Daniel Jankowski / #1 review of 2020

Introduction

In the beginning of the hot July 2020, together with a friend I built my dream music production desk. Soon after that I started thinking about filling up the empty space in the racks being a part of it. I thought that, before I’d gone shopping, I’ll talk about it with my friend and a great producer Damian Pietrasik, who runs Warsaw's Quality Studio. Damian pointed out that since I want to buy outboard equipment, it's worth considering whether the speakers I have will adequately convey the nuances of the equipment. My Focal Twin 6-Be were superb monitors, but they may not have been precise enough. So I decided to put the speakers on the shopping list, and put off the Fairchild's purchase to another time (kidding of course). From today's perspective, I consider the investment into the new speakers as one of my best expenses ever. And I alsp share the opinion that it's worth investing in speakers first and foremost, only later in hardware. Music can be created completely in the box, so it's worth making sure that you’re hearing well what comes out of the computer.

Damian invited me to audition speakers of brand Linear Audio Pro linearaudio.pro

He described them as the best music production speakers he had heard. Strong words, I decided it was worth checking out. So I went to QS and after the first contact with the model M speakers nothing was to be the same.



Appearance

Upon entering the Quality Studio's control room, two sizable cubes appeared before my eyes, each with 2 woofers and a tweeter. They looked quite inconspicuous. The casing - very simple, without any spoilers, holes or other protrusions (closed enclosure). An unusual light gray color. The only distinctive elements were the foam around the tweeter and the blue tip of the tweeter (edge diffraction diffuser with time-alignment). No logo or lettering on the front. Was the ascetic design supposed to give the impression that the whole construction is oriented towards sound? I would not mind.





The first listening

First, I played Rotlicht by Oliver Huntemann. The initial loop sounded in a familiar way, yet my attention was immediately drawn to the very clear contour of each sound. Loop in the intro sounded in a familiar way, however my ears were pleasantly shocked by clarity of each sound. After 16 bars first atmosphere appeared. Not from the place I expected, which was the front, but from the top. A pleasant surprise. Moments later, when the high pass filter was turned off in the track, I felt like I had moved from the Quality Studio control room to the club. With crystal clear sound. At this point I realized that the set must include a subwoofer. The bass was mega precise and specific (Damian's set includes a subwoofer model W). When producing on such speakers, one doesn't have to wonder how something will sound on a large sound system. Immersion in the music, its three-dimensionality, deepened with each sound coming in. The speakers sounded as if nothing could overload them, each sound had its own space. At the same time, my ear was able to hear every nuance, sound texture and its dynamics. After picking my jaw up off the floor and making sure that the speakers were doing a great job with the electronics, I fired up Friday Night In San Franciso and kept smiling. The three guitars in the panorama sounded like they were in the room. Or I was on stage with them. I don't know because my eyes were closed. It was great listening, I'll never forget it.

The sound
If there is a musical G-spot then linearaudio.pro™ model M+W definitely know its location. Also, as the name suggests, they are linear, so we hear what is in the recording, no more, no less. In production, this is an invaluable advantage. Speakers on the same time are not tiring at all during long studio sessions. And if someone does not like the linear sound of studio monitors in the long run, they can switch to other, non-linear, adiophile sound modes (realized without DSP, completely analog, which is unique in the world). They are said to sound similar to the  !$#$###$ L-707 speakers used by leading audio mixing and mastering engineers. I don't know because I haven't listened to them (I've only read reviews about the legendary L-707 model). However, I have had the pleasure of working on the PMC IB1S-A (similar price shelf) that are in the second director QS and M from linearpro, it's a razor blade for me in comparison.



Purchase dilemmas

After testing at QS, the thought of how I could get into M ownership grew like inflation in Zimbabwe. At the same time, I was a little concerned that they would be too big for my room (a 12.5m2 room with a height of 2.8m) and that their vertical construction would be a problem, while I liked the horizontal placement of my Focal very much. However, testing the speakers in my home studio exposed the fragility of my fears. Marian Mlodnicki, the main creator of linearaudio.pro, helped me to install them at my place, while telling me the story of the company. But that's a topic for a separate article or even a book.

Coming back to music, the speakers sounded very clear, also at low volume. The horizontal positioning of the speakers narrows the field of effectiveness of the tweeter a bit, but in the case where I rather not move from the sweet spot while working, it does not matter. And the most important thing, the sound I heard in the QS, was in my room. It was not the same as in the director's room at Damian's, because the acoustics in my room still leave a lot to be desired, but the gap between the model M and the Focal Twin 6-Be was as deep as the Mariana Trench and as wide as  Lazienkowska Freeway  Highway 210. So all that was left for me was to place an order and wait. linearpro production is handmade, each order is made individually. You can choose the color of the speakers and additional options in the amplifier. Without thinking long, I took graphite, and Marian gave me a surprise by saying that he can install a bluetooth receiver in the amplifier, so I can listen to music without turning on my computer! Can you do better in a home studio?
Summary

The M model is one of the best loudspeakers on the market (in my opinion). It's worth noting that the cyberAMP™ integrated amplifier was co-engineered by the man responsible for the success of products from brands like  !$#$#$sound and Mytek audio. The uncompromising nature of the creators, Marian and Greg Jankowicz, and at the same time their knowledge of the technology, created a set with timeless sound worth tens of thousands of dollars, costing the customer a fraction of that price (when purchased under the terms described in the Case Study in pre-order). Sounds like a recommendation to me.




extreme enclosure // prototype
model M+ testing in Daniel studio ...
PS
Racks (19 inch) - the cabinets on the desk for mounting hardware, and at the same time stands for speakers, were of random size. I didn't plan any particular shape (previous speakers were even a bit smaller than them) jest went with the size of the wood I had at the moment. When I put the M speakers on them it turned out that the dimensions perfectly matched the 55 cm (21 2/3 ") width of the shelf. Coincidence?

post_ver1.2_2021.04.02

Are you curious what Daniel studio looks like now?
How does his music develop with my speakers?

 linearaudio.pro ... It's a game changer!


We will return to the rest of Daniel story.

Now the next 
 REVIEW #2  2020

 Regards,
Marian Mlodnicki