Archive: Lambert Audio Minstrel 10

Lambert's first ported loudspeaker

By Andrew Fox

May 2005 (originally published December 1991)

Lambert Minstrel 10 loudspeaker. $1350 in 1991

A Lambert Audio loudspeaker with a hole in the box? Doesn't Garry Lambert know that the air will escape and worse still, that the bass will be soggy, soft, ill mannered and bloated? [Garry Lambert has long crusaded against ported loudspeakers - Editor]

Its times like these that audio reviewers wish they could run behind the nearest tree and hide! Wouldn't it be nice if we were allowed to be totally biased just for once?

Reflex designs have been a "sore head" for me as long as I can remember. Every one that I've come across, bar one, has been a disappointment. For me they are a set of musically inappropriate compromises. So with great and grave trepidation I removed the Minstrels from their carton and hooked them up. My pinkies were well crossed as I find negative reviews a right royal pain to write!

Appearance and design

The Minstrel 10's ($1350 pair) are the cheapest of a new series of three speakers from Lambert Audio. The other two are both larger and more expensive designs but all three share the reflex port feature to augment their low frequency capability.

The port in the 10's is 38mm in diameter and 165mm in length. The driver complement consists of a 165mm bass/mid driver and a Vifa sourced metal dome tweeter. Crossover point is 4.5kHz. The crossover itself is simple featuring a handwound choke in the signal feed to the bass driver with a capacitor and level matching, resistors in the high pass section.

Internally the cabinet is filled with a high density foam to help absorb internal standing wave reflections and all wiring connections are soldered.

Externally the cabinet features real wood veneer (review sample in rimu) and an absolutely brilliant grill. The front baffle has no ugly mounting holes for the plastic plugs most grills use. Instead the light frame has four rubber grommets that fit over the ends of the Allen headed cap screws used to hold the bass driver. As a result the usual diffraction problems that grills represent are dealt to and the visual appearance is excellent. There is little audible difference with grills on or off, the opposite to what one usually hears.

Speaker cables are terminated with the nicest set of binding posts I've ever enjoyed tightening. You can apply considerable torque with your fingers because they give such great purchase. There is no excuse for loose connections with this loudspeaker.

General finish is excellent and these speakers won't shame you in front of your non hi-fi acquaintances.

Setting up

These speakers love a little space around them. In my 6.6 x 4.2m lounge they produced their best when placed 1.3m from the rear wall and 1.0m from the side walls. A small degree of toe-in helps to lock-in the stereo image.

In a different room (smaller dimensions) and listening across rather than down the long length, they were quite happy at 0.5m from the rear wall.

Use them in bi-wired mode if possible and with the same cables for tweeter and bass units.

Ancillary components

Apart from my usual system (it hasn't changed much in the last few years. Regular service intervals help!) I also used the following items. Digital sources were courtesy of Philips 634 and 502 CD players. Amplifiers included an Arcam Delta 60 and McLaren 703. A pair of Gale 301's also found their way into the limelight.

The sound

The Minstrels performance at low frequencies (from 100Hz down) is a real ear opener. This speaker manages to persuade that it either has a much larger bass driver or a much larger internal volume. Ported designs have traditionally majored on weight and extension but gained fail marks for speed and timbral accuracy. The Minstrels achieve (for the price) excellent results in these areas.

Comparison with my own Lambert 225's revealed what I always knew but rarely admitted: that they are rather anaemic by comparison and excessively dry to boot. The Minstrels injected a new sense of life to the low end of my usual system.

In terms of bass speed they are exceptionally agile. Following runs on acoustic double bass or bass guitar is child's play. There is little sense of overhang (playing around with placement and choosing the correct stands is important). The real bonus is the punch coupled with this speed. The Minstrels would have to be the first speaker of their size I've heard capable of rendering the sense of weight that accompanies an orchestral climax. Most speakers (in this size category) attempt to cast an illusion of this weight. The Minstrels convey the weight with a conviction that belies their physical size.

You may not (you almost certainly won't!) achieve this punch with some weak kneed 20 watt integrated. Drive them with a 'real' amplifier and you'll love the results. The question of compatibility (ie the "right" amplifier) gets fuller treatment at the end of this review.

Timbral accuracy concerns a component's ability to recreate the harmonic structure of an instrument or voice. As most music is midrange dominated this is where it tends to assume importance. But, how would you like bowed or lucked double bass in your living room, suspended in space and breathing? No, it's not a sub plot for a sci-fi movie involving aliens masquerading as audio gear but a fair description of what the Minstrels can achieve. My jazz collection and the better examples of my rock albums were raided endlessly. Leading edge definition from the mid bass into the start of the low bass region is excellent. From here on down things do start to go soft but there is still considerable impact available if the amplifier is capable.

I'd hasten to add that these loudspeakers are unlikely to appeal to "bass freaks" for a very simple reason: their ability to recreate subtle as well as basic low frequency detail is just too classy and refined. So much so that their gifts would be lost on the aforementioned persona!

So these speakers have excellent low frequency definition but is it matched by their efforts through the rest of the audio spectrum?

Music is dominated by what we call the midrange. This is where the vast majority of instruments and voices have their dominant harmonics and fundamentals. Older Lambert Audio loudspeakers have a reputation for being rather revealing (or, if you're not a fan, too lean) through this region.

The Minstrel 10's are unequivocally an effort to impart a broader compromise. Gone is the tendency (especially in poorly matched systems) to make voices and certain orchestral instruments sound like life members of Weightwatchers. In its place is a compromise between leading edge bitelsnap and body/texture.

Vocals and instruments have a decree of " body and natural bloom that you hear in live performance. The other good news is a lack of grain or roughness that would otherwise mar the speakers ability to paint a very smooth and detailed picture. Diction on vocals, both male and female, is very good. You can follow complex vocal patterns comfortably without needing to strain your ear-brain relationship.

I haven't mentioned the performance of the Vifa sourced metal dome tweeter because I didn't notice it working. It doesn't draw attention to itself and sounds, on reflection, smooth and detailed. Edginess and brightness don't enter the equation at all. The integration between this driver and the bass/mid unit is excellent.

While these speakers are quite capable of revealing poorly recorded music for what it is, you don't have a "warts and all" situation. A case of sympathy triumphing over clinical assessment. I found myself listening to music from my collection that normally doesn't get much airplay. Some readers may see this as a negative by adopting the "if its bad to start with then it should sound bad always" approach, I'd share this line of thought to a degree but I'm quite happy to listen for enjoyments sake if the component allows it. These speakers do just that.

The major negative I kept coming back to in my listening notes was one of softened dynamic impact. When the music went very loud, very quickly, the actual attack seem restrained - like a boxer who "pulls" some of his punches. The excellent sense of weight and scale remained but the presence band has a softened character when the music goes " loud. This does not make it amusical in terms of enjoyment, but it does depart from dynamic neutrality. As it happened, a possible solution is the use of an amplifier that is biased too much in the other direction. For further musings on this subject see the section headed compatibility.

A sense of scale proportionate with the musical type is what my highly illegible notes say. Large forces, such-as orchestras, sound suitably imposing when in full flight. Chamber groups and jazz ensembles reflect their actual size. The Minstrels have a sense of delicacy and sophistication in the way they present music. They can replicate the recording venues acoustic with considerable poise.

Performers are placed in a defined space that (allowing for variations in recording quality) you can hear quite clearly. The result is a clear sonic picture of how the performers are arranged in front of you. Depth, when present, is obvious. So are the origins of recordings that have the basic character of a cardboard cutout.

The final sonic aspect that deserves a plaudit is this speaker's ability to be coherent. This I define as the ability to give the listener a measure of what the music is trying to say on an emotional level. With the Minstrels, vocalists of the calibre of Ella Fitzgerald show a cross-section of emotional character ranging from cheeky to sultry. It's really a case of defining the purpose of what the music (irrespective of type) is trying to say. These speakers have that talent in no small measure.

Compatibility

These speakers can be run successfully with a small integrated amplifier but treat 40 watts as a minimum. I had good results with Arcam's Delta 60. Where more power is needed, such as in a large lounge, then 100 watts should be sufficient. It was in this situation that I happened on a partial solution for the softened dynamics mentioned earlier. The Editor had let me babysit a McLaren 703 power amp (his own in fact!) for a few days. This particular amplifier had just returned from being updated to latest specs. The McLaren/Lambert combination exhibited a degree of synergy, with the strengths of one complimented those of the other. The 703 has more than enough real grunt to drive these speakers properly yet its up-front inclination was an excellent foil for the Minstrel's somewhat softer nature.

Do not use open frame speaker stands! The Minstrel 10's definitely prefer something of more substance. Also avoid top spikes or blu-tack. I used $2 coins between stand and speaker. This setup was the only one that didn't either lighten the tonal balance unacceptably (top spikes) or muddy the lower frequencies (blu-tack).

Conclusion

The Minstrel 10 is a loudspeaker that deserves to be heard - multi-talented and because of this likely to appeal to many music lovers. The Minstrels reminded me very much of the Proac Studio 1's I reviewed some time back. Very sophisticated and revealing but never cranky! At their current price they are something of a bargain in my view. Highly recommended.