Image Petite Performa 2 and Mass

There’s an aural equivalent of The Seven Year Itch that strikes some users of flat panel speakers like Magneplanars and Quads et al. For years they have been seemingly oblivious to the limitations of their beloved panels. Limitations like vague imaging, restricted dynamics, reduced bandwidth, low playback levels and the dreaded head-in-a-vice listening position that is all part of the charm of using such speakers. These limitations build up like a pressure cooker, until one day something snaps and the listener rushes off in search of the biggest, loudest speaker they can find. Relief is often short lived and before long the listener is back in front of their beloved panels.

Now there is a new cure in the form of the Petite Performa 2 (PP2 from here on) and accompanying Mass stand/bass speaker.

From the outside the new PP2 looks very much like its predecessor. There’s the familiar compact cabinet, albeit now rear ported instead of the original front port, just a wee bit taller and deeper. The typically ugly plugholes for securing the grill have made way for small metal buttons that anchors the newly designed magnetically attached grills. Inside, sophisticated internal lamination and bracing techniques, open cell foam and natural New Zealand wool dampening are used to create a sonically inert structure to house the drivers.

High frequencies are handled by Image’s favoured Morel Supreme 110 tweeter, an excellent HF driver used in Image’s flagship Revelation and Paragon models and also in Morel’s showcase Fat Lady speaker. HF bandwidth extends to 22 kHz. The original PP’s SEAS mid/bass driver has been replaced with a new Morel carbon fibre/Rohacell (a high tech structural foam more commonly seen in aerospace, automotive and medical applications) driver that offers response down to 45Hz. Impedance is an easy to drive 8 ohms, with sensitivity at 87dB/1 watt.

The PP2 may be bookshelf sized but it needs to be free standing to perform at its considerable best. The ideal component to raise the PP2 to the correct height and to optimize speaker support, is The Stand. This is essentially a driverless cabinet of optimum height and footprint to match the PP2. A factory upgrade adding two Morel DPC 16cm drivers and a low pass cross-over converts The Stand into the Mass. Long-time audio anoraks will recall an earlier Image design, the Performance on Mass which shared a similar two-box concept and name. The PP2 and Mass are coupled together by a trio of strategically placed ball bearings. The fully veneered rear panel of the PP2 carries a single set of WBT terminals. The Mass uses less costly, non-WBT multi-way binding posts.

Past Image product has drawn criticism from some quarters for their homely build but the latest range is about as good as it gets for bespoke, handmade loudspeakers. The review set arrived with perfectly matched standard Rimu veneers (other finishes are available at extra cost) and well fitted drivers and connectors. To ensure the veneers match, PP2 and Stand or Mass needs to be ordered at the same time. There were a few cosmetic blemishes but rather than consider these as (very minor) flaws, think of them as confirmation that these speakers were handcrafted by a living artisan instead of churned out on mass by soulless robots.

The PP2/Mass system was used with equipment from Well Tempered, Marantz, Nakamichi, Denon, Panasonic, Krell, Rotel, Naim, XLO, MIT, Naim, Audioquest, and Van Den Hul.

PP2 solo
This speaker is the epitome of a good small monitor.

The sound is crisp and detailed with excellent rhythm, good dynamics and natural warmth. Resolution is superb. Tonally, nothing is exaggerated or obscured. Soundstaging is very good but you don’t get the wall-to-wall Panavision vistas or quite the life-sized imagery of a tall line source. Performers are not reduced to the size of midgets but are a touch smaller-than-life. The PP2 hits back with superior image specificity and focus that most planars can’t match.

Incredibly the PP2’s two drivers sing as one with the same seamless coherence that has endeared me to non-ribbon Magneplanars for so long. Sensitivity appears quite a bit better than the rated 87dB/1watt, meaning less reliance on power house amplifiers and musical satisfaction at much lower levels.

Add Mass
Hook up the Mass using the supplied pieces of tinned Supra cable – don’t bother using after-market jumpers (I tried a couple and none made any improvement, in fact they degraded the sound) – and most of the reservations above are expunged in one stroke.

The Mass supercharges the PP2, turning a very good speaker into a great one. Bass is extended to a solid 35Hz, adding definition, weight and scope. The sound stage opens up, taking on expansiveness to nearly match my Maggies. Performers on the stage gain in solidity and dimensionality.

The addition of the Mass lends an effortless quality to the fine performance of the PP2. The only fly in the ointment is a very slight loss of coherence as the Mass’ drivers are a wee bit more textured than the PP2’s. I wonder what the Mass would sound like with the carbon fibre/Rohacell drivers.

The Petite Performa 2/Mass system cements Image’s reputation as New Zealand’s leading domestic speaker manufacturer. Here is a well made speaker of exceptional performance, at a very reasonable price. They are good enough to take on the best imported speakers and send many of them packing.

"Dear Maggie,
The trial separation was a success, divorce papers are in the mail…"

Image Petite Performa 2 $3600
Image Mass $2200