All the Xavian speakers that I was either evaluated or listened to at the various locations were consistently voiced properly and distinctively stylishly formulated. With the latest edition of Xavian, Barletta and his team are now entering somewhat different realms.
MEET THE XAVIAN
They have been on the market for 23 years and have developed over fifty different models and sold more than 16,950 pairs. As the brand grows slowly but steadily, they are focusing on expanding their influence worldwide.
But that is not all as far as unique pieces are concerned. Xavian, the founder, CEO, and head of the development Roberto Barletta department comes from Italy and combines the Mediterranean passion for luxurious looks with the know-how of the Czech carpentry workshop on site.
The founder of Xavian, Roberto Barletta, was born in Turin, Northern Italy in a family with roots in Southern Italy. The family comes from the so-called “Magna Grecia” area: these were the places where Archimédes, Empedokles, Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Enrico Caruso Gesualdo da Venosa, among others, lived.
Roberto Barletta grew up with his grandmother in a family of musicians. His childhood was enriched by the sound of the violin, guitar, and singing. Childhood deeply influenced the soul of Roberto Barletta. His interest in music and technology led him in 1984 to “play” with loudspeakers and to reproduce music in a domestic environment.
MEET THE QUARTA
Quarta (“the fourth note”) is the top model of the Xavian Classic Series, it stand-mount with reasonable space requirements but with uncompromising sound quality, designed from the ground up to be highly competitive.
Quarta is one of the Classic Series of the Xavian Reference classic monitors. Classic Series was created with traditional aesthetic values in mind, but in the perplexed enclosures of all models, it hides the most advanced technologies currently available to Xavian. A closed concept, inspired by the infinite baffle solution, high-end components, including components from brands such as Jantzen or Mundorf, and AudioBarletta drivers specially designed and manufactured for this series – sounds perfectly pure, authentic and balanced. The Classic Series is manufactured with minimal tolerances that meet the strict criteria of recording studios.
Quarta is not only a high-performance stand-mount monitor. It is a stylish creation with luxurious surfaces with extraordinary veneers (silver ebony, Zebrano, rosewood) and black or white high-gloss finishes. Quarta offers many extreme technical solutions with top class components, extremely rigid cabinets, and extreme crossovers.
The review samples were provided with the recommended and dedicated 30 cm Quarta stand, which provides the optimal listening height. For special situations, Xavian can produce a custom height to any desired height. Since my listening lounge-chair is relatively low, I have had no problems with the correct position of the ear height.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
Xavian Quarta Loudspeaker has many unique or advanced research concepts, all of which contribute to achieving the balanced sound, ergonomics, and yet appealing aesthetics.
The sealed “infinite baffle” in combination with AudioBarletta’s exclusively custom-made and hand-selected and paired drivers, the sandwich voice coil with winding on the inside and outside of the former, the advanced crossovers with variable steepness compensation of the woofers’ reactivity in the resonance range, the damped labyrinth behind the tweeter, the inert cabinet with a complex internal structure and the woofer’s “stasis” technology, which suppresses magnetic movement – all of this ensures not only that the bass is focused and fast, but also that the mid-range can form the right-sized and credible reproductions of the performers, instruments, and orchestra.
The crossover uses Mundorf resistors with a tolerance of 1%, Mundorf and Jantzen voice coils with a tolerance of 3%, and paired capacitors with a tolerance of +/- 0.5 dB.
The five luxury versions to choose from and the magnetically attached grills are the tip of the ice cake.
THE DRIVERS
The woofer consists of 270 mm AudioBarletta, a special hand-impregnated “non-pressed” paper cone, a die-cast chassis, neodymium magnets, a 50 mm voice coil with winding inside and outside the former.
The bass-midrange driver uses a 175 mm AudioBarletta driver with specially impregnated paper cone, die-cast chassis, extremely magnetic motor, 50 mm voice coil with copper-clad aluminum wire.
The high-frequency driver uses 29mm AudioBarletta impregnated dome with aluminum voice coil with flat copper-clad wire, shorter copper rings, the labyrinth in the chamber, front die-cast plate for controlled radiation.
THE NUCLEUS
Xavian Quarta is a 3-way damped, sealed, highly complex inner cabinet loudspeaker system with a complex interior architecture with many crossover sections dealing with parasitic resonances.
30 mm thick MDF boards house an extremely accurate crossover based on Mundorf and Jantzen components and with crossover frequencies at 300 and 2700 Hz.
And do not forget, there are two pairs of single mounted, gold-plated Xavian speaker binding posts that allow true bi-wiring and bi-amping. This certainly opens up further exploration with the combination of amps and cables.
THE MUSIC
There is little doubt that the harmonically rich but not oversaturated Quarta presentation is closely linked to the special mid and low frequency paper membranes. There is a good reason why some of the cult loudspeaker manufacturers still cling to some sort of paper-based cone material. It’s closely related to the quality of the instrument’s timbre, which is crucial for the reproduction of credible acoustic instruments.
But… Barlettta would not stop there. Although Quarta encompasses these special qualities, it is far from being limited to a certain tonal range. This became clear on numerous listening tracks. Here is a selection of reference tracks with comments that show that Quarta is a genre-free loudspeaker that is not bound to a certain music style or a certain sonic orientation.
Many of you may know the official version of “You Might Need Somebody” from Shola Ama’s album Much Love, but the acoustic version was certainly under the radar. A nice rendition of this somehow forgotten hit song.
On the less balanced system Ama’s vocal box starts to sound too fast, too hard and brittle. The same goes for the guitar. Instead of pulsating nicely through the slow rhythm, when the speakers follow the contemporary forward drive, everything is too edgy too fast.
On the contrary, the Xavian Quarta loudspeakers acted by displaying the sonic commonplace with just the right amount of sonic richness to create a memorable and pleasant soundscape, but with a solid foundation and a level of detail that far exceeds all the characteristics of a vintage sound. These speakers only lurk with their design clues to vintage sound.
My latest discovery, which I appreciate, is the UltraAnalog Recordings. These recordings cannot be called typical audiophile digestion, but they are a real gem, capturing very different and emotional performances, recorded at the right time, in the right place, and with the right know-how.
“Danse Macabre” Narita, Lee Tatsuki Narita comes with a sheer degree of the emotional impact of varying degrees and with the unchanged liveliness, something rarely achieved in the digital realm. But then again, these are all transmissions directly from the analog master tapes.
There are many schools of thought when it comes to recording the piano. To bring this great string instrument to life is an art in itself. Techniques have changed over the decades, but as with everything to do with music, a credible reproduction is never a task to be taken lightly.
Vadym Kholodenko Godowsky Studies after Chopin is another great album from UltraAnalog Recordings that offers another level of emotional bonding. The “No. 42” alone is enough to form a valid opinion of how close to the reality a high-end audio system or speakers can come.
I appreciate the natural air around the piano and such a microphone arrangement where notes can easily overlap and form harmonies, chords, etc.
Putting two microphones inside the piano and expecting the piano to breathe fully and reproduce the sound is a rather far-fetched undertaking. It takes a different approach to make a piano sound like a piano. The first is to record a credible presentation, and the second is to find the right acoustic “lenses” that can convey it.
With “Danse Macabre” Edward Pong used two microphones, 10′ from the piano and about 7′ from the violinist. With such a placement a good balance between direct and reflected sound can be achieved. This allows the piano to breathe fully. Vadym Kholodenko shares the same tonal qualities and really allows the piano to have a credible three-dimensional projection.
In the course of almost three decades of frequent travel and visits to various dedicated, state-of-the-art listening rooms around the world, I have found that similar to listening environments that are too damped, too direct, subdued sound can quickly lead to fatigue. Somehow these characteristics seem to be related to the way that acoustic instruments are recorded.
When we re-enact these magical moments, we expect the tonal expanse that imitates the real thing. The same applies to the recordings of musical events and instruments. Direct piano sound recorded in a studio room could be good for mixing and post-production. For the genuine vivid feeling of space and time, the piano is usually recorded in a larger room with great acoustics.
Xavian Quarta had no problems with the reconstruction of both recordings. A certain number of acoustic anchor points are required for both recordings to unfold to their full potential, and the surprising density of Quarta’s loudspeakers easily brought these wonderful recordings to life.
But the resolution required is one thing. It is necessary for the atmospheric appeal of the essential fundaments. Then comes the second, more complex challenge. While many of the modern speakers deliver the required resolution or even go to the frequency extremes, many of them lack liveliness. This is where the Quarta stands out. It is the mixture of the required resolution and the ability to stick to the basics of tone, tone, and color that make Quarta speakers so special.
If James Carter’s “I’ll Never Be the Same” from the album “Chasin’ the Gypsy” is not something that catches your attention when played on the high-end audio system at defiantly, then something is very wrong.
There are so many reference-like qualities in this track that the speakers are forced into a very stressful evaluation mode. Even at the beginning of the song, the violin alone creates so much tension and drama that at about 0.25 minutes, when the other instruments are playing along, it develops a cinematic dynamic.
The separation of the instruments, the eerie tonal canvas, the forte attacks, the enormous sense of space, etc. Everything is there. This piece is also a big challenge, how well and despite the size, the speakers can fill the listening room, both vertically and horizontally.
Xavian Quarta loudspeakers have created a tremendous sonic and varied performance of “I’ll Never Be The Same” that goes beyond simple sonic pleasures. It was more in the league of a full-frontal attack, not taking prisoners. The allowed dynamic effect is certainly related to the design of the Quarta loudspeakers and the attention paid to internal reinforcement and handling of the unexpected resonances and vibrations.
The Xavian Quarta speakers do not explore the unexplored territories and things that do not exist. They concentrate on what is there and how the music should sound. This has become more than clear over hours and hours of music.
Quarta loudspeakers managed to crossfade something seamlessly, which is not very easy to achieve, and that is the juxtaposition of operating close to the core of the music and providing an unflattering sound projection. A feature that in itself deserves the praise and consideration of many of you who have asked me about such speakers this over the years.
CONCLUSION
I must say, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the sound and sonic potency of Quarta. The same goes for the distribution of sound energy. My reference room is not exactly small with its more than 45 square meters, but the Xavians could fill the room with the effect of a much larger loudspeaker.
All Xavian speakers have a similar voicing DNA, but the Quarta is introducing some of the new qualities. It is well known that some of the most famous British loudspeakers are not primarily, but exclusively, voiced by the human voice. This certainly makes sense to a certain extent, as the human voice is one of the references that are always at hand and relatively easy to judge. It is also much more complex to reproduce than many people imagine.
For some reason, Xavian Quarta embraces all the great attributes of the English school of sound and adds some of her own traits. At this price level and with this pedigree, it cannot just be about vocals, which Quarta can reproduce remarkably well, by the way. Nowadays, the market and audiophiles/music lovers demand far more complexity from high-end audio speakers than just nailing one part particularly well.
Xavian Quarta has the rare ability to keep up with the music without pointing too much at himself. Not getting in the way of the music seems to be a compulsory subject, but even some far more expensive speakers are not susceptible to it.
Although Quarta may not have Perla Esclusiva’s immediate brand esthetic déjà-vu effect, it has the recognizable design features of Xavian. While Quarta is following the design concept of the iconic British simplicity, it still has a pure Italian DNA that is the leitmotif of all Roberto Barletta’s proud creations.
Roberto Barletta can look back on a long history of success in speaker design, and this is evident at every turn with Quarta speakers.
Quarta was designed from the ground up as a classic reference monitor and a proud member of the Xavian Classic Series line. Quarta may look simple on the outside, but it hides many of Xavian’s advanced technologies and nonetheless decades of expertise in speaker manufacturing.
Albeit the sealed box design has many advantages over the ported solutions, the concept alone is not a recipe for success. Again, Barletta’s experience allowed him to develop a superbly functioning closed loudspeaker with an infinite baffle concept.
The result speaks for itself, and the total dedication to every detail points to something that may not click at first… The careful selection of materials, drivers, parts, and the pursuit of minimal tolerances makes Quarta not only interesting but also a highly competitive speaker that can be easily used in a top-class recording studio.
I was surprised by the similar wonderment with the design direction of Quarta as I was by their sonic potency. But in reality, Quarta loudspeakers radiate an underrated, classic design and timeless appeal. The silver badge on the front panel adds just the right amount of detail to make it stylish but not a bling nonsense jewelry paraphernalia as seen too many times.
This is again a speaker for the music lover, made by a music lover with a little twist. With Quarta, Barletta pushed all the right buttons and created a distinct yet highly performing high-end speakers worthy of calling a genuine homage to the legendary British monitors. But it doesn’t stop there.
Quarta is a thoroughbred 21st audiophile large stand-mount monitor, which will not only meet with encouragement from audiophiles and music lovers, but also from people in the professional audio world!
PRICE
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
47 – 30000 Hz (-3 dB)
Impedance
8 ohm
Sensitivity (2,83 V / M)
87 dB
Power Handling
30 – 250 W
Dimensions (H X W X D)
680 x 350 x 400 mm
Weight
40 kg / piece