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Review
After seeing their monument in front of their building and being unable to prevent
myself from investigation this new manufacturer I was unaware of, I stopped in and Paul
working the front desk and shortly after, George introduced his self and invited me in to
answer my question of "What do you guy do here"? Jaton building is the US operations
center complete with business offices, R&D, manufacturing, component assembly,
warehousing and shipping. During our brief chat George and Paul learned that I am a
professional musician as well as a founder of Vibe Media Group. When George learned
that Vibe Media Group owns and operates commercial recording studios he asked me to
have a listen to Jaton's newest product; The Lyra 661,s stereo speakers.
In the conference room were a set of 661's connected to a Rotel CD player and a Rotel
integrated amplifier. I sat down on a small couch and George put in the latest Nora Jones
CD. The first statement these speakers made to me was that they were not making any
statements of their own. I thought I was familiar with this recording. Well was I wrong.
The HD in the 661's part number must stand for "High Definition". The detail and
extended high frequency response was effortless and revealing. Every single instrument
seemed to have its own acoustic properties left in totally in tact. IT was evident that I was
listing to a serious speaker system. Being a bass player for 25 years makes me a tough
judge of accurate yet not boomy bass reproduction. The 661's made the double bass sound
glorious and rich. The growl and swelling development of finger plucked whole notes
bloomed like giant flowers in front of me and then disappeared without lingering around
the room or in the speakers rear ported cabinet. These two reasons were why I started
asking many questions about these gems.
The cabinet immediately strikes you as a woman's body. Curvy and becoming to the eye.
Before I entered the professional side of the audio business, I worked over 10 years in
retail audio and commercial sound reinforcement. I have heard more sets of speakers
than most people have and of varying quality. From esoteric vinyl and vacuum tube based
boutique systems costing over $100,000.00 to a $99.00 25-watt Sanyo plastic molded shelf
system. From concert halls to rehearsal rooms to recording studios and mastering suits. I
have been around the audio block and the 661's presented surprisingly wide and accurate
sound. George asked me if I would consider taking the speakers to one of our studios and
give them an audition. The timing was right as the Sony recording artist band known as
I/O was coming to our studio to track their new album. Using home speakers for critical
listening in a studio is rarely done as home audio is usually designed to have some
desired character and studio monitors are designed not have character and to be very flat
in their frequency response to maintain accurate sound reproduction of what is being
recorded. A studio engineer listens in the room with the instruments and then goes to
the microphone locker to choose a few microphones to capture the sound. Having an
accurate monitor is boring to listen to in my opinion and most consumer grade speaker
systems are not accurate enough for my discerning tastes and trained ear.
I felt it would be interesting to bring the 661's into a real session and let some musicians,
trained recording engineers and credited producer give their feedback. Between my
partners and me, we have over 25 pairs of speakers. Mostly control room monitors and
hi-end home audio. In our control room, A we positioned the 661's just behind the
recoding console where the near filed monitors usually are. I brought from home my
modified Adcom GFA-1A power amp and would use the Carver and A/B Systems control
room amplifiers. My partner Giotto Harrison recently finished recording and mastering
an acoustic jazz ensemble called Tangaria. Since we both heard this recording a billion
times, this was a good place to start. As soon as the first note was played, a open and
present sound stage developed in front of us. The sound of the instruments were both
accurate but also had a pleasing feeling. I say feeling, because I know we just do not hear
in our ear canal. We also feel sound waves when they physically come in contact with our
bodies. The blending of feeling and hearing by the human brain is called the
Psychoacoustics. Psycho acoustically speaking, the Jaton 661 'made us feel the music not
just hear it... Specially the tenor sax. "Wow that sounds great" was the first thing I said.
Giotto felt that the 661 had a bit of midrange presence that he did not remember
engineering into the recording.
After the Tangaria CD the band started to arrive and my favorite part of the recording
process was about to begin... Getting tones from the musicians and their instruments
both amplified and acoustic. Drums always go first. So after the band settled in and the
drum were finished acclimating to the temperature and humidity in our room, we started
listening to the kit and walking around the room to make microphone and microphone
placement decisions. The Jaton's handled the dynamic range of the rock players kit with
ease. We detected no strain in the sound even when the drivers where moving quite a bit.
The drums sounded very close to the sound we heard in the tracking room. Then
drummer asked us what speakers we were monitoring on, and we pointed at the Jaton's.
He liked the sound of the kick drum very much. This is a testament to the 661's
proprietary speaker material and cabinet design. So far, these beautiful looking speakers
made a drummer and bass player smile. However, we did not want to over drive the
speakers as this client and their producer monitors audio very loudly. So, we switched
back to our Tannoy 15 dual concentric studio monitors.
myself from investigation this new manufacturer I was unaware of, I stopped in and Paul
working the front desk and shortly after, George introduced his self and invited me in to
answer my question of "What do you guy do here"? Jaton building is the US operations
center complete with business offices, R&D, manufacturing, component assembly,
warehousing and shipping. During our brief chat George and Paul learned that I am a
professional musician as well as a founder of Vibe Media Group. When George learned
that Vibe Media Group owns and operates commercial recording studios he asked me to
have a listen to Jaton's newest product; The Lyra 661,s stereo speakers.
In the conference room were a set of 661's connected to a Rotel CD player and a Rotel
integrated amplifier. I sat down on a small couch and George put in the latest Nora Jones
CD. The first statement these speakers made to me was that they were not making any
statements of their own. I thought I was familiar with this recording. Well was I wrong.
The HD in the 661's part number must stand for "High Definition". The detail and
extended high frequency response was effortless and revealing. Every single instrument
seemed to have its own acoustic properties left in totally in tact. IT was evident that I was
listing to a serious speaker system. Being a bass player for 25 years makes me a tough
judge of accurate yet not boomy bass reproduction. The 661's made the double bass sound
glorious and rich. The growl and swelling development of finger plucked whole notes
bloomed like giant flowers in front of me and then disappeared without lingering around
the room or in the speakers rear ported cabinet. These two reasons were why I started
asking many questions about these gems.
The cabinet immediately strikes you as a woman's body. Curvy and becoming to the eye.
Before I entered the professional side of the audio business, I worked over 10 years in
retail audio and commercial sound reinforcement. I have heard more sets of speakers
than most people have and of varying quality. From esoteric vinyl and vacuum tube based
boutique systems costing over $100,000.00 to a $99.00 25-watt Sanyo plastic molded shelf
system. From concert halls to rehearsal rooms to recording studios and mastering suits. I
have been around the audio block and the 661's presented surprisingly wide and accurate
sound. George asked me if I would consider taking the speakers to one of our studios and
give them an audition. The timing was right as the Sony recording artist band known as
I/O was coming to our studio to track their new album. Using home speakers for critical
listening in a studio is rarely done as home audio is usually designed to have some
desired character and studio monitors are designed not have character and to be very flat
in their frequency response to maintain accurate sound reproduction of what is being
recorded. A studio engineer listens in the room with the instruments and then goes to
the microphone locker to choose a few microphones to capture the sound. Having an
accurate monitor is boring to listen to in my opinion and most consumer grade speaker
systems are not accurate enough for my discerning tastes and trained ear.
I felt it would be interesting to bring the 661's into a real session and let some musicians,
trained recording engineers and credited producer give their feedback. Between my
partners and me, we have over 25 pairs of speakers. Mostly control room monitors and
hi-end home audio. In our control room, A we positioned the 661's just behind the
recoding console where the near filed monitors usually are. I brought from home my
modified Adcom GFA-1A power amp and would use the Carver and A/B Systems control
room amplifiers. My partner Giotto Harrison recently finished recording and mastering
an acoustic jazz ensemble called Tangaria. Since we both heard this recording a billion
times, this was a good place to start. As soon as the first note was played, a open and
present sound stage developed in front of us. The sound of the instruments were both
accurate but also had a pleasing feeling. I say feeling, because I know we just do not hear
in our ear canal. We also feel sound waves when they physically come in contact with our
bodies. The blending of feeling and hearing by the human brain is called the
Psychoacoustics. Psycho acoustically speaking, the Jaton 661 'made us feel the music not
just hear it... Specially the tenor sax. "Wow that sounds great" was the first thing I said.
Giotto felt that the 661 had a bit of midrange presence that he did not remember
engineering into the recording.
After the Tangaria CD the band started to arrive and my favorite part of the recording
process was about to begin... Getting tones from the musicians and their instruments
both amplified and acoustic. Drums always go first. So after the band settled in and the
drum were finished acclimating to the temperature and humidity in our room, we started
listening to the kit and walking around the room to make microphone and microphone
placement decisions. The Jaton's handled the dynamic range of the rock players kit with
ease. We detected no strain in the sound even when the drivers where moving quite a bit.
The drums sounded very close to the sound we heard in the tracking room. Then
drummer asked us what speakers we were monitoring on, and we pointed at the Jaton's.
He liked the sound of the kick drum very much. This is a testament to the 661's
proprietary speaker material and cabinet design. So far, these beautiful looking speakers
made a drummer and bass player smile. However, we did not want to over drive the
speakers as this client and their producer monitors audio very loudly. So, we switched
back to our Tannoy 15 dual concentric studio monitors.
The Jaton 661 HD's were auditioned and
exercised in three different listening
environments with midrange home hi-fi gear and
professional recording and mastering equipment
as well. The three listening rooms were the living
room in my home, a professional recording studio
main control room and in Jaton,s showroom. The
first time listening to the 661's was in Jaton
showroom in Milpitas, California.
exercised in three different listening
environments with midrange home hi-fi gear and
professional recording and mastering equipment
as well. The three listening rooms were the living
room in my home, a professional recording studio
main control room and in Jaton,s showroom. The
first time listening to the 661's was in Jaton
showroom in Milpitas, California.
Next, I brought the 661's and some
nice Jaton stands to my home for a
listen of my favorite recording. Some
recordings used I recorded myself
and completely familiar with from
hearing them in multiple
environments and played back on
multiple systems. My living room
was fairly empty as I recently moved
into this house, other than the
couch, love seat, my bass amplifier
and a chair... The 14 wide x 20 deep x
12 high room was open and more
reflective than the average furnished
living room. I chose an area in the
middle of the room where I could
position the 661's about 18" away
from the back wall (to let the rear
port breath and develop properly)
and still have no side wall closer than
four feet.
nice Jaton stands to my home for a
listen of my favorite recording. Some
recordings used I recorded myself
and completely familiar with from
hearing them in multiple
environments and played back on
multiple systems. My living room
was fairly empty as I recently moved
into this house, other than the
couch, love seat, my bass amplifier
and a chair... The 14 wide x 20 deep x
12 high room was open and more
reflective than the average furnished
living room. I chose an area in the
middle of the room where I could
position the 661's about 18" away
from the back wall (to let the rear
port breath and develop properly)
and still have no side wall closer than
four feet.
I decided to listen to the 661's using my Monster Cable interconnects and a Sony Elite
series CD player as well as an Adcom CD player with 176,4 KHz sampling converters.
First, I connected the Sony directly to the Adcom GFA-1A, which has upgraded output
devices and generates a healthy 250WPC @ 8 ohms. No pre-amp was used as I used the
volume out put of the CD player as gain control. I selected a Yellow Jackets recording
called The SPIN. The Yellow Jackets are contemporary electric jazz band with
superlative musicians playing the best instruments on the market. This particular
version of the song was an ADD recording. The sound stage was wide and the high
frequency response was so wonderful. You could hear cymbal crashes last for a very long
time in their decay and not be colored by newly developing and louder sounds. I have to
say again, these speakers allow each individual sound to be what is. The ability for a
speaker to put a band in front of you and if you close your eyes, you can see in your
minds eye the musicians on the stage is worth a lot to me. Playing on stage for so many
years, running Front of House sound and attending countless concerts from classical to
bluegrass, the reproduction of sound stage is something that thrills me. I have heard,
read and even used the term, "it like the musicians are in your living room" when I was
selling high-end audio for a career. These Jaton's present this effect to astounding
levels. Other selections that I auditioned were: Pink Floyd Animals and Dark Side of the
Moon, Miles Davis Kind of Blue, Genesis A Trick of a Tail, Beethoven 9th Symphony and
Holtz the Planets.
Jaton specifies and has manufactured for them a line of audio interconnects. Since my
manta is "cables are our friends"... Mostly, do to singers and guitar players mashing
around on my expensive Mugami cables. I carefully laid out the cables to not have any
sharp bends. OK, you could defend yourself with these cables in a street brawl. I was
taken back by the build quality and feel of the Jaton Banana Plugs and RCA Jack. The
both have a feature where... After you plug them into their corresponding mate, you
twist the barrel of the connector in a clockwise direction. This "EXPANDS" the Banana
Plug so it grows inside the speaker terminal and for the RCA if closes around and grips
the female connector. Very cool and very secure. Now I had to give the Jaton
interconnects a listen. I ran the silver wire RCA's from the Adcom CD player into a
BaoJet Class A tube integrated amplifier. The unit has four EL34's for power and a
compliment of 12AX7' pairs and 12AU7 pairs in its circuit. I chose the same recordings
and listened back in the same order.
I invited my friend Nathan Flom over for a listening party of just us two audio nuts. Nate
is an accomplished guitarist and armature electronics engineer. He works for a highly
respected Digital Audio Workstation manufacturer that designs software and builds
audio interfaces. Nathan has tracked and mixed his share of recording sessions and is an
audio nut just like me. I trust, and value is opinion and wanted him to hear the 661's.
Nates home system consists of PMC speakers and Bryston amplifiers with a NHT passive
network attenuator... No pre-amp. He feeds the NHT with a direct analog output from his
Digidesign Protools HD 192 Digital to Analog interface. Nate has a 24 track automated
recording console in his living room and along with an Apple G4, this is his home stereo.
I have always been impressed with the fidelity and accuracy of his PMC, Bryston and
Digidesign setup. I have tracked my bass on his system several times and know its
buttery sound well. Nates system has over $40,000.00 invested.
I fired up the system I configured and we started evaluating and discussing what we were
experiencing. Even to the point of rewinding, several parts of Pink Dark Side of the
Moon because we where hearing things we never heard before. After 30 minutes, Nate
inquired about the price and said... "Buy them and could you get me a pair as well".
Even better results were achieved with the Adcom and BaoJet set up. The low mids were
warmer than with the solid state Adcom. The Adcom hit you harder in the deepest bass
rage bellow 70Hz. However, this was only missed when listening to dance and hip-hop
music. For everything else, especially jazz and classical music these speakers will not
disappoint the listener. In fact, I believe you will hear new details and sounds in your
favorite recordings as I have. I believe George from Jaton mentioned that the tweeters
were specifically chosen from a world famous Danish speaker manufacturer because this
tweeter can extend easily beyond 30KHz. I loved the even less high frequencies. I highly
recommend the Jaton Lyra 661's for anyone looking for a elegant speaker system (11
layers of Piano Lacquer) with fantastic sound stage and High Definition sound. I advise
the Jaton speaker stands as they position the speakers well for seated listening. The
Jaton interconnects are staying connected to the home system, which will include a pair
of 661's as I am not giving these gems back. George will get my check back from me
instead of the demo speakers.
After I completed the review, George and Paul informed me that I was listening to a pair
of 661's that were on duty for last years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This
particular pair had been blasted with test tones in the lab to ensure their robustness for
CES; Plus Jaton has sent them to various other people and audio companies for demo's.
Great job Jaton, you designed and engineered one of my favorite sounding speakers at
$2000.00 per pair, they are offered at a price far more reasonable than expected for such
sound and build quality.
Michael Ricci
Staff Engineer
Vibe Media Group
vibemediagroup@hotmail.com
series CD player as well as an Adcom CD player with 176,4 KHz sampling converters.
First, I connected the Sony directly to the Adcom GFA-1A, which has upgraded output
devices and generates a healthy 250WPC @ 8 ohms. No pre-amp was used as I used the
volume out put of the CD player as gain control. I selected a Yellow Jackets recording
called The SPIN. The Yellow Jackets are contemporary electric jazz band with
superlative musicians playing the best instruments on the market. This particular
version of the song was an ADD recording. The sound stage was wide and the high
frequency response was so wonderful. You could hear cymbal crashes last for a very long
time in their decay and not be colored by newly developing and louder sounds. I have to
say again, these speakers allow each individual sound to be what is. The ability for a
speaker to put a band in front of you and if you close your eyes, you can see in your
minds eye the musicians on the stage is worth a lot to me. Playing on stage for so many
years, running Front of House sound and attending countless concerts from classical to
bluegrass, the reproduction of sound stage is something that thrills me. I have heard,
read and even used the term, "it like the musicians are in your living room" when I was
selling high-end audio for a career. These Jaton's present this effect to astounding
levels. Other selections that I auditioned were: Pink Floyd Animals and Dark Side of the
Moon, Miles Davis Kind of Blue, Genesis A Trick of a Tail, Beethoven 9th Symphony and
Holtz the Planets.
Jaton specifies and has manufactured for them a line of audio interconnects. Since my
manta is "cables are our friends"... Mostly, do to singers and guitar players mashing
around on my expensive Mugami cables. I carefully laid out the cables to not have any
sharp bends. OK, you could defend yourself with these cables in a street brawl. I was
taken back by the build quality and feel of the Jaton Banana Plugs and RCA Jack. The
both have a feature where... After you plug them into their corresponding mate, you
twist the barrel of the connector in a clockwise direction. This "EXPANDS" the Banana
Plug so it grows inside the speaker terminal and for the RCA if closes around and grips
the female connector. Very cool and very secure. Now I had to give the Jaton
interconnects a listen. I ran the silver wire RCA's from the Adcom CD player into a
BaoJet Class A tube integrated amplifier. The unit has four EL34's for power and a
compliment of 12AX7' pairs and 12AU7 pairs in its circuit. I chose the same recordings
and listened back in the same order.
I invited my friend Nathan Flom over for a listening party of just us two audio nuts. Nate
is an accomplished guitarist and armature electronics engineer. He works for a highly
respected Digital Audio Workstation manufacturer that designs software and builds
audio interfaces. Nathan has tracked and mixed his share of recording sessions and is an
audio nut just like me. I trust, and value is opinion and wanted him to hear the 661's.
Nates home system consists of PMC speakers and Bryston amplifiers with a NHT passive
network attenuator... No pre-amp. He feeds the NHT with a direct analog output from his
Digidesign Protools HD 192 Digital to Analog interface. Nate has a 24 track automated
recording console in his living room and along with an Apple G4, this is his home stereo.
I have always been impressed with the fidelity and accuracy of his PMC, Bryston and
Digidesign setup. I have tracked my bass on his system several times and know its
buttery sound well. Nates system has over $40,000.00 invested.
I fired up the system I configured and we started evaluating and discussing what we were
experiencing. Even to the point of rewinding, several parts of Pink Dark Side of the
Moon because we where hearing things we never heard before. After 30 minutes, Nate
inquired about the price and said... "Buy them and could you get me a pair as well".
Even better results were achieved with the Adcom and BaoJet set up. The low mids were
warmer than with the solid state Adcom. The Adcom hit you harder in the deepest bass
rage bellow 70Hz. However, this was only missed when listening to dance and hip-hop
music. For everything else, especially jazz and classical music these speakers will not
disappoint the listener. In fact, I believe you will hear new details and sounds in your
favorite recordings as I have. I believe George from Jaton mentioned that the tweeters
were specifically chosen from a world famous Danish speaker manufacturer because this
tweeter can extend easily beyond 30KHz. I loved the even less high frequencies. I highly
recommend the Jaton Lyra 661's for anyone looking for a elegant speaker system (11
layers of Piano Lacquer) with fantastic sound stage and High Definition sound. I advise
the Jaton speaker stands as they position the speakers well for seated listening. The
Jaton interconnects are staying connected to the home system, which will include a pair
of 661's as I am not giving these gems back. George will get my check back from me
instead of the demo speakers.
After I completed the review, George and Paul informed me that I was listening to a pair
of 661's that were on duty for last years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This
particular pair had been blasted with test tones in the lab to ensure their robustness for
CES; Plus Jaton has sent them to various other people and audio companies for demo's.
Great job Jaton, you designed and engineered one of my favorite sounding speakers at
$2000.00 per pair, they are offered at a price far more reasonable than expected for such
sound and build quality.
Michael Ricci
Staff Engineer
Vibe Media Group
vibemediagroup@hotmail.com
HD-661, Jaton Lyra Hi-Fi Tower Speakers User's Feedback
Introduction Specification Review
Introduction Specification Review