In the words of Purifi Audio’s Claus Neesgaard, “at very first they lack something, but very quickly that something is replaced by a tremendous level of detail on a “deep black canvas”. In the Newform listening sessions, designer John Erik Meyer didn’t focus on losses but rather the noise background receding to reveal a level of detail and transparency that he had never experienced before. “There is an easy fluidity and specificity devoid of harshness that really stood out for me. This is the best loudspeaker I’ve ever produced or designed.”
Secondly, the Coaxial Ribbon LineSource configuration eliminates and minimizes more of the fundamental challenges presented by sound reproduction in the home than any other design approach. It delivers characteristic LineSource vertical dispersion control to eliminate floor and ceiling reflections and this greatly improves soundstaging depth and localization.
Matching the 4” Purifi with our Oval 45 Ribbon yields exceptionally smooth and wide horizontal dispersion for a very broad sweet spot. The stand mount effectively surrounds the speaker with air and eliminates floor bounce and bass boom.
Finally, the Newform Research Oval 45 provides what many consider to be the finest high end in audio. It allows the creation of both a simple 2 way system, with an acoustic crossover point of around 1 kHz, and the Coaxial Ribbon LineSource configuration due to its narrow 2” width and tapered rear.
Combined, these three elements come together in a very simple 2-way design that provides the transparency of the best big planar systems. The bass response is that of a powerful, dynamic system with the articulation that can only come from a large number of very small, very fast drivers or large thin membranes.
These speakers demand very little in the way of finicky placement or high end amps because their dynamics and ideal dispersion pattern (narrow vertically and broad horizontally) enable the real feel of the music to shine through in fairly modest systems. The higher resolution the source, the better they will sound. Yet, for all of the detail they provide The Last Dances are not harsh but simply come across as natural and fluid. This loudspeaker paints its images on a very black background without stress. Like all Newform Ribbon designs, The Last Dance simply gets out of the way of the music better than virtually any other loudspeaker on the planet.
A few technical details
- The Purifi Audio PTT4.0 midbass utilizes a spider made of BIMAX because of its durability and resistance to stress.
- The Last Dance uses 6 of these drivers in a narrow but tall sealed enclosure and, given their large excursion and linearity, these have the capacity to pump more air more precisely than the classic R645v3 with its dual ScanSpeak 7” midbasses.
- The system has a DC resistance of 3.2 Ohms meaning that any amplifier can drive this very stable load.
- Systems can come with external xovers to allow easy conversion to digital crossovers if this is a possibility in the future.
- Given their high dynamic capability, The Last Dance is very room correction and bass EQ friendly.
- Stands are both mandatory and included with this loudspeaker. If you intend to wall mount or build your own stands, deduct $650 from the pair price.
- The finish on the cabinets is utility grade black.
- Ribbons and Stands are black epoxy powder coated.
Background
Like the Purifi midbasses, Newform Research Ribbons are different by way of advanced design. And so too is the Coaxial Ribbon LineSource (CRLS) configuration which takes advantage of the Oval Ribbon to reduce the flaws in loudspeaker designs to a new level.
Newform developed the CRLS designs several years ago to replace the classic R645 and R630 speakers with the LineSource Monitor, Ribbon Tower 30 and the Super Module models which offered greater vertical coherence and midbass transparency.
The Purifi Audio drivers allowed us to fully exploit this design configuration. The speed and power of a multiple small driver bottom end delivers a tightness and naturalness of bass previously approached only by our quad subwoofer system.
Bottom Line
Many home theatre systems and most pure audio systems, especially if they are EQ or room correction capable, will find no need for a subwoofer. These midbasses simply sounded smoother with a lower noise floor than any midbass we have encountered, whether on the test bench or in a music system. Lowering distortion lowers the noise floor and allows greater transparency and dynamic range since it provides a blacker background against which the music can stand out to a greater degree. In fact, we went back and modified the Oval 45 slightly to reduce distortion after we heard the Purifis. An analogy would be moving from a noisy environment into a quiet room. And as every audiophile knows, the best foundation for a fine music system is a quiet room.
Install a pair of The Last Dance in your home and you will enjoy listening through your entire music library again and again.
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Prices
USA - $7840.00 US per pair delivered to your door.
Canada - $9270.00 CDN per pair delivered to your door.
Europe and Asia - $7320.00 US per pair plus air freight to your nearest international airport.