Music

Inevitably, a key part of the loudspeaker design process is critical listening. As a result, one gradually assembles a collection of absolute favourite and trusted recordings. Between us, our tastes are quite eclectic, and this means the OmniMons get challenged right across the spectrum. Those we list here give some indication of what we want our speakers to achieve.

The other key criterion for critical listening material is the quality of the recording itself. Our speakers are extremely revealing - poor acoustics, microphones or mixing, and compression can mar an otherwise acceptable recording. (Although when was anybody ever really content with 'acceptable'?). On the other hand, some recordings that normally sound fairly unpleasant - coarse, challenging vocals or strident saxophones - acquire a new depth of interpretation as things come right, rendering them fascinating and beautiful. And older recordings, rather than distracting by their crudeness, can deliver an atmospheric magic representative of their era.

On the following pages we give details of recordings that have particular relevance for us. We may have grown up with a piece and then found a superb new version - the Beethoven Piano Concertos fit this category. Or it might be because we believe it to be definitive: Solti's 1964 Mahler Symphony No. 1, for example. Or it may test the speakers’ abilities to the limit: Dafos. Then again, it may be that we've heard an artist live and really do know what they sound like, and we've come home to a recording of them on the OmniMons, and it's like the concert never ended.

As we discover new material, we will add it to our collection. So if anybody knows of a special recording, please tell us, and we'll give it a go. FR.