HECO Music Style 900 Floor standing speakers
A new flagship of the series is made in a three-way variant and slightly differs in sizes from floor Music Style 800. The increase in height is short three inches, in width is still less and in depth the speaker system seems to be slightly decreased. The bodies of new speaker systems got the same black and white lacquer finish, have lower support platform for the spikes and massive side walls with chamfers, for which individual variants of design are provided (textured Black Ash and a coffee-colored Espresso). There are no differences from behind too. There are the same terminal panel with two pairs of gilt terminals and the pair of huge bass-reflexes with rounded ports, located one above the other. Now the question is, was it worth to release the "900th" if even passport features are almost the same as in "800th" and the difference in weight is only 2 kg?
Yes, it was worth it, because the differences exist, which has an essential character. Instead of one 22-inch side woofer there are two frontal 17-inch ones in the new model, which give the system an impressive look. And instead of two 13-inch midranges there is a one midrange in 900th and it has the same caliber as the woofers. And all these heads are identical in design. Diffusers are pressed from long-stapled cellulose, have almost flat central cap made of the same material and a long-stroke rubber suspension. But by characteristics they are surely different. The mobile system together with voice coil in the upper driver is simplified and optimized under the wide band of playing. And the installed under the 25-mm soft-dome tweeter bass drivers are optimized in order to minimize distortion at the playing of low-frequency components. All other parts of the systems are crossovers, not introducing phase and amplitude deviations, and the tweeter, picking up the race from 3200Hz - like in other models of the Music Style series.
Perhaps, someone will find such changes as a usual restyling. In fact, the engineers have solved the important task: having leveled the calibers and work conditions of the heads and having increased the total radiation area, they achieved the best harmonization of lower and mid-range sectors. In other words, there is a clear orientation of the model for audiophiles not for movie fans.
German engineers created the system, being able to sound without coming out - transparently, open, linearly and not primitively. There are no serious errors in sound scene. All the images are quite material and stable in space, the focus is accurate enough and I am ready to attribute not very big depth of three-dimensional picture and noticeable sometimes fastening of side images with high spectrum to the tweeter to insufficient warm-up of the speaker systems.
The middle case doesn't sound very passionately, but it is already pleasant that it has no dirt or tint. When this part of musical range is held so linearly as in Music Style 900, the systems cope with any music equally well. By the way, noticing how luxuriously and clearly a low male voice is played, we can make the conclusion that the engineers could achieve an ideal harmonization of LF and HF. When you listen to symphonic orchestra, the "wood" of decks, for example, turns out to be not only just natural but also various due to that you have the real feeling of a big content. The informational content of the playing slightly reduces above the spectrum. Details appear superficially; the presence of some veil is felt.
The upper segment leaves a dual impression too. The lower part of this band is transferred a bit dryly and if your electronic components are generous with digital hint, the sound may seem to be discomfort. But everything higher is cool. There are dynamics and a good micro-dynamic elaboration, and air. The linearity is on the top. Intelligibility is good at both silent and powerful, dynamic contrasts.
The bass deserves a separate description. That is where HECO gave something outstanding, even without taking the reference to relatively affordable price category into account. It is not only powerful, dynamic, fast, linear and so on in Music Style 900. It just sinless: subjectively begins somewhere from seismic lowlands, is completely devoid of plangency (however, this also depends on a room and on your ability to find a "point of neutrality" in it for acoustics). But the most importantly, it has an exquisite clarity of attack and absolute tonal specifics. Sometimes it seems that you can discriminate how the membrane at the "kick" is stretched in one or another song of the same album.
In conclusion I would say that it is advisable for a future listener to arm with foam for plugging of bass reflexes, because they are not included. They will be useful in the case when you place your systems close to walls, where they can cause low resonance in a room. I don't foresee other problems with them.
