Care Orchestra Spiritual Blue Evo and Celestial Deep Breath Evo
Back to the secondary system
Back in the secondary system, my gut feeling was that the Ayon would probably not match very well with the Spiritual Blue Evos. After all, this was an amp that sounded extremely robust, earthy, full-bodied, and a little dark.
But at this point, I figured what the heck, let’s try it anyway. Imagine my surprise when the speakers actually started singing! Not only that, they were positively rocking and rolling! I couldn’t believe this strange turn of events but sure enough, CD after CD, the speakers kept surprising me. Granted, the midrange was warmer and the treble was definitely darker than that of the monitors, but not to the point that this was distracting from the musical message. Rather, I’d say it is a matter of personal preference. But the important thing is that I no longer had the feeling of restraint. Clearly, the speaker positions, now 60cm from the speakers’ rear end to the rear wall, were highly beneficial.
Not only that, but I also noticed that my aforementioned room mode was excited significantly less heavily, making all kinds of music utterly listenable, even when it contained heavy bass tracks below 50Hz. It was still there but more like a friendly hump rather than an aggressive roar.
At some point, I was playing an old Aaliyah CD, One In A Million. Better believe me when I say that the music was absolutely stomping! As I kept raising the volume with a big grin on my face I played nearly every track and when I got to a slow ballad near the end, I was full-on emotionally moved.
Although I was now happy and completely satisfied, I felt it was my duty to try the NuPrime AMG-STA amplifier as well as the Driade and FoilFlex cables.
Not surprisingly, given that it excels with complex or less efficient speakers the AMG-STA did very well, heightening the precision in the bass and lending the speakers a touch more treble air and refinement in the process. But as with the monitors, I still felt that the Ayon amplifier yielded a more expressive as well as emotionally more satisfying performance from the floorstanders. A change to the always musically pleasing Driade Flow 405 cables brought ripeness, saturation, and flow, but if I’m honest, not to the same extent as the Ayon amp with the simple Van Den Hul cables. Well, I guess that’s system synergy for you!
Epilog
While the Celestial Deep Breath Evo monitors work sublimely well with either the Ayon Spirit III or the CH Precision A1.5 amplifiers and with little preference regarding room size or placement, the Spiritual Blue Evo floorstanders had a clear preference for the Ayon amplifier, as well as for placement in a smaller room and closer to the rear wall.
Optionally, Care Orchestra also supplies magnetic anti-dust covers made of transparent plexiglass. These are for protection only and not meant for listening.
The oversized speaker terminals are very sturdy but their thick central piece makes it impossible to use spades. Practically, the connectors seem to be designed to accept either bare wire or bananas.
Upon checking with the manufacturer, Mr. Onadipe provided the following feedback:
“The terminals were chosen after analyzing frequency characteristics on different posts/ terminals, the ones with a high diameter/thickness ratio and with gold plating have the best performance results in combination with van den Hul internal cables. They are gold-plated and do not oxidize. Also, these terminals are aesthetically liked.”
Conclusion
Both Care Orchestra models impress with a sound that is full-bodied and tonally saturated yet also well-paced and engaging. Of the two models, the Celestial Deep Breath Evo monitors stand out for their infectiously vivid and expressive character and fantastic soundstaging while the Spiritual Blue Evo floorstanders form a special proposition by reaching deeper in the bass while being designed for positioning close to walls.
External Links
Manufacturer’s website: careorchestra.com
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!