Lindemann BL-10 Bookshelf Speaker Review

The Midrange

The BL-10s are as transparent and coherent as any speaker with a crossover I’ve heard. I have spent a lot of time with some very good sounding two-ways, including the Kharma Mini Exquisites, the Audio Note AN SEs, and the Raidho Ayra C1s. I personally find single-driver speakers with paper drivers like the Lowthers or the Feastrex just slightly more alive and transparent. Most people aren’t single-driver fans, and the Lindemanns are really close, yet they do some things single-driver speakers can’t do. People who love world class mini-monitors would probably think the paper driver speakers are forward-sounding. I don’t, but that’s what makes life interesting. By the way, there is no doubt that these speakers with their high-tech modern drivers, and incredibly dead cabinets measure much flatter than my Lowthers.

It is simply amazing how incredibly resolving these small wonders are. They let you hear inner detail and incredible micro-dynamics. The midrange of the BL-10 is clear and beautifully detailed. To me, there is nothing more important about a speaker’s midrange than how it plays voices. Voices on the BL-10 sound very alive and are wonderfully natural-sounding. I didn’t notice any overemphasis, or sibilance or edginess to the midrange.

There is no more telling instrument about the sound of speakers than a piano. The sound of the piano on the BL-10 was coherent from top to bottom, even though a little of the bottom was missing. They also allowed well recorded pianos to be very emotionally engaging. These are also speakers that make it very easy to hear the difference in electronics, vinyl, and cables.

Strings on these speakers sounded truly beautiful, sweet, and with so little strain you could listen to them all day long. Guitars, violins, and surprisingly even the bass sounded very convincing and enjoyable. Best of all, they sounded great whether the strings were plucked, bowed, or strummed. The BL-10 allowed plucked strings to explode to life right there in the room with you. If there was any weakness in the midrange it is that the leading edge of strings or pianos was handled a little better than the decay of wood instruments.

The top-end

The treble from the BL-10’s Eton neodymium tweeters was truly beautiful; it was extended, fast, yet smooth, and effortless. I love the delicacies that such a wonderful tweeter can provide in their reproduction of music, but it doesn’t quite pass my treble test. That is, I like a tweeter that you never notice, which may explain my love for single-driver speakers, but if you like a top-end with lots of sparkle and shine you won’t go away disappointed. The BL-10’s top-end is fast, detailed, extended, and just plain beautiful. Is it a little more beautiful than life? Maybe, but one thing for sure is the speakers never sound analytical or etched. I found them to be overall tonally neutral, but if they err, they err on the side of beauty.

The Bass

The bass of the Lindemann speakers simply defies reason. No, they don’t go all that low, Lindemann only claims they go down to 50, and that’s probably about right. Still, the bass is simply musical, it’s realistic bass as low as it goes, and by the way there’s not that much to miss down there. The bass is just plain wonderful and I didn’t say wonderful for their size which is shocking even to me as I write this. Truth is, there are lots of speakers that go much lower, but mess up the rest of the sound with their bass.

The Lindemann’s bottom-end is fast, very nimble, and accurate. Their leading edge was as good as I have heard from any speaker at any price. They let you hear the snap of a fast drum as well as the finger work on a stand-up bass comes across fast, taut, and deep enough. The bass on the BL-10 simply completes the great sound of these little speakers.