Mark Gusew auditions a beguiling-sounding, British-built floorstanding loudspeaker…
Ophidian Audio
Incanto Floorstanding Loudspeakers
£6,000
Gareth James, the founder of Ophidian, has a passion for loudspeakers. He has been making them since his teenage years and under the Ophidian brand since 2011. Based in the North West of England, Ophidian currently has five models available, with the Incanto being just one down from their flagship Voodoo model. Priced at £6,000, the former is a mid-sized, 3-way floorstanding speaker available in either walnut or oak finishes.
It uses three sturdy 175mm aluminium coned bass drivers, a 50mm soft dome midrange driver that is sealed within its own sub-enclosure, and a 22mm soft dome tweeter. This, interestingly, is made by SEAS and features a uniquely shaped one-piece dome and surround, which aids high-frequency dispersion. The fabric dome is coated with Sonomex, a damping and sealing compound that helps the dome deliver a smooth, peak-free response well beyond 20kHz. It's the same tweeter used in the flagship model, by the way.
One of the unique aspects of Ophidian's designs is the use of its Aeroflex port system for precisely controlled bass. Gareth calls it, “a hybrid of transmission line and ported cabinet design topologies, which aims to mix the pros of each while avoiding as many of the cons as possible.” He explains, “The longer and larger port system allows a much freer breathing, fast and dynamic bass like a transmission line without the overall line length, which can require a lot of stuffing to avoid ending up with a large hole in the mid-bass response.” The goal is to lower air velocity, helping to control the driver throughout its movement stroke, enhancing the dynamic range and tonal accuracy, while lowering distortion.”
New loudspeaker models are first critically analysed using computer simulations, which provide an idea of a given design's performance characteristics, and how it can be optimised. Gareth has done thousands of them and believes in the merit of using computer-aided flow analysis as a first step. Then prototypes are made, and testing, measuring, listening and component optimisation is carried out. Only then are new models put into production.
Ophidian has resisted the urge to have its cabinets manufactured in China and instead insists on hand-building them in Sheffield, England, to its specification and standards. They're internally braced, and the Aeroflex port actually helps with this, contributing to the overall stiffness of the cabinet. As a result, he says that besides the front face, the outer cabinet doesn't need to be as thick or heavy to compensate. The design aim for the Incanto was to create a mid-sized floorstander that would fit in most homes with a slim front face. The cabinet measures 1,032x210x300mm [HxWxD, with grilles] and sits on a thick wooden plinth to which metal spikes or rubber feet can be attached via four M6 threaded holes. Fit and finish are excellent, and at around 24kg, it's a solid, well-built loudspeaker that signals its intent.
When it comes to the crossover, Ophidian doesn't penny-pinch. It uses high-quality Mundorf (of Germany) components, including coils, capacitors and metal-oxide resistors, rather than cheaper wire-wound cement varieties. Quoted frequency response is 36Hz to 25kHz (-3dB), with a quoted sensitivity of 89dB (2.83v). Nominal impedance is rated at 4 ohms, and recommended amplifier power is 50 to 250 watts – so you'll need a gutsy solid-state amplifier to get the best from this speaker.
For my listening tests, I visited Audiofix on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and met Alex Stuart, the Australian distributor for Ophidian. I streamed music from Qobuz and Tidal from an Aurender A200 music server and DAC, feeding an Exposure 3510 integrated amplifier, rated at 110W RMS per channel, into 8 ohms. I also tried the Incanto with an EAR V12 integrated amplifier with a bank of six EL84 output tubes for each channel, putting out a rated 50W per side. I found the speaker to be transparent enough to convey this superb amplifier's lovely, liquid and organic sound – but it was clear that it didn't have the same level of punch as the Exposure.
Each speaker was placed a metre away from the front wall and around 2.5m apart. I sat about 3m away and preferred them with a small amount of toe-in. The supplied metal spikes were fitted to the plinth as they sat on a carpeted floor, and the room was acoustically treated. I preferred the sound with the detachable magnetic grilles removed.
THE LISTENING
The Incanto breathes life into music without any effort and has an impressively natural instrumental timbre. For example, cueing upWithinbyDaft Punk, I was immediately impressed with the opening piano intro, which was colourful and vibrant enough to sound like a real instrument was there in my listening room. This is the sign of a well-crafted loudspeaker that just gets out of the way, letting the listener form a deeper connection with the performance.
Tonally the Incanto has a smooth progression through the frequency range and is impressively extended at the bottom and top. For example, there is a great transition from the upper midband to the treble in the trackSymptomaticbyPeach PRC. Treble proved smooth and highly textured, with the vocalist and guitar sounding clean, detailed, and well-defined. I enjoyed the vocal ofR.L. BurnsidesingingSweet Little Angelthrough this speaker, which produced impeccable midrange clarity and controlled the upper-bass transition of the guitar.
It was a joy to listen toBruce Springsteen'sStreets of Philadelphia, which sounded slightly warm and full. It was room-filling in its presentation and I noted the definition and lack of distortion of the bass and lower midrange. There was a wonderful sense of top-to-bottom harmony, the result of careful tuning and a porting system that works very well. The Aeroflex port seemed to do exactly what is claimed.
This also applied to its ability to highlight dynamic contrasts, which is one of the standout characteristics of the Incanto and Ophidian loudspeakers in general. The opening deep drum notes toBoy In the BubblebyPaul Simonwere more pronounced and heavier, with more weight and substance than I remember hearing.Led Zeppelin'sDazed and Confusedsounded like the rhythmically engaging powerhouse track that it is – holding my interest and never sounding vanilla.
This speaker really likes punchy, dynamic music.Wedding Nails byPorcupine Treesounded well controlled yet punchy, with speed, slam, and aggressive attack. It kicked hard even at high volume levels, sounding unflappable and always retaining its composure. Listening toOn My KneesbyRüfüs Du Solsounded virtually the same at low listening volumes as it did at near concert levels; it didn't change the level of transparency or show any signs of distress. It's a sound that can be enjoyed for hours without becoming harsh or fatiguing to the ears.
Another quality of the Incanto is its ability to recreate a stunning soundstage. The acoustic space within the church ofBach'sToccata and Fugue in D Minorwas filled with reverb from the organ notes; this speaker delivered impressive three-dimensional space, with the sound filling the room. Likewise, the studio-engineered sound effects ofSacred GroundbyCraig Chaquicowere brought to life, with this speaker creating a tall, deep and wide soundstage well outside of its actual cabinet. The centre fill was satisfyingly dense and coherent, with great depth perspective.Queen'sBohemian Rhapsody - Live at Wembley Stadiumwas massive and epic, just as it should be. Also, when listening off-axis, many of the imaging and spatial cues were retained; this, in turn, means that the speaker should be easier to set up than many.
THE VERDICT
I really enjoyed listening to music via the Ophidian Incanto. It's a thoroughly engaging loudspeaker that brings performances to life with stunning dynamic range and accuracy. The Aeroflex bass loading technology, unique to this manufacturer, deserves to be recognised as a significant contributing factor to the sound. It is admirable that although this is a 3-way design, it plays with one single linear voice and is wonderfully coherent. Although Ophidian is not currently a well-known brand name, it certainly deserves to become one if this is anything to go by.
