After having listened to the Tonian Labs TL M2 MkII speakers for a while now in my system I wanted to share some of my observations that may benefit potential clients.
I bought these speakers completely unheard and unseen which, of course, is not something I would recommend to anyone in normal circumstances. If you can, you should of course always try to audition before making your mind up. However, I trusted Tony Minasian’s expertise in the area and I had read the rave reviews both from people who had bought speakers from Tonian Labs and from a number of owners of other PHY-based speakers. Given my location in Europe, I knew that my only chance to hear Tony’s speakers in person would be for me to either take an expensive flight to California or buy the speakers un-auditioned. I decided to go for the latter option and can assure you today that, although being a risk, it was a risk well worth taking.
Just to tell you how good these speakers really are, I will refer to another speaker model that has been part of my system for some time – the Mulidine Cadence. When I got my Mulidine Cadence speakers, I thought this is it. What could possibly beat these French beauties without you having to take out a mortgage on your house? I had auditioned a number of speakers from all walks of life varying from dirt cheap to obscenely expensive, and none of them managed to come even close to the overall performance of the Mulidines in terms of clarity, openness and musicality. Many speakers that I have tried were good at some things, but none were good at all things. The Mulidines, however, were the most natural and engaging speakers I had ever laid my hands on and I decided to stop my endless search for sound perfection. But just as with everything in life something better always seem to come along. Well, with the TL M2 MkII I’m done searching. Just as everyone has their own opinion but no one can have their own facts, every speaker can have its own sound but can it have its own truth? I believe these do. To call them ‘speakers’ would do them an injustice. They are more like finely crafted instruments that convey what the designer feels is a musical truth (in spades mind you!). I refuse to be analytical about them as it would be silly to try such a thing. They simply compel one to listen and enjoy. I couldn’t ask for more. Although they impressed directly out of the box even before having had a chance to adapt to their new environment, it took some serious testing and experimentation to find the right set-up for them to fully deliver.
I first ordered the speakers without spikes and placed them directly on the floor. Given that I have tiles on the floor, this was obviously not the best of combinations. The bass was rather boomy and uncontrolled (no wonder). Next, I placed four rubber knobs under each speaker and that removed the boominess, but instead the sound became mute and rather slow. The rubber knobs were quickly removed and replaced by one small block of wood placed in the front-centre of each speaker. With the speaker tilting upwards a few degrees the sound came alive and provided excellent clarity and speed, but there was not so much flesh and the sound was at times a bit on the brighter side. I contacted Tony, who told me to place the speakers on a rug and he also recommended me to try his UCDRs to be placed under the speakers. Said and done. I ordered the UCDRs along with two sets of brass spikes and decided to also go for a set of his speaker cables and inter-connects.
The mere placement of the speakers on a rug (still using the small wooden blocks) vastly improved the sound stage, which immediately gained depth, width and high. The previous tendency to brightness was now completely gone.
With the addition of the new inter-connects further improvements were immediately noticeable. There was now more air, a wider soundstage, pin-point focus and clarity. The new speaker cables seemed to add more ‘flesh to the bone’, a wonderful balance/coherence and life-like presence. The difference was not earth shaking compared to the cables I used before, but enough to be mentioned and something that I would more describe as perfection.
Whilst I did not notice any improvements with the brass spikes attached, the UCDR’s seemed to make wonders. The absolutely best result I have obtained is where the speaker is placed with ONE UCDR centrally placed in the front with the back resting directly on the carpet. With this slightly raised listening angle, the M2 sound absolutely glorious. I have not heard anything better than this to date… and I have listened to a lot of systems in my life.
These speakers are definitely keepers. They do tonal accuracy, pacing and coherency better than any other speaker I have come across to date. The PHY and AER are the most musical and non-fatiquing wide banders I’ve yet listened to. The modified ribbon super-tweeters blend in seemlessly with the drivers, which speaks volumes of the level of quality and finesse we are talking of here. The top end has all the sparkle and extension one could wish for. On the other extreme, the bass is extraordinarily open and very precise and should be more than sufficient for the most people out there. The three-dimensional sound image and the amount of detail is not found in many other designs, no matter what price they come at.
So all is nice and dandy, then?
Well, not quite. There are two things you need to be aware of with these high-efficiency speakers……sorry…, I mean instruments. They are VERY revealing of upstream equipment. You should therefore be prepared to spend some time to find the equipment with the best system synergy. Tony’s advice on the cabling and interconnects proved to be accurate. Forget about fancy, expensive cabling and interconnects that look like garden hoses. I have tried some of these myself with less than impressive results, mostly adding some unwanted sonic colourations. You see, more expensive is no guarantee for being better. Sometimes, or rather quite often, less is actually more. On the amp side I have found a great match with the Canadian Audiozone Amp-1 and the Hungarian Etalon Suprampli.
With a suitable amplifier you will also hear details that you never heard before in your music collection and your recordings. But just as a warning: you might get addicted, bad recordings will be revealed mercilessly. This cuts both ways. But what a revelation it is! Tony has also made his own recordings and sent a cd with the speakers. Needless to say that the details you hear on these recordings with the speakers is simply mind blowing.
Overall, I am absolutely pleased with my purchase of the TL M2 MkII and would strongly recommend them to anyone who takes active music listening seriously. Tonian Labs is more than an interesting alternative to the audiophile brands you find when going mainstream. It shows what you can actually find if you are just prepared to step out of your comfort zone, think out of the box and not let you be easily impressed and misled by fancy marketing/sales jargons and exclusive branding so often typical of the mainstream products with their seemingly unlimited financial resources. The Tonian Labs signature is a wake-up call for the more conservative ones among us who so far have blindly accepted to act as guinea pigs for the corporate giants… and often at great cost.
As mentioned, I have had the pleasure (is it really a pleasure?) of owning and auditioning a number of speakers, and what I’ve heard so far has sounded like speakers. With a few exceptions (the Mulidine Cadence being one of them), they were not really what I wanted. Again, the M2 speakers from Tonian Labs are like instruments that play their hearts out in front of you. After listening, you’d swear you are hearing the truth.
If you are in the market for a new pair of speakers, I urge you to have a listen to a pair of Tonian Labs speakers. Before you do though, please drop your audiophile preconceptions at the door and just bring your ears and that musical heart that got you started in this hobby in the first place. I guarantee that you will save yourself a lot of money and frustration.
With the TL M2 MkII I can simply say that Tonian Labs has made a wonderful speaker that deserves a much wider audience.
To say that Tony Minasian is a genius would be an understatement. His speakers ‘give’ a little, just like a oud or cello would, which gives tone, body and a huge dose of reality that lets one suspend belief that what you are listening to is a recording.
Thank you, Tony, for creating such an instrument.