Description
Designed by Leon Huijgen dedicated for Silver-6, the Liionidas Fieke brings impressive performance especially for the bass part which was considered weak spot of Silver-6. This speaker has amazing sound stage and is very ideal for small or medium listening room. It’s a good choice for experiencing our flagship Silver series and the classic design can be well adapted to many home decorations.
Jon –
There are few reviews of Lii Audio speakers online, so I will try to make this review as informative as possible. I am a cellist who is very critical of all speakers I hear. Most of them sound pleasant in some way, but they don’t always make recordings sound like music. The Liionidas Fieke S6 is different. It plays every genre of music from baroque to full scale symphonies, to jazz, to rap, to death and melodic metal, to electronic, to modern pop music with ease. This speaker is not about fulfilling endless audiophile checklists. It is about making all genres of music sound like music. The feelings and intentions of the musicians are present, as well as the physicality and scale of the performance.
This is the best speaker I have used for chamber music. String quartets have body and soul. I have performed many piano and cello concertos in the past, and this speaker plays them better than most others in its price class or even higher. Almost no speakers get violin tonally correct, let alone allow them to sound like they are expressing anything meaningful. Not over this speaker. There is just enough top end to make for good extension with violins without going overboard. The way the violin resonates, the speed and articulation of the bow, the character of the vibrato are all there. The speaker also provides fullness of tone in the lower octaves to make cellos and pianos sound believable enough in my medium sized room. All of that allows the sound to come together holistically.
The best thing about this speaker is how I don’t have to think about how the music comes together. When musicians are performing, they are building phrases in unison, handing them off to each other, coordinating their vibrato, pushing forward or pulling back in tempo in response to one another. In most speakers you can’t even tell how the musicians are listening to each. These performers are trying to connect with each other to create a moment for the listener (yes, even in contemporary studio recordings). Some high-end speakers, many times this price, allow the listener to recognize this part of the music. But this information is often presented in a plain and unemotional way. The Liionidas Fieke S6 actually makes me feel that direct connection with the musicians, rather than only think about it. This speaker preserves the musicianship of the performance. That is truly exceptional at any price.
Something to be aware of is the fact that this speaker is a folded horn design, meaning it has some inherent characteristics to the sound. Most conventional sealed or vented boxes are described as having tight or loose or soft or powerful bass, but not expressive bass. This folded horn allows the lower octaves to breath and develop a complexity that many box speakers fail miserably at. Since the bass is well developed, the speaker played well at moderately low volumes (quiet conversation level). It also plays well at high volumes (shouting level). At literally whisper quiet volumes it sounds fine, but just ever so slightly disjointed, and at deafening levels it will be a little muddy sounding. Due to the folded horn design, there is an inherent compromise in the form of a slight bass delay. On a few recordings it can be noticeable. It can make things sound a bit unfocused, especially if your components have a less articulate low end. The large size of the folded horn means there will be slightly wooden resonance in the lower octaves. It is inert and preferable for live recordings, even electronics music is complemented by it. But for some reason it is more noticeable in dry studio recordings of acoustic instruments. Again, these compromises are only noticeable on a few recordings, and if you are really listening for it. They do not detract from whole presentation, and sometimes it makes acoustic recordings more pleasant. I would rather take that over a speaker that makes everything sound like it came from a highly damped anechoic chamber. The Silver-6 driver sounds good, but when vocalists pronounce ‘s’, ‘t’, ‘c’, ‘k’ sounds, there is a very slight clicking effect that seems mechanical in nature regardless of the recording. Think of a tiny castanet or a clamshell being closed. On quiet recordings it can be somewhat distracting, but on busy ones it actually helps with voice intelligibility. Since this is a single driver design, there is some treble roll-off. This does not get in the way of music I listen to. All of the notes are still there in the right proportion. And the treble roll-off makes a lot of bright recordings sound much more enjoyable. Compared to performing and practicing music in real life, the treble extension is just right. Compared to most audiophile speakers, the treble is noticeably rolled off. The treble is a matter of taste.
Many of speakers force harshness into the listener’s ears if anything is wrong with their setup. This speaker responds to recordings and components in a direct way, particularly in the midrange. But unlike other high-end speakers, it is not in a brutal or forceful way. Thin sounding studio recordings will still sound a little bit thin and papery, but not to the point of harshness of brighter speakers. It does not transform unengaging musicians to suddenly sound more expressive than they really are. Overall, this speaker is a little bit revealing in the midrange, but it is much more focused on presenting a musical performance in an enjoyable way. If you can live with these compromises, as well as the size, the Liionidas Fieke S6 is an exceptional speaker for music lovers.