Simply, the most fun speakers I’ve ever encountered.
When I came home from the record store with a copy of Kiss Alive!, my Mom said, “When you’re my age, you’ll be bored with that music.” Ha. Being much older now than my Mom was then, I still love to crank up Alive! whenever I get the chance. And that’s exactly where my listening begins with the Pylon Audio Jade 30s. Ah, Mom said I’d get tired of driving a car with a manual transmission, too.
Cranking up “Cold Gin,” Paul Stanley says, “there’s only one thing that’s gonna do it the way you want it, and what’s that?” In this case, it’s not gin, but sheer dynamic ability. Though my reference Clarisys Auditorium Plus speakers do an incredible job with this recording, that system is almost too clean to deliver the raw emotion of a record like this. (notice I said almost) Thanks to a 93 dB/1-watt sensitivity, 60–100 watts per channel delivers a live experience. Yes, the Pylons sound lovely with your favorite SET (we had excellent results with the Western Electric 91E), but a bigger amp really delivers the goods if you like to rock out. This all won’t suck if you can throw 60-100 watts per channel at them.
Now I’m sure you have way better taste in music than I do, and you’d probably never be caught dead listening to Kiss, but I’ll bet you have a handful of guilty rock pleasures that benefit from a little added tonal saturation and the sheer punch that a 15-inch, 3-way speaker can deliver. Did I mention that? There’s something so damn cool about a pair of 15-inch woofers staring at you, alongside some glowing vacuum tubes that just says rock & roll. Or as Stanley likes to say, “’cause that’s what rock & roll is all about.”
Ok, you aren’t into Kiss. How about some Motown? Tracking through a massive playlist of The Supremes, J5, The 4 Tops, and the Temptations reveals another aspect of the Jade 30s sonic personality. They do a fantastic job at unraveling and expanding fairly tight mixes. Much as you might love the Motown catalog, we can probably all admit these were not the world’s finest recordings.
Somehow playing the J5 on the Pylons always gets even the tightest assed people to start dancing around the room, and that’s a success in terms of musical enjoyment. Or we can sit around in chairs and listen to chamber music on a pair of 900,000-dollar speakers no one can afford. I know what I’d rather do.
Excitement from Poland
There have been a number of interesting brands to emerge from Poland, and the Pylon speakers are at the top of the list. The Jade 30s are produced with in-house drivers and meticulous craftsmanship. The cabinets are reminiscent of how JBL used to make them, back when they were built in California. Everything is heavy-duty. The American Walnut finish of my review sample, combined with the super retro grille cloth, makes me feel like I’m walking around in a Herman Miller ad from the late 60s. Love it. Being the mid-century thing is pretty hip these days again; you’ll feel right at home with a pair of Pylons in this dress if you have a mid-century vibe in your place. If not, get the black ones!
Pylon makes all its drivers in-house. The 15-inch woofer is a paper-cone design with a massive magnet structure; the midrange is the same, and the tweeter is horn-loaded in a tractix-style short horn.
These speakers exhibit none of the horn-like beaminess you might expect with a tweeter of this design. It’s smooth, baby. Whether you are listening to Miles Davis’ horn, or Sade’s silky smooth, totally 80s voice (yep, great with female vocals) nothing is off limits to these speakers.
That 15-inch woofer is fast and tuneful, delivering (claimed) bass down to 32Hz. We do not measure things here, but in the context of being placed on the long wall of my 24 x 36 foot listening space, the Jade 30s deliver incredible imaging, a massive soundstage, and solid output at 30Hz. Running test tones from the Stereophile Test CD vol. 1 reveals solid output at 30Hz and is usable at 25Hz. For most medium-sized rooms, you probably won’t need a subwoofer. And if you do have a small-ish room, consider the Jade 10 or 20.
Set up and initial listening
At 55kg/120lb, get a pal to help you unbox your Jade 30s. No point in damaging those crisp cabinet corners. Our review pair arrives in American Walnut, though Black American Walnut (no lacquer) is also available. I’d be hard-pressed to decide. Again, the level of finish on these speakers is exquisite. Just saying. Simple and elegant, with grilles that feel very mid-century modern. Yep – they look great in the room with my Eames Lounge. That said, most listening is done grille off, just to take in those big woofers.
I’ve had more than my share of JBL’s new and old, and even a pair of Cerwin-Vegas. For those of you old enough to remember hifi in the Midwest in the early 80s, I even had a pair of DLK 2’s. Crazy.
In the 24 x 36-foot listening room, on the long wall, the Pylon 30s sound good just thrown in the room about 9 feet apart, with a listening position about 10 feet back. Spending a couple of hours fine-tuning brings a bit better focus and imaging, but this is a speaker with wide enough dispersion that you won’t really have to. I suspect in a smaller room, where you are dealing with sidewall boundaries, you might need to spend a bit more time to get the mid-bass response just right, so the Pylons don’t sound boomy.
Thanks to their built-in, tilt-up stand, you don’t have to worry about having the wrong stand, as you might with the big Harbeths, or the JBL L100 Classic (current version). The tilt is just right for a 10-12 foot from center listening distance, making these speakers even more user-friendly. Plus, you won’t have to drop another thousand bucks on great stands after just spending 10k. Right?
As mentioned, these speakers have great vertical dispersion, combined with the tilt from the stands, so the music doesn’t disappear when you get out of the chair. This also makes for an engaging presentation when you have friends over, and not everyone can have the sweet spot. Back to that fun factor, these are some of the best party speakers going – and that’s a great thing if you tend to share your music with a group.
Rounding out the rest of the system, the dCS Varese was used for digital files, and the Bergemann Thor table with its Modi straight-track arm and modded (by Ana Mighty Sound in Paris) Lyra Helikon SL served up via the Pass Labs XP-17 phono. However, I did spend a lot of time playing records with these speakers. It just lines up. And then I rolled out the Otari and started playing some tape. Aaaaah.
Amplification choices
As mentioned earlier, if you’re in a smaller room or don’t play music at incredibly high volume, your favorite SET amplifier might be all you need. Pulling the Western Electric 91E off the shelf proved a magic combination at reasonable listening levels. There’s just something about the silkiness of the Western Electric 300B tube that really brings the Jade 30s to life. Tracking some late-60s and 70s faves from Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Joni Mitchell was intoxicating throughout the Jade 30s. The luscious midrange and smooth high end almost felt like being back in the recording studio.
Moving on to heavier selections called for a bit more power. A number of different amplifiers worked wonders in this vein. Whether blasting Hendrix or Massive Attack, more power was the way to roll.
The PrimaLuna EVO 400s in triode mode with KT150s are still about 90wpc and crazy good here. Hendrix sounded more lifelike in triode mode, but the deep bass lines from Massive Attack are more convincing in ultralinear mode. Tighter transients and more grip on the very lowest notes. A similar effect was achieved with the Canor Virtus I2 integrated. Perhaps it’s 40wpc in ultralinear, and 20 in triode mode was the perfect balance of having a little more juice than a 9-watt SET, yet still offering a tonally saturated performance.
Even swapping for the 200wpc HiFi Rose RS520 integrated (class D) proved a good match – and if all you listen to is music with more of a house/techno vibe, this might be the enchilada for you. These speakers possess enough resolution to show you the difference. Excellent results were also achieved with my vintage Sansui AU-717 integrated, with 85wpc on tap. Again, thinking about that vintage/mid-century vibe. You won’t be disappointed with a vintage amp or receiver, but these speakers will not deliver all the resolution they are capable of, either.
In the end, they’re staying!
As Stirling Archer is fond of saying, “How could I not?” I’m rarely one to do “shootouts,” but in this case I have to speak up. If you’ve had the JBL L100 Classics in your radar (and you don’t have to have the egg crate, orange grilles), you’re doing yourself a major disservice if you don’t listen to the Pylons. And I say this as a former JBL owner.
With all the excitement around million-dollar speakers these days, who’s buying? Not this guy. After years of working on developing audiophile sensibilities, I want speakers with a pulse that carry the groove and make me want to turn it up. Yes, yes, and yes.
The Pylon Audio Jade 30s are far and away one of the most fun speakers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
$9,995
Pylon.pl. (factory)
luxurybrandsmanagement.com (US Importer)
