Care Orchestra Spiritual Blue Evo and Celestial Deep Breath Evo
Review samples provided by Care Orchestra
Retail Prices:
Celestial Deep Breath Evo (monitors) – from 2.250 euro per pair
Spiritual Blue Evo (floorstanders) – from 3.410 euro per pair
Glossy finishes, leather inserts, special fabrics, and precious woods on request
Optional accessory – Magnetic anti-dust cover made of transparent plexiglass
Care Orchestra S.R.L
When Care Orchestra was founded, one of the goals was to enhance the Italian identity of the company and therefore keep all the production in Italy. This way, the company was renouncing low industrial costs but favoring the craftsmanship for which the country is famous while also adding the possibility to customize the products according to the customer’s wishes. Besides a basic production with “typical” black or white lacquering, the company also offers complete customization of the finishes, with marble, leather, and various colors and fabrics.
The wood composite speaker cabinets are made without any visible junction elements and are lacquered in their entirety. The marble products are carved from solid blocks, also to avoid joints.
The company is also happy to study solutions together with the client and they work with architects to meet the customer’s needs.
Celestial Deep Breath Evo
The Deep Breath Evo speakers are 2-way bookshelf/stand-mount, bass-reflex tuned speakers with an internal volume of 15 liters and a nominal impedance of 4 ohms. The specified frequency range is 48 – 41,000 Hz (+/- 3 dB) with a sensitivity of 91.5 dB (1m, 2.83 V). The internal volume is designed to avoid reflections. The transducers are housed in custom-made holes that allow for a laser-cut leather layer to cover them. The second-order crossover network uses very fast, high-precision Jantzen high-end components and the internal wiring is silver Van Den Hul. Stands are not supplied. The ones shown are Linn models kindly supplied by Hexagon Audio.
Spiritual Blue Evo
The Blue Evo speakers are 2-way floor-standing, bass-reflex tuned speakers with an internal volume of 20.4 liters and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms. The specified frequency range is 41 – 42,000 Hz (+/- 3 dB) with a sensitivity of 88 dB (1m, 2.83 V). The internal volume is designed to avoid reflections. The transducers are housed in custom-made holes that allow for a laser-cut leather layer to cover them. The second-order crossover network uses very fast, high-precision Jantzen high-end components and the internal wiring is silver Van Den Hul. The speaker bases have tapped holes for spikes, but these are not supplied.
Review Context
For this review, I will use the Secondary System, as well as the Main System.
The Secondary system is based around the Ayon Spirit III integrated KT150 tube amplifier and the Ayon CD-10 II CD player and DAC together with an Antipodes EX Music Server as the digital source. My regular speakers in this setup are the Xavian Perla Esclusiva.
The main system’s core consists of the CH C1 DAC, CH L1 preamp, CH A1.5 power amp, and the Grimm MU-1 Music Server. The speakers that I normally use here are the Magico S1 MkII.
I wasn’t sure if the speakers were brand-new or if they had played before. So, prior to any serious listening, I played both speaker pairs for several days on normal volume. Even so, I can’t say that they changed very much from those first notes.
Listening – Celestial Deep Breath Evo
After having decided to start with the Celestial Deep Breath Evo monitors in my secondary system, I assembled a few CDs and listened to a handful of tracks to assure myself that the system still sounded the same. Fortunately, it did:-) Before setting up the Care Orchestra monitors in their ideal positions, I first positioned them between the Xavians.
Of course, I knew that they were small but next to the Celestial Deep Breath Evos, the Xavians look absolutely tiny! While the speakers sounded fabulously expressive and dynamic right from the first few notes, their bass was quite prominent and so I quickly decided to space them out and place them in this room’s ideal positions, where the Xavians normally are. The wider spacing certainly helped the bass even out but the speakers remained impressively robust. Certainly compared to the Xavians they reach considerably more deeply while also having a bigger impact. Now, it must be said that this room has a rather large room mode at around 50hz but with the Xavians’ earlier bass roll-off, any issues are neatly averted. Rather, the room aids the speakers in reaching just that little bit lower to achieve something that resembles full range. Of course, that is not the case and one quick listen to the Celestial Deep Breath Evos is all that it takes to realize that. With their deeper-reaching bass, the Care Orchestra monitors do now and then excite the room mode but only when that particular frequency is prominent in the music. When it is not, I am truly impressed with these speakers’ bass behavior. It’s not only deep but also taut, fast, tight, and articulate as well as robust and full-bodied. It’s a combination of properties that are not often heard together, certainly not in this speaker’s price range. More often, a 2000-euro speaker pair is either warm and smooth or lean and agile. The Celestial Deep Breath Evo monitor walks the perfect path in between.
More important than bass quantity or quality is the quality of the speaker’s overall sound and on that subject, again, I am impressed. While there is no denying the presence of a mild coloration throughout the midbass and lower midrange, it is of the sympathetic kind and quickly accepted, also because the speaker is just so ridiculously involving! No kidding, when using these speakers, it is difficult to keep focusing on technical details. There is something about them that makes one immediately pay attention. It’s a combination of undiluted excitement, drive, and dynamics with a very healthy dose of communication and openness topped off with a Sonus Faber-like musicality and naturalness. It’s probably no coincidence that these speakers are also manufactured in Italy.
If pressed, I can note that the resolution and refinement are above average but not benchmark-setting. In terms of inner detail, they are more or less on par with the Xavians, and perhaps slightly more linear and transparent. But who cares? When the musical message is communicated so splendidly that my foot starts tapping and never stops and I only want to turn up the volume to enjoy more music, why would one crave such audiophile nuances? Besides, what these speakers do absolutely magnificently, is to project the sound to all the corners of the room while placing mono sound images solidly and sharply in the middle. Mind you, the stark focus is no indicator of a sharp sound. Even when turned up to 11, the Celestial Deep Breath Evo monitors never sound harsh or even stressed a little.
Next: A change of Amplifier
Hi Christian,
So have you considered changing your Perlas for these monitors at any point during or after the review?
Hi Gerco, the thought has certainly crossed my mind:-) If this room did not have such a big resonance in the deep bass, then I might have indeed opted for the Care Orchestra monitors.
Oh my, big words! 🙂
You see, I also have Perlas and to me they are wonderful little joy-oozing pleasure-machines. I would never ever trade in an iota of that engagement factor for higher resolution, bigger soundstage, etc. that sort of suff, but knowing of a speaker that adds transparency and keeps the engagement factor “off the charts” in the Perla’s price range is certainly exciting.
Btw, I drive my Perlas with EAR 834L + NuPrime ST-10 and for the NuPrime part, I’m truly grateful to you.
I understand, Gergo! That’s precisely what I like so much about the Perlas. The Care Orchestra monitors have a very similarly enthusiastic and propulsive character, just with deeper bass and a fuller tonality. Nice to hear that the ST-10 is working so well for you!