Testing the all new Ilumnia Magister!

[bart]

Last weekend, my audio buddy Jacques (aka Jem666) and I went to Meerhout in Belgium, to extensively test/hear/admire the speaker developped by the 2 brothers Nuyts.

You can read about this unique project on their good website:

https://www.ilumnia.be

It took them 7 years of blood, sweat and tears to finalise their new driver concept.
It uses electro-magnetic suspension, which is the reason that the response is more linear than any other driver in the world.

Here it is:




The cone itself is incredibly light:

[bart]

There you have the driver, installed in the speaker:




This is the power supply, needed to generate an electro magnetic field for the cone to float in.
It resides on the Gamut pre-amplifier:




5 positions in the power supply, to influence the suspension tightness.
It is in fact a very stable (until 1/1000th of a Volt!) 3 Volt rating power source.
The speaker itself is 100% passive.

[bart]

This is the set-up.
No room treatments, Tom Nuyts wants to create the same circumstances as there exist in most living rooms.






Crossover happens at 7 kHz.
The driver goes to 12-13 kHz but the Scanspeak Illuminator takes over at 7 kHz (slope 6 dB).

[bart]

We started off with the Jadis integrated (2x30W), an EAR DAC, and the music came from streaming or an Accuphase DP-80 used as CD-drive.






The speaker has a sensitivity of 88 dB, but is quite easy to drive.
I didn't feel lack of power in most tracks.
Jacques found the bass lacking with this combination.
But I'll comment later on sound quality.




I tested EAR DACs some time ago.
I compared them profoundly against my Burmester DAC/CD player, and me and my wife found them very very similar.
I knew this would make an evaluation of this speaker more trustworthy.

[bart]

We listened to a couple of tracks Tom chose first.

Then we went to the selection I brought.
Very well known tracks, that I have heard on multiple systems.
Before I left, I went through them, to really imprint my reference.

First:
Rebecca Pidgeon - The Raven




Ben, from Acoustic Matters, learned me how to listen to track 12, 'Spanish Harlem'.
I noted: very fast transients, very clear and transparent sound. Mids and treble close to perfection.
But: bass a bit disconnected.
This is clearly not a point source like some reviews stated.

[bart]

Next track, a piece that Jacques knows by heart:

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries




Track 1, 'Aerial Boundaries' is bass heavy, and it is a complex bass to reproduce.
Jacques found there was not enough separation in the bass, it all became a bit a one tone fundament.


Next: Madredeus - Ainda




Track 9; 'Ainda' contains a very low, steady note. I heard it during a live concert and was so disappointed that my system at the time could not reproduce it.
When I went with a sub, it could, but it was only with my current speakers, the Vivid G2 Giya, that the result was entirely satisfactory.
B&W 800 D2s were not able either to adequately transduce it, so it is a difficult track for loudspeakers.
Here we heard the tone a bit, but only a bit.
Tom said they measured output till 16 Hz.
So it is possible that the room was partly the cause of the bass a bit monotonous and/or lacking.
I also found the timbre of the singer's magnificent voice was a bit poorer than at home.

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by bart

This is the set-up.
No room treatments, Tom Nuyts wants to create the same circumstances as there exist in most living rooms.

Do most living rooms have sloped ceilings?

[bart]

Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson

Do most living rooms have sloped ceilings?

Haha Kal, only in flats on the top floor!

I think Tom does injustice to his speakers by presenting them, and listening to them, in such an untreated room.

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by bart

Haha Kal, only in flats on the top floor!

I think Tom does injustice to his speakers by presenting them, and listening to them, in such an untreated room.

The lack of room treatment is, imho, much less significant than the slope of the ceiling. Many of us have listening in untreated rooms over the years (Devialet anyone?) and have an inkling of how it affects the sound. The sloped ceiling, however, presents a nearby hard reflector of the bulk of the radiation from that upwardly-aimed driver that is the apparent big deal in this system. The resulting radiation pattern (and, probably, tonal balance) I cannot even begin to imagine.

[audio bill]

Bart - Thanks for sharing your detailed impressions of a unique new speaker design which I was not previously aware of!