I myself am by no means a friend of bi-wiring, unlike Johannes Rickert, who internally bridged the standard bi-wiring terminals before he accompanied his creations from Lübeck to Gröbenzell. Alas, the Stereokonzept standing in its place in the listening room comes across perhaps a little lost – next to the usually significantly larger and in the case of the LumenWhite, vastly more expensive alternatives. Attachment of the loudspeaker cable to the delicate terminals proved itself markedly difficult in that the prominent binding posts and angled cable spades got in each other's way, a little gentle persuasion though and the problem was solved. In the next series, binding posts of a slightly smaller size will come in handy.

As soon as the Stereokonzept speakers gave out their first sound, large and small mechanical adjustment problems evaporated from my thinking. The sound detached completely from the speaker itself and unfurled itself freely in the space. The acoustic pattern is very homogeneous and bass midrange and Ringradiator play together as one. Since the test of the famous Mytek D/A Converter, I have a new favourite piece for tests: the thirteenth song from Michel Godard's Le Concert Des Parfums, Carpe Diem CD-16277, an improvisation from percussionist Patrice Heral in the reverberant masonry of the Noirlac monastery. The Modell 3.0 conveys the atmosphere of the recording location unnervingly realistically – one can hear the specular reflection of a single beat and its incipient resonance is acutely comprehensible. Happily at the same time, despite all the rich detail, the sound pattern does not disintegrate into a collection of context free sound events, but retains its vividness and coherence. Above all, the size and depth of the reproduction go far beyond that which I had expected of the Stereokonzept: close your eyes and you experience a grand theatre for your ears. Acoustically speaking, the Stereokonzept grows way beyond what its constitution should allow. The vehemence of the drumbeats also leaves nothing to be desired. Only those who acoustically spoil themselves daily before their LumenWhite could critically remark that the space seems one or two centimetres deeper and that the diamond tweeter works just a smidgeon smoother than the ring radiator. Far more remarkable however, is that the Modell 3.0 performs at such a high level – as far as volume and diaphragm surface are concerned - that it demands a comparison with the far larger and vastly more expensive LumenWhite.

So after a couple of hours in the listening room allowing for acclimatisation,  the freshly broken-in Stereokonzept can show its mastery of extreme challenges in the bass range. Once again Jonas Hellborg's Elegant Punk comes into play on the turntable: “Drone” makes clear that even when dealing with almost subsonic sounds, the Modell 3.0 cannot be prised from harmony with the laws of physics. In addition, a loudspeaker with such diaphragm surface area brings with it more impact. How many records do you know that feature such low frequency signals as Jonas Hellborg's solo bass album? I can't quickly think of any. The quick succession of low frequency impulses with the title “It's The Pits, Slight Return” cannot shake the low frequency resolve of the Stereokonzept. Although this speaker sounds a mite chunkier in the upper bass range than the Lumen, the impulses come very precisely, the most subtle of fingering sounds are there to be finely picked out, and the song's groove succeeds in inducing foot tapping. Even this enormously challenging material can be enjoyed pleasurably with Stereokonzept.