Two of our customers (and brand ambassadors, as they are both able to demonstrate systems to potential customers) have recently got together to compare their respective Jordan Eikona systems.
Ian uses the Jordan Transmission Line Array, featured on our blog here and Mike has an Aurora 800 system, which we described on the blog in its original form.
Intrigued by the extra depth and sensitivity that the Eikona Array brings to Ian’s TLA loudspeaker, Mike has recently modified his Auroras to create an Eikona Array. This entailed turning the reflex 800s into sealed cabinets and supplementing the bass with a pair of BK XLS200 subwoofers.
On the improvements the Array made, Mike says:
“I was genuinely surprised by the difference. I’d expected more weight and sense of scale but hadn’t expected better height (a little more) and depth (quite a bit more). What particularly surprised me was the additional clarity and separation. Listened first to a Warren Zevon track (Disorder in the House). It’s from his last album and Bruce Springsteen guested on that track – and plays amazing guitar breaks as well as singing – I’d never thought that Springsteen could play guitar like that. What was particularly noticeable was the clarity of vocals when Zevon and Springsteen were singing in unison.
What was going to be a quick test turned into a 3-hour listening session – differences were more on some music than others but, overall, felt like more improvement than I had expected.”
Here are Ian’s comments on Mike’s system:
“Mike uses modified (as in 2 extra drivers) Jordan Aurora 800 cabinets and very good they sounded too.
I say very good, in fact they were quite stunning. Given they were wall-mounted, I expected a rather flat soundstage but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They had more air than my TLs but lacked their bass weight even though two subs were linked in – see the white boxes in the furniture.
Nevertheless, integration between subs and Auroras was excellent for most of the music heard apart from a few tracks that caught the subs out.”
Our own thoughts on Mike’s system is that it requires further integration. The Auroras are run full range, without any roll-off other than that provided by the sealed cabinet loading. The subwoofers roll in at 80 Hz, so there is going to be some overlap which probably contributes too much bass in the 60-100 Hz band.
Mike is aware that the system requires further refinement and we look forward to reading how it develops.
Click here for more details on the Aurora systems.