Altough having already included my wife’s audio system into my testing work at some point before, I should nevertheless find here some words to describe its sound characteristics, particularly in light of the fact that I am intending to solely depend on it for this test run. For a long time the excellent Acapella Violon VI lacked appropriate front-end components. Thanks to Einstein’s The Poweramp and Brinkmann’s Marconi, we now also have a reasonable amplification at our command. Using Swiss Cable Reference cabling almost throughout the system – ah, not the Plus version here, as in this combination it would create too much pressure in the lows –, ensures the necessary speed, openness and good spatial imaging. The audio system in the listening room – this one living up to a quite different price range – offers an even better resolution, reveals somewhat more detail, and shows slightly more agility in the lower frequencies, despite doing this in a more slender way. This can make bad recordings sometimes sound a little "scraggy”. Especially because of the more pushy bass, the living room’s system, if compared to my "working tool", usually is better liked by visitors less infected by the hi-fi virus. For me, it is always some kind of disillusioning to hear that even the most expensive diamond tweeters or high-class ribbon tweeters do not have an earthly chance of ever achieving the lightness and colourfulness of the ion tweeters used in the Acapellas. Certainly, the living room system could perform in a more harmonious way, if, for example, the loudspeakers were positioned in the room just as uncompromising symmetrical as those in the listening room. But, in the living room – as already mentioned time and again before – I bear a more advisory function rather than the absolute hi-fi sovereignty. Since this doesn’t apply to me only, our living room installation comes certainly closer to the reality in typical German living environments than the almost perfect conditions in my listening room.

As the integration of the system in the living room rather follows the rules for room comfort – i.e. the Acapella’s left horn has a substantially shorter distance to sidewall and roof slope as the right one –, I therefore haven’t developed enough experience in evaluating components in that system compared to the system in the listening room. However, at least I simplify my choice of music by starting with Ravi Shankar’s "West Eats Meat": The tabla intro evolves with much pressure in the lows, but at a bit slower pace than in the listening room. The timpani in the track’s main section overflow with energy, the bass grooves and creaks, while the colourfulness of the percussion is simply fantastic. However, the sound does not free itself entirely from the speakers and the spatial array has a slight spin to the left - not very surprising, if we put into consideration that the left speaker is notably closer to the limiting walls. Surprisingly, the change of the SoulM’s power supply brings quite a benefit, even in this particular discipline: Due to the now better resolution, the reverb tails now sound a lot more distinctive, and therefore illuminate also the right side to a higher degree. Also to my surprise, the larger power supply creates a wider and more stable stage. And the echoes of the voice now vanish even a little further back into the depths of the room. With the P8 the performance gets even more detailed and the tonal colours – already one of this system’s best qualities – ablaze even a little more expressive. From now on I wouldn’t want to miss Keces’ bigger power supply anymore.