STANDS AND PLACEMENT
I used metal Target stands 24” high, sand filled, throughout the review. I normally listen about 12 feet from large floor standing speakers, so bringing the NA5ES to within 8 feet was near field for me. They were 5 feet from the head wall and 3 feet from the side walls. Sony recommends placement no closer than 12” (30cm) from the head wall. I toe in all speakers to align with the respective ear or just slightly to the outside of the ear, and the Sony was no exception. To lift the soundstage slightly I placed 1” spikes into the front of the stand’s base and removed the rear spikes. This works perfectly to prevent a laser-like beaming of the treble without enough bass presence. This placement was perfect to escape the hard boundaries of the room and let the system “float” unencumbered by primary reflection issues or floor bounce from a woofer too close to the ground. This aided the concert hall effect, which will be discussed presently.
The aesthetics of the NA5ES are neither innovative, nor offensive. The contoured front softens the sharp edged cubic cabinet finished in an elegant deep burgundy gloss. This is a welcome departure from the myriad of smallish black speakers. Slightly parabolic edges of the grill allow the beauty of the finish to be seen from the front. Caution must be exercised when removing the grill as the thin plastic pins of the grill frame might snap off if it is handled too aggressively. I always listen with the grills removed, and in that condition the I-ARRAY System is seen framed by a black aluminum baffle piece, removable for servicing. On the rear two ducts reside over a pair solid, but slightly close speaker terminals for single wiring.
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE DESIGN
There is only so much that can be accomplished within the constraints of a bookshelf speaker design. At lower listening levels, the bass reaching down to the stated 45Hz, all is well. But push the level higher and jack up the low frequency content of the music and like all other diminutive speakers, the Sony will show the strain. No one should expect the NA5ES, or any other smallish bookshelf, to fool the ear completely into thinking it is hearing a larger speaker.
Excepting that, I found the bass output of the Sony to be gratifying. Compared to the LM-1 it was cleaner but lacked a degree or two of the Lenehan’s impact. With LF loaded music or synthesized low end as on Peter White’s “Mission to Mars,” the cabinet’s contribution to the overall sound and the dual ports on the rear allowed the NA5ES to have a spatiality and openness, even in the bass, which the LM-1 lacked. The expansive character of the bass was a perfect complement to the airiness of the I-Array’s Treble. If not for this more distinguished, vibrant bass the speaker would sound tipped up in the high frequencies. While it might be expected that a bookshelf design with three tweeter elements would overpower in the treble, this was not so. The “Hall Mode,” effect desired by Kaku was quite evident, and it was enticing.
The NA5ES also impressed by throwing a rather large and deep soundstage disproportionate to its size. However, the question to be asked by the prospective buyer is whether the big soundstage is resolved well. Here is where the speaker excelled, calling to mind the openness of a panel speaker. It was a bit more impressionistic with the Pathos amps, satisfying by being clean without being hyper-detailed. It is, however, capable of extreme definition which it exhibited with the Pass Labs electronics. The inner detail of the music was illuminated brilliantly, as if a flashlight using D cell batteries illuminating a translucent piece of glass had been switched for one with a 9V power cell. The sheer intensity of the performance escalated dramatically. Cues buried deep within the recording shone through; the effect was so profound it made me hope that when I am too old to haul around large floor standing speakers a bookshelf speaker such as the NA5ES may be satisfying such that I would not feel I had abdicated the High End. That is high praise for a bookshelf speaker coming from me, as I am partial to larger full range speakers!
MULTIPLE SOFT DOME DRIVERS
The experience with the NA5ES reminds me of another speaker I reviewed with multiple soft dome drivers, the Wharfedale Opus 2-M2. In that instance a 3” soft dome midrange was coupled with a 1” soft dome tweeter in a rather large bookshelf design. I was pleased by the performance of that setup as well. For good reason the textile dome driver has been used for decades as it is so forgiving to the ear, but in multiple driver arrays it seems to be best utilized. Another instance, in the Daedalus Audio Ulysses one finds a pair of soft dome tweeters. In the case of the Ulysses the layout of the drivers is roughly that of a pair of bookshelf speakers placed top to top with the tweeters centrally located. The Opus 2-M2 the midrange benefitted especially by the smoothness of the soft dome tweeter, while the Ulysses benefitted from the reinforced treble. However, neither one has the extended frequency response of the NA5ES which is critical to achieving the hall effect.
A COMFORTABLE TRUTH
A speaker may make one feel comfortable, but in doing so it may not be representing the reality of a performance accurately. It is the goal of the NA5ES to capture the reality of the recording, but do so in such a way that it doesn’t make the listener uncomfortable. The challenge to the speaker designer is to make the speaker vivid and lively without it being irritating. High efficiency speakers capture much of that characteristic, which is why they are enjoyed by so many listeners.
In Kaku’s effort to capture, “the comfort of the concert hall,” he seems to have captured the desirable traits of a higher efficiency speaker in a small package. The NA5ES has 86dB sensitivity and 4 Ohm nominal impedance, which hardly makes it a high efficiency design. However, the multiplicity of drivers, cabinet interaction and dual bass ports combine to let it breathe in a sense, allowing it to be lighter on its feet than one might expect. It is ‘truthful’ to the source, but not uncomfortably so.
BENEFITS OF THE I-ARRAY SYSTEM
The I-Array System, the pairing of primary and secondary tweeters overlapping, has the distinct advantage over a simple two-way speaker of extending the top of the frequency response out to about 45 kHz. This has the effect of capturing more microdynamic nuances, giving the music a multi-layered nature. This effect was consistent whether hearing rock, choral, popular or classical music. In the iconic “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” played by the Minnesota Orchestra and conducted by Eiji Oue, the tympanic impact at the onset was strong as when rendered by the Lenehan LM-1, but when the NA5ES was inserted into the system the “hall effect” flooded the listening room. The tympani were now perceived as being further back in the hall, but the reverberation and decay were more expansive, filling the auditorium. The combination of very high definition, liveliness and cavernous extension signals the brain to receive the event as though hearing it live.
One might be tempted to think that the multiplicity of tweeters would cause treble overload. Do not be concerned about this, as they are implemented with deftness. The only time I sensed the treble was too hot was at the times when my system had exhibited similar tendencies with other speakers. In such cases I have used cabling, or rolled discrete Opamps in the Minimax DAC Plus, to attenuate it and the NA5ES responded similarly. Potential owners should not be put off by the notion that this speaker will be unbalanced or too treble-rich. It is exquisitely refined in the upper end for a speaker with soft dome tweeters and users should have no trouble accommodating it to their system.
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