it increases overall system sensitivity by around 6dB. To better understand how that works, we need to look first at the passive crossover. Even with four 12" drivers per side, there’s a limit to how much air they can move. The two large midrange drivers offer a sensitivity of 96dB, a figure that the high-frequency drivers can easily match. But running the bass units passively, matching that sensitivity would seriously diminish low-frequency extension. So instead, Stenheim reduces the midrange sensitivity to around 90dB, but rather than using a subtractive resistor, they do so with a transformer. It’s a challenging and unusual approach but one that, if you get it right, prevents the slugged dynamics and loss of immediacy that so often attend resistive attenuation.

Stepping up to the active crossover restores those 6dB of sensitivity and also creates a "better than biamped" topology, both things delivering significant musical and sonic benefits. Eschewing the option of adjustable low-frequency EQ or DSP room-compensation might seem like a missed opportunity, but Stenheim’s logic is impeccable. Not only will the vast majority of customers investing in a Reference Ultime system be reluctant to compromise performance by sacrificing ideal placement, the speaker’s performance is further guaranteed by expert installation of each pair, a service included in the price. Given that reality, the sonic and musical costs of heavily EQ'd and, especially DSP-adjusted bandwidth simply make no sense, the cure being far worse than the problem. It’s the classic, straight-line approach to the issue, providing a light-touch, positionally based solution as opposed to the imposition of heavy-handed and intrusive digital electronics. Of course, there will always be customers of the opposite persuasion, but then it’s not just impossible to please all of the people all of the time, it’s a mistake to try.

Finally, for those with really deep pockets, there’s the option to add the Reference Statement subwoofers, a pair of towers that match the Reference Ultime cabinets, each containing six actively driven 12" bass units. That configuration has its own name, Reference Infinite, and its own price, $350,000. That makes a total of four different systems, all based around the Reference Ultime main speaker, with a clearly defined upgrade path between them. I got to play with both the passive and active versions of the Reference Ultime; even for this lover of subwoofers and the deep, deep bass that they deliver, the massive Statement subs present a significant step too far.

I drove the Stenheim Reference Ultime speakers in passive mode with a range of different amplifiers, from my in-house VTL S-400 II stereo amp and Berning Quadrature Z monoblocks to the mighty CH Precision M1s. Like the Alumine Fives before them, the Reference Ultimes’ presentation was remarkably even and consistent, a winning combination of musical enthusiasm and control. But what the added bandwidth at both ends delivered was a serious step up in scale, dimensionality and acoustic development. If your goal is real instruments and real people in a real space, then the Reference Ultime is definitely a good place to start. Just like the smaller Stenheims, the flagships had the happy knack of allowing the music to breathe. The larger cabinets and multiple drivers have been incorporated without impairing the sense of temporal and dynamic coherence that characterizes the brand. Nor did those large aluminum panels intrude on the tonal or expressive qualities captured in recordings. The color and character of voices and instruments were impressively natural, tonal distinctions effortlessly apparent. The result was a speaker that majored on musical communication, big on both the sense in a performance and the identity of the performers.

Let’s use the Sibelius Violin Concerto as an example. One of my favorite works, I have plenty of recordings: performances that I favor; recordings that I consider top-drawer; and then there are the discs or records that offer particular areas of interest in the playing or orchestral direction. Together they offer quite a spread, but if we narrow that down to several key examples they’ll illustrate the point perfectly. Making the cut are Jascha Heifetz (Hendl and the Chicago SO, LP [RCA LSC-2435]), Ida Haendel (Berglund and the Bournemouth SO, LP [EMI ASD 3199], and Lisa Batiashvili (Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin, CD [Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft 00289 4796038].

The Heifetz is, of course, familiar to anybody who loves this work, his instrumental presence, poise and control unmistakable, as is the romantic sweep of the orchestral backing. His "voice" is big, bold, rich, dramatic and, well, Heifetz. I don’t need to say much more. He stands a commanding presence, a musical Goliath at the head of his orchestral troops. His? Make no mistake -- Hendl is a bit-part player here. The balance of power is entirely in favor of the solo instrument, dictating terms and tempo to an orchestra that follows its lead. The tonal density of that instrument, the graceful, swooping fluidity of its lines and the control in the bowing are the perfect foil for the romantic, almost filmic sweep of the orchestral accompaniment. There’s drama here, but it’s melodrama, more Hollywood than Helsinki.

Which is why, time and again, I find myself returning to Ida Haendel’s unremarked and deeply unfashionable reading. Recorded with Paavo Berglund and his Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1976, right in the middle of his stellar Sibelius symphonic cycle, the sound doesn’t quite scale the dizzying heights of the orchestra playing alone, although I can well imagine the issues confronting the engineer trying to balance Berglund’s explosive dynamics and sheer orchestral momentum against the smallest of solo instruments. The results are certainly respectable, but it’s the playing here that’s breathtaking, rather than the sonics. Haendel’s instrumental "voice" is at once delicate, plaintive and lilting, yet also filled with longing and tension. Berglund gives her plenty of musical space, adding to the sense of bleak chill, that strange combination of distance and claustrophobia that makes this music so haunting. His sense of balance is spot on (even if the producer struggled), the orchestra a full partner in the performance, the dramatic contrasts they provide heightening the musical and emotional impact.

Compare the stark light and shade, angular emphasis and sudden shifts of this performance to the sumptuously padded sweep of the Heifetz and it should be no surprise that it is substantially more emotive and affecting. It never fails to move me, and, with the Reference Ultime, irrespective of amplifier, the reasons for that seemed more obvious, its musical power more focussed.

Talking of musical focus brings me to the most recent recording on the list, Lisa Batiashvili’s 2016 outing on DGG. As a dedicated Batiashvili fan, I couldn’t wait for her to record the Sibelius. The resulting pairing with the Tchaikovsky in combination with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin was to prove as startling as it was welcome. Batiashvili’s control of line is what makes her such a compelling live performer, and it’s evident here from her opening notes, the high fragility of those familiar phrases etched with an almost laser-like precision, the center of each note precisely placed, devoid of bloom or halo. It’s a performance of poised and perfect beauty, one that encapsulates her relationship to the music and her understanding of it with remarkable clarity. Her playing might lack the positive purpose and suppressed tensions that so vividly inform Haendel’s reading, but this is a performance that’s as much about the deeply personal as Heifetz’s is all about the personality. Sadly, the same can’t be said of Maestro Barenboim, who struggles with the demanding temporal and dynamic complexities of the score. His support is energetic enough, but poorly directed. The result is a solo part that is as wonderfully illuminated and illuminating, against an orchestral backdrop that fails to match its quality. Why then am I so excited by this disc? That would be the Tchaikovsky, a quite unexpected and wonderfully guilty pleasure. Who needs another Tchaikovsky violin concerto? You do -- and this is it, but that’s another story for another day. As it stands, the Sibelius gets close but no cigar.

So much for the conventional choices. Each has its own appeal, even if the Heifetz is more about Heifetz than Sibelius and the Batiashvili is all about her and Sibelius rather than the work itself. Haendel and Berglund (perhaps not surprisingly) give the most balanced performance, one that puts the music firmly first with a compelling combination of intensity in the solo playing and dramatic contrast from the orchestra.

But what has all that got to do with the Stenheim Reference Ultime? Few speakers in my experience have made the characterization of these performances as easy or apparent as the big Stenheims. Their ability to engage with or switch musical idioms made them a remarkable window onto the sense and purpose of the original event. This is definitely a speaker that lets the music speak for itself, rather than constantly reminding you of its own contribution. For something this physically imposing to disappear quite so effectively is a neat trick. Of course, any speaker of this size and price needs to be able to turn this trick, but few do it as impressively as the Stenheims, or look quite as unlikely to be so capable.

To appreciate just how capable the Reference Ultime is in this regard, let’s introduce an outlier, my other favorite Sibelius violin performance: Camilla Wicks, Ehrling and the Stockholm Radio SO, CD [EMI Classics TOCE-16050]. Camilla who? Born of Norwegian musical émigré parents, young American talent Camilla Wicks enjoyed a brief but stellar career before marriage and children put a premature crimp in proceedings. She attended Julliard, debuted with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 13 and married in 1951 at the age of 22. Despite being at the peak of her career, she was soon to retire from all but intermittent performances, although she became a sought-after teacher in later years. Her recorded legacy is painfully slim, but the pick is this 1952 EMI production, pairing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with two movements of the Lemminkainen Suite. Mint copies of the original microgroove mono LP are hard and expensive to come by, and even on CD this disc is a rarity, albeit one that’s well worth seeking out. Dropping my Japanese import into the tray of the Neodio Origine S2, I was intrigued by the musical prospect ahead.

Okay, so let’s make no bones about the nature and quality of the recording here. This is pretty much exactly what most people would expect from a classic mono disc of this vintage. There’s no top, precious little bottom and what there is has an intrusive, one-note quality. It’s a bit like listening through a letterbox. So where’s the appeal? Just listen to the solo instrument! The sheer passion and intensity of the playing are genuinely remarkable, the feel for the music combined with a technique that allows a phenomenal musical and expressive range. This girl can play. In many ways this performance is to the violin what Du Pré’s Elgar is to the cello: a perfect storm of composer, performer and work, a whole that magnifies the sum of the parts. Isn’t it undermined by the limited reproduction of the orchestral playing? Yes and no. There’s no escaping from the limited bandwidth and condensed bottom-end energy, but the very nature of mono recordings means that at least that energy is all in the right place at the right time, with Sixten Ehrling’s direction full of vim and vigor, light and shade.

It obviously fails on grounds of space and extension, but musically it remains a powerful and evocative document, and never more so than through the Stenheims. Once again, their ability to cleave right to the heart of the performance and put that front and center made the experience a musical event rather than a sonic showcase, allowing me to marvel at Wicks’s astonishingly mature playing, her power and control, her ability to fasten on the emotional strands in the music and conjure them from her instrument. Where so many high-end systems highlight the bandwidth limitations and poor dynamic range in the recording, flattening it and limiting its musical appeal, it positively blossoms when played on the Stenheims.

By now you might well have the idea that these speakers are all about the midband, which is no bad thing but might leave you wondering what all that box is really in aid of. Well, fear not -- both ends of the frequency spectrum are present and correct. The soundstage was voluminous, with plenty of space and height. The treble was extended and clean, whether the upper harmonics of brass or strings or the characteristic tonality of boy sopranos. The air that tingles behind the opening of the Haendel LP was palpable, the space around and behind the instruments of the orchestra easily heard. At the other end of the spectrum, the bass was weighty and nicely textured, but also a shade soft and rounded. Part of that may well be a tendency to over-egg the low-frequency pudding. Presented with such large cabinets, there’s an almost irresistible urge to look for more and more bass weight when setting up, but to do so is a mistake. Initially I fell into that trap, but working with the speakers, I soon discovered that the key to bass voicing lay in the height off the ground. Longitudinal and lateral placing was crucial and, given the weight of the speakers, not exactly straightforward, so the ability to dial in the bass balance using the large-diameter conical feet and supplied pry-bars was a boon. Too low and the bass softened and the sound receded, but with the speakers raised just a shade (around a sixteenth of a turn on each cone can make all the difference) and suddenly the music sprang to life, with greater focus, immediacy and energy. The bass should be tactile and subtle, rather than pile-driver powerful, but pitch definition was spot on and the lower registers were perfectly in step with the midrange, making for impressive overall coherence -- the key to the speakers’ musically informative performance.

More important, the quickening of the low frequencies that results also gave them more impact, more musical contribution and less musical muddle. Orchestral underpinnings (pizzicato double bass, or murmuring timps) had greater presence and musical import, texture and gravitas, while the upright bass on an LP like Farmer’s Market Barbecue [Pablo/Analogue Productions AJAZ 2310-874] had more shape and attack to its notes, delivering greater impetus to the tracks. So, if the sound is soft or distant, just try raising the speakers a little at a time; you’ll soon get to where the music needs them to be.

In passive guise, the Reference Ultime is an articulate, accomplished and musically engaging performer. It’s a big speaker that can sound small, scaling the solo violin or female voice and delivering a natural perspective. It can sound big too, equally adept with orchestral crescendos, the sort of sudden interjections that typify big-band arrangements, the towering bombast and shifts in density of pomp rock like Genesis (Foxtrot [Charisma CAS 1058]) or the shifting rhythmic patterns and textures of early Cure (Seventeen Seconds [Fiction FIXX 004]). Indeed, a look at the running order cited here should give you the sense of just how self-effacing this speaker is, a true musical chameleon. Like a lot of the better systems, the Stenheim Reference Ultime passive, whether combined with the CH Precision, VTL or Berning amplification, delivers the kind of self-contained and musically satisfying performance that leaves you wondering what actual benefits supposed upgrades might deliver.

Which in turn raises the question, what price the active option? Bearing in mind that the switch to the active version of the Reference Ultime involves far more than simply shelling out extra to buy the crossover itself -- you need to double up on your main amplifier, as well as add a couple of levels of equipment support and some extra cables. It’s far from a straightforward or affordable option. So what does it deliver -- more of the same or something different -- and does it risk throwing the baby out with the technological and conceptual bath water? After all, given that the Reference Ultime passive is built around the concept of topological simplicity, doesn’t adding all that extra hardware rather undermine that philosophy?

The answer is a possible yes (if you set about it wrong) and a definite no (if you understand the object of the exercise). To get the best from any biamped part or fully active system, there are certain rules that apply when it comes to execution. Both the amplification and the cable lengths for each individual channel must be the same, right across the system. Likewise, you need to pay serious attention to ensuring that the equipment supports and layout are also equivalent for both speakers and all channels. Finally, in a classic four-channel system employing a pair of stereo amps (like this one), use one amp for each speaker, with one channel of that amp driving the bass and the other channel driving the rest of the range. This vertical disposition delivers greater dynamic range and control than a horizontal topology in which one amp (and its overworked power supply) is responsible for the low-frequency demands of both channels simultaneously. But follow those rules and the results can be spectacular. Biamping a system will nearly always deliver major musical dividends, easing the load on the amplifier and delivering significant improvements in dynamic response, presence and immediacy. The Stenheims are no different, the active crossover simply adding the icing on the cake by direct-coupling the driving amplifier to the speaker’s bottom end.

The need for four identical channels of amplification meant that I was limited to the choice CH Precision’s flagship M1 amps to drive the speakers in active mode. Some limitation, I can see you thinking. However, the M1’s configurable status (you can use it bridged, as a monoblock or in stereo mode) allowed me to use the speakers with a single stereo amp, examine the benefits of adding a second stereo amp and compare that to the cost equivalent of monoblocks, thus testing both the theory and practice of the active option.

But let’s start by simply looking at what happens to the system when you add the active crossover and that second amplifier. The first thing is that the overall efficiency goes up by a significant 6dB. That brings a substantial increase in speed, impact and immediacy -- before you even get the dividend that is delivered by biamping and the easier life enjoyed by the driving electronics. The other thing that happens is that the direct-coupled bass drivers transform the bottom end, adding extension, weight, speed, transparency and an even greater sense of texture. But where those benefits are really heard is in the newfound clarity, space and sense of organization and proportion through the midband, the added air and focus at the top, and the planted sense of musical authority at the bottom.

Suddenly the Reference Ultime grows a pair -- bass that seems to reach right down to bedrock, not so much in terms of depth, but in the absolute security of its pitch and placement. Listening to "Eleanor Rigby" from Joe Jackson’s Summer In The City: Live in New York (from a test pressing of Intervention Records' LP release of the previously CD-only live concert taped in New York), the clarity, agility and pitch definition of Graham Maby’s rapidly fingered bass were remarkable. Carrying not just the pace and rhythm but much of the melody too, its contribution was vital to the sparse efficiency and impact of the track. Switching from the passive setup to the active brought weight and attack to the notes, but defined their length and the space beneath them too. The shape of the notes and phrases was so clearly defined, so tactile, that it almost felt like I could see Maby’s hands at work.

But the real impact of that newfound low-frequency clarity and purpose was heard in Jackson’s voice and piano. The vocal became significantly more natural, expressive and communicative, both here and on songs like "Home Town" and "It’s Different for Girls," carrying the lyric and the listener along. Jackson’s playing became more delicately structured, the piano losing its slight brashness and glassy upper registers as Jackson’s Royal College training emerged into view. No simple piano pounder, Jackson is an accomplished instrumentalist, a fact that the active upgrade underlined in no uncertain terms. The weight of individual notes, their pattern and placement, fell more naturally (and skillfully), allowing the tracks to flow within themselves and one into another, that continuity such a facet of this album.

Finally, there was the sense of space, dimensionality and depth that came with the added bass transparency. The intimate acoustic gained both depth and clearly defined boundaries, while Jackson’s voice and piano were far more focused and defined in space, more dimensional and proffered with a more natural perspective. Individually impressive, these changes amounted to a musical and presentational transformation, from high-energy, slightly raucous but undeniably entertaining live outing to one of those spooky they are here experiences, where everything just seemed to slot effortlessly and utterly convincingly into place.

Looking at our previous examples, the space, depth, focus and dimensionality that the active speakers brought to the Haendel Sibelius were only to be expected. Meanwhile, the Bournemouth’s playing gained even greater explosive impact, Berglund’s direction greater poise and purpose. But the real revelation was the new sense of substance and presence, flowing from Haendel’s fiddle. There was a new shape and articulation to the lines, a muscular intent and almost angular attack to the more dramatic passages. I’m not sure that amplifiers could generate attitude as easily as they generate current, but that’s exactly what seems to have happened here -- which raises an interesting question: just what is responsible for the dramatic improvement in musical communication? Is it the active crossover or the extra amp? With a CH Precision M1 weighing in at around the $54,000 mark, you’d certainly expect it to make a serious difference, but in many ways that isn’t the point. Instead, it’s the change in topology that effects the upgrade -- the combination of amp and crossover, cables and the care that goes into the setup. It’s the speaker that makes that topology possible and allows the listener to reap the benefits of the biamped, part-active configuration. So instead of asking what the extra $54,000 of amplification delivers, perhaps you should wonder what the easier demands placed on the amplification mean in terms of creating more affordable options. I’d love to hear the Reference Ultime actives driven by a pair of far more modest stereo amps, like Nagra Classics or VTL S-200s. Suddenly, in the context of those amps, the upgrade path offered by the Stenheims looks positively inviting.

To further underline that point, you need look no further than the versatility of the M1 amplifiers and the range of options they provide. Listening to the amps in all three modes (passive crossovers with bridged amps or monoblocks, as opposed to active crossovers and a pair of stereos) the superiority of the stereo amps used in active topology over the same M1s configured in either mode should leave you in no doubt as to the benefits of the active approach, advantages that are so obvious as to ask the question Why don't more companies don’t tread this path? One possible reason is the far-from-simple job of building a decent active crossover. System hierarchy dictates that any active crossover should at least approach the quality of the preamp or line stage -- and that’s quite an ask. Stenheim takes the sensible route of enlisting expert aid in the shape of CH Precision, using their product architecture and operational software, casework and manufacturing expertise to ease the burden. It’s a cooperation that extends as far as the logo on the front of the unit itself -- which is probably a step too far for all concerned but does show the degree of cooperation at work.

Whatever part or parts of the system claim the credit, the active option was dramatically effective and musically beguiling. The newfound naturalness and expressive intimacy, the clarity, spatial and dimensional coherence that open out the midband and the tactile texture and articulation in the low frequencies did’t just add a convincing presence and purpose to performances. They broadened both the acoustic space around the music and the system’s musical horizons. With the active crossover, there was a very real confidence to the Reference Ultime, a sense of calm that suggests it’s happy to take on musical all comers. I certainly never managed to overface it, whether I tried Mahler, Mussorsky or Meddle. Big-band recordings were impressively explosive, the vast vistas, foothills and peaks of Shostokovich symphonies traversed equally effortlessly. What the combination of the big Stenheims and CH Precision’s biggest amps, all laced together with that active crossover, delivered was something rare and wonderful and something that only the very best systems achieve -- a sense of musical completeness. Listening to this system, I never once found myself searching for more -- be that more detail, more level, more musical expression or a greater sense of human and instrumental presence.

Just how far up the totem pole that is the high-end speaker hierarchy do we find the Stenheim Reference Ultime? For me, the top tier is the exclusive preserve of Wilson’s WAMM Master Chronosonic and the Living Voice Vox Olympian/Vox Palladian (speakers that I’ve heard under familiar circumstances and within a familiar frame of reference), possibly joined by Tidal’s La Assoluta (which I haven’t heard in anything like such controlled circumstances, but which has flashed enough ankle to suggest what might be possible). Below that comes the second tier (the merely unaffordable as opposed to the completely out of the question), a group that includes the Wilson Alexx when paired with the Thor’s Hammer subs, Gryphon’s Kodo, the Rockport Arrakis (and quite possibly the new Lyra), the Tidal Akira, the Wilson Benesch Cardinal with a pair of Torus woofers and Focal’s Grande Utopia. You’ll note that all of those designs are genuinely wide of bandwidth, but, interestingly, most of them involve biamping and/or a degree of active bass equalization. Well, now we can add the Stenheim Reference Ultime to that group, not just riding on their coattails but up there, head to head, with the best of the bunch. That’s exalted company indeed, especially for one so young.

Look at the ingredients that make up the Reference Ultime on paper and one simplistic conclusion might be that it represents a technological hybrid, a marriage between the traditional driver technologies championed by Wilson Audio and the sort of cabinet work more often associated with the likes of Magico or YG Acoustics. For once, that isn’t too wide of the mark, with the Stenheims delivering exactly the sort of musically expressive, dynamic performance that I’ve come to expect from a speaker system like the Wilson Alexx/Thor’s Hammers system, coupled to the neutrality, tonal color and rhythmic integrity that are rooted in great cabinet work -- and that companies like Magico are striving to provide. Of course, Wilson’s own cabinets have taken a serious step forward in the last few years, which also helps to explain why both they and the Stenheims allow the music to breathe so naturally and so readily, yet each retains its own character and qualities.

If Wilson Audio remains in command of the time domain and the spatial and dimensional facets that go with it, the Stenheims have a remarkable facility when it comes to instrumental texture and color. But what both of these speaker brands have in common is the way they vie to deliver the most involving, most expressive and ultimately the most convincing musical performance. They both put the music firmly first, but the simple fact that the Reference Ultime bears such close comparison with what is, to all intents and purposes, the high-end musical benchmark tells its own story. These speakers really are that good. Throw in the in-built upgrade path and you have a genuinely high-end solution that is at once musically impressive and impressively practical. The Stenheim Reference Ultime has leap-frogged a host of well-established competitors to jostle for position right at the head of my To Be Taken Seriously list. Competitors and customers alike should take it equally seriously. It is quite capable of shocking, surprising, beguiling or just plain seducing more than a few.

Prices: $195,000 per pair; passive version adds $19,450; active version adds $34,975.
Warranty: Five years parts and labor.

Stenheim-CH
Des Georges 6
1963 Vetroz
Switzerland
www.stenheim.com

Audioarts
210 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
(212) 260-2939
www.audioarts.co

Associated Equipment

Analog: AMG Giro turntable with 9W2 tonearm and Kuzma Stabi M turntable with 4Point tonearm; Fuuga, Kuzma CAR-50, Lyra Etna and Dorian cartridges; CH Precision P1/X1 and Connoisseur 4.2 phono stages.

Digital: Neodio Origine S2 CD player, CEC TL-5 CD transport, Wadax Pre 1 Ultimate DAC.

Preamplifiers: CH Precision L1/X1, Connoisseur 4.2 LE.

Power amplifiers: Berning Quadrature Z, monoblocks; VTL S-400 Series II Reference and CH Precision M1 stereo amps.

Cables: Complete loom of Nordost Odin 2 from AC socket to speaker terminals. Power distribution was via Quantum Qb8s, with a mix of Quantum Qx2 and Qx4 power purifiers and Qv2 AC harmonizers. CAD Ground Control and Nordost Qkore grounding systems.

Supports: HRS RXR rack with MXR platforms and R-shelves, Vortex and Nimbus equipment couplers and damping plates.

Acoustic treatments: As well as the broadband absorption placed behind the listening seat, I employ a combination of RPG Skyline and RoomTunes acoustic devices.

Accessories: Essential accessories include the SmarTractor protractor, a USB microscope (so I can see what I’m doing, not for attempting to measure stylus rake angle) and Aesthetix cartridge demagnetizer, a precision spirit level and laser, a really long tape measure and plenty of low-tack masking tape. I also make extensive use of the Furutech anti-static and demagnetizing devices and the Kuzma ultrasonic record-cleaning machine. The Dr. Feikert PlatterSpeed app has to be the best-ever case of digital aiding analog.

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