It’s so very true that many audiophile speakers can’t rock out. Oh sure, a well-designed speaker should be able to play any kind of music satisfactorily, but audiophiles seem to value the dainty attributes of speakers over sheer muscle.
I passed the Skala Audio room and was drawn in by crisp, energetic techno music—you can immediately tell when it’s done right, even from down the hall. An antidote for audiophile music, for damn sure.
So I made a mental note to check out the Skala room and returned on Sunday morning, right after the show opened. The crowds were light, so I had the room to myself. Perfect.
I sat down for a long listen to the €4000-per-pair Kaliopes before getting into the specifics. First up, I asked for a Tragically Hip song, “Fight,” and, my stars, did this chunky floorstander rock the room. Deep, tight bass with a very-well-focused central image of Gord Downie’s head just leaped out at me. There was some extra upper-midrange energy, but it was clean, not bitey. And good lord, was I listening loud at this point. The Kaliopes seemed to encourage this kind of misbehavior.
At this point, I got the impression that the Kaliope could go down low. I confirmed this with Mariusz Skalski, the owner of Skala Audio, who stated that this modest floorstander reaches down to 28Hz. That’s good enough for Colin Stetson, so I asked Skalski to cue up “Awake on Foreign Shores.” Stetson’s bass saxophone and its foghorn-like attack didn’t quite shake the room, but the reach was obvious, with the overtones sounding rich, abrasive, and silky at the same time. Very well done.
So as not to offend everyone else in the hotel, Skalski cued up an easy-listening, plaintive, emotive female singer of the Celine Dion camp, and the room began to fill up. With this unchallenging music, I got the full suite of audiophile tricks. Imaging was clear, again with an excellent center image. I could easily live with these speakers.
A two-way, rear-ported design, the Kaliope is the second model from this Polish manufacturer. With a 10″ woofer from SB Acoustics and a 1.7″ compression driver, there are no real tricks here, just competent design and good-quality components. The speaker is wrapped in black leatherette, and the top panel is gloss black. The tweeter’s horn is available in gloss black or, if you want to really liven up the look, red.
Skala Audio was driving the Kaliopes with what was undoubtedly the most inexpensive electronics in the hotel. A WiiM Mini streamer delivered the music to a Topping DAC-preamp and Aiyama A70 power amplifier. “I have faith in my speakers,” said Skalski. Knowing how snobby audiophiles can be, I hereby nominate this as the bravest room at the show.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Editor, SoundStage!
