Opinion 1

It may sound pessimistic, but unfortunately for our beloved hobby, in 99.9% of cases there is indispensable struggle for the correct positioning of our loudspeakers. This fight is about the following aspects: wider or narrower spacing of the speakers in relation to each other, placing them closer or further away from the side or back walls, having them face straight ahead or have the fronts bend inwards. Each one of us has probably found out, that this is the biggest nightmare we can run into. However, as you can deduce from the first sentence of the editorial, there is this spurious 0.1% of cases, that can free us from this hassle. And it is effective enough, only that we are left with one, or maybe two simple decisions to make. The first is how much space to leave around them to build a sound stage – usually the more, the better, but without exaggeration. The second is to choose a place where they will best blend in visually with the rest of the equipment of the listening room hosting them. Do you think it’s impossible? Not at all, because it is enough to look at our tested heroes. Slim, with an interesting form and, most importantly, easy to apply. What are we talking about? Of course about the omnidirectional, i.e. generating an even sound around its axis, German Physiks HRS-130 speakers, distributed by the Krakow based Audio Anatomy.

I don’t know about you, but for me the title speakers are a real visual masterpiece. Their enclosure is based on the idea of an octagonal cuboid, at the base of which the woofer expresses its impulses towards the floor, while on the upper surface there is a conical, omnidirectional midrange-tweeter covered from the top with something like a flying saucer, acting as a diffuser dispersing the generated waves along its full circumference. I assure you, the description does not do it justice, but in real life the whole thing looks phenomenal, as compared against the mainstream it is really innovative and at the same time unobtrusive. To bring the technicalities a little closer, an important element is a kind of stabilization of the woofer. This is done by separating it from the floor with a base slightly protruding from the face of the rest of the cabinet, armed with threads that allow the use of dedicated spikes. Naturally, the manufacturer did not forget about harvesting the free radiation of the air blast created by the back of the bass speaker, which was achieved through rectangular holes made in each of the walls. Such a procedure not only stabilizes the speaker’s operation, but also breaks the potential visual monotony of the design. However, to be honest, there is a difference between the bass as produced by the speakers placed flat on the floor compared to them being put on spikes. Writing a few sentences about the midrange and treble section, it should be remembered that this silver colored cone is a proprietary GP solution for this omnidirectional speaker, and this builds the virtual stage to seemingly not having any limitations. When it comes to the issue of powering the speakers with an appropriate signal, on one of the walls in the lower part we find a double set of WBT terminals and four holes with an appropriate jumper that allows you to adjust the amount of the treble. In terms of electrical parameters, the speakers covers the frequency response from 29 Hz to 24 kHz at a load of 4 Ohm, their dimensions reach 325/325/1160 mm, weigh almost 38 kg and are covered by a 5-year warranty.

What can slender and intriguing German speakers do? First of all, I have already mentioned that they seem to ignore any problems with setting up in the target room. In our case, they were placed in this place, not because they sounded bad in another, but for the purpose of taking cool photos. Of course, with the right space behind them for a nice holography and stage depth, but as I pointed out, they play well from the start practically everywhere. It is true that it has a slightly looser contour of individual stage entities, but I would describe this effect not as a lack of exemplary sharpness, but as a deliberate avoidance of tiring audiophileness. I was not mistaken, audiophilesness. Treated in a too hardcore way, it usually goes sideways. That is why I prefer a performance full of freedom and cool visualization of pleasantly drawn virtual sources, rather than a picture characterized by excessive accuracy of presentation, which often eliminates the pleasure of communing with one’s records. And it is for this purpose, more as a proposal for a music lover than an orthodox audiophile, that the HRS 130 were brought to life. How did they perform during the testing process? For me, the most surprising, obviously positive feature was the freedom of presentation. Not the momentum and expansion of the stage, because I have always known these qualities, from the first contact at one of the audio exhibitions. I do not like it, when music is put in my face in the name of palpability, but when it is conveying the feeling of unforcedness, and thus excellent vibration of its individual aliquots. And this is the aesthetics proposed by German Physiks. What’s more, they did not pretend to be larger than they are, thanks to which they did not force majestic bass, resulting in a very even delivery of the listened material. The well-accentuated lower registers shone not only with the power correlated with the size of the design, but also with full control. The midrange and treble, thanks to the possibility of adjustment of the highest octaves, could be set from expressive, but not screaming – some people like it, through nicely sonorous, to slightly plasticized. For my personal needs, I set the sound to have the midrange nicely signaling the vitality of the music, but without an excess of treble. And I did it in order to turn up the volume level to the requirements of even the most demanding music, whenever I felt like it, still communing with it with great commitment, because without the effects of hyperactivity. Yes yes, I mean a strong hit with rock or metal tracks, which, even being poorly mastered, in this setting showed their good side. And not only the sonic one, where the unwanted artifacts, such as sharpness, were skillfully toned down by the tested speakers, but also recreating a given event on stage. And as I am constantly trying to demonstrate, a stage which is wide, deep, and probably something that is very rare in extreme audio setups, it is perceived the same way from every point in the room. Without this very limiting possibility of even a minimal change of the seat in relation to the sweet spot of your speakers, something, what for many of you may turn out to be what you subconsciously expected from your system. Probably more than once you felt unsatisfied with how your system reproduced the reality when listening to music like AC/DC. It is very compressed, and you either need to just take it as it comes, or try to build a virtual stage in a different way, like the one proposed by the tested speakers. Of course it will not be a show like the recordings of Baroque music by Jordi Savall in a church, but the way German Physiks will present it, will be a really cool experience. Without trying to be the Holy Grail, but with the right freedom and a cool scene that is equally good in any place in your room.

To conclude the above description, do I dare to say – these are speakers suitable for everyone? I will probably surprise you, but by all means I do. However, you should be aware that this is a very different way of creating the world of music from typical loudspeakers. Still allowing you to immerse yourself in the material you are listening to, but without squeezing the last juices out of the presentation in terms of the sharpness of the drawing. This one is legible, but due to the omnidirectional sound radiation, it shows the entities in question as loose in forming edges, rather than point bursts of energy. But let me reassure you, it is also not a bit of everything, but only a less expressive, therefore safer, for many people more pleasant and easier to apply, approach to the presentation of our recordings. Completely different, but so pleasant to listen to.

Jacek Pazio

Opinion 2

Although we have been working in audio for over a quarter of a century (each one of us, and not cumulatively like it was told by the guys from Fyne Audio a while back) we have had as fleeting contacts with omnipolar speakers, as they were quite occasional and casual. Somewhere in the exhibition and drowned in the ambient noise, or in meetings with a not necessarily audiophile focus, the futuristic Bang & Olufsen, the Duevels. reminiscent of contemporary sculptures, the Polish Zeta Zero, or the unique „onions” of MBL, flashed by. In short, the fact of the existence of such constructions was not alien to us, but by a strange coincidence we have not had the opportunity to face the subject in controlled conditions so far. Fortunately, thanks to the courtesy of Audio Anatomy / High End Alliance, this state of incompleteness can be safely considered a thing of the past, because for the last few weeks we could feast our eyes and ears with the surprisingly filigree German Physiks HRS-130 floorstanders, which we hereby invite you to their test.

As you can see in the photos above, the German Physiks HRS-130 do not resemble the classic competition very much, because you will not find any standard drivers on their fronts. In fact, there may also be a problem with the definition of the fronts themselves, because each of the eight (!!) walls is practically the same and… is a solid, undisturbed plane, therefore only a small logotype in the base can be considered as an orientation element and, of course, the speaker terminals, which, although extremely solid and noteworthy (WBT nextgen™ with characteristic „eye” jumpers), certainly nobody will present them on the public forum, facing the listeners. Especially because just above them there is an effective (operating in the range from -2dB to +4dB) and intuitive – based on switching a single jumper – treble control system. If you are wondering what is inside of them, let me start from the end, although in fact, according to the signal from the beginning, i.e. from … crossover, which was based on a design used by its older siblings – the Borderland Mk IV, which provides full integration of the company’s characteristic conical DDD transducer located in a conventional cage made of steel rods and a matching „lid” on top of the cabinet with a 10″ woofer (borrowed from the PQS-402 model) blowing into the base. It is worth noting that the German Physiks DDD conical driver uses a diaphragm weighing only 3 grams, made of extremely thin (0.15 mm) carbon fiber, and the assembly process takes 6 hours followed by 96 hours of burn-in with specially selected musical material. Only after such a warm-up is it precisely measured and matched in pairs, which is extremely critical in these speakers, due to its extremely wide operating bandwidth (220Hz – 24kHz). After assembly, each column undergoes another, this time a 12-hour burn-in session, and only then do the final measurements take place. As I have already mentioned, the cabinets have the shape of an octagon and are made of MDF panels covered on the inside with high-damping (50 dB) Hawaphon® material. The whole is reinforced with additional stiffening frames and the interior is lined with a thick layer of high-density felt. And when it comes to the appearance itself, while in natural veneers the HRS-130 look quite attractive, without arousing much controversy among household members, who do not necessarily share our passions, in the black varnish, as provided for testing, truly funeral and lantern associations are induced. On the other hand, the unusual animal resistance should be considered an undoubted plus, because for most pets (both dogs and fattened cats) the drivers applied in German speakers are simply out of reach and do not provoke destructive actions by their very presence.

As our loyal readers certainly remember, we started our adventure with the title brand not only with a high „C”, which is quite unusual, because from the top … Emperor Integrated amplifier, so it’s high time to return to the basics, as this manufacturer is, after all, associated primarily with loudspeakers. But as the tracks we are now covering were far from the most frequented ones, so when starting to listen to it, we could only guess what to expect, and not, as is usually the case with solutions from on-call suppliers, having a safety buffer in the form of previous experience.
However, as it turned out once again, not only was the devil not as terrible as he looks, but despite the use of proprietary solutions and an unconventional arrangement of drivers, The German Physiks is not only in no way inferior, but in several respects even ahead of the „proven” and ubiquitous patterns of speaker construction. Of course, the key issue is the fact that due to their omnipolarity, there is no need for precise positioning. We just place them where the loudspeakers usually land in our system and… That’s it. No tinkering, no fiddling with a laser rangefinder and bending with accuracy to the angular minute. And this is true even with wildly critical, small-band recordings in the style of „Love Scenes” by Diana Krall, or „Starkers in Tokyo” (available on Tidal as part of the compilation „Unzipped (Deluxe Edition)” Vol.2) Whitesnake, where any impressionistic blur, or an „innovative” approach to creating a scene somewhere under the ceiling, following the example of Dolby Atmos acolytes, would cause not only a surprise, but also fully understandable opposition. Meanwhile, the HRS-130 not only outlined and focused the virtual sources with extraordinary precision, but also embellished the whole with such freedom and spaciousness of presentation, that for the first few hours I simply played with the well-known repertoire, eagerly checking how my favorite songs would sound on the German speakers. And they sounded so attractive and engaging, that instead of critically evaluating the speakers that are the subject of this review, I devoted all my attention to the music. Music played with contagious enthusiasm and freedom, devoid of technical ossification and sterile analyticities, but brimming with emotions and almost palpable flow between the musicians. And at this point, it is worth mentioning that German Physiks, in terms of „disappearing from your listening room”, can successfully put to shame most purebred … bookshelf monitors, because their dematerialization is as immediate as it is obvious and automatic. During the listening session, you can stare at them with the intensity of an ox watching a painted gate, and still a king’s ransom to the one person who points them out as the source of the sound reaching the ears. And here is another surprise, because while the title speakers add „air” and freedom to the focused, or even stuffy recordings, the natively „voluminous and aerated” recordings are treated with clear attention and do not exaggerate in their actions, thanks to what, even the still warm „Meanwhile” by Eric Clapton did not sound too light and ethereal, the Stratocaster of Slowhand did not resemble an electric mandolin (at least on the „flat” setting) and Ane Brun on „Nærmere” does not come off more anemic than usual. However, the thing that made them, not so much easy to digest, but rather having an organicity addictive from the first notes, was their exceptional coherence. Zero audible differences, or seams between one sub-range and another. It was as if one full-range driver was playing. Which, in a way thanks to the use of the conical DDD with a surprisingly wide bandwidth, the German Physiks mastered really well. Interestingly, not once did I manage to catch the 130s even with the slightest signs of hardening or sharpening, or too much contouring of the sound, which is not so obvious with a carbon, and therefore extremely stiff, light and thus „fast” diaphragm of the driver. And not only on Queen Latifah, sensually charming on „Trav’lin’ Light”, but also in the case of Nailed To Obscurity, who treated both their vocal cords and their instruments quite carelessly on „Black Frost” .

I assume that both for you and for me the German Physiks HRS-130 do not seem to be the first or even second choice loudspeakers. However, it is enough to break the stereotypes, trust your own ears this time, not your eyes, and just listen, and it seems to me that the audiophile experience you have gained over the years will be divided into the one before and after having listened to the 130s. Although I also do not rule out a situation when, once heard, they may not leave your system, which to be honest would not surprise me much.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
Source:
– transport: CEC TL 0 3.0
– streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + switch Silent Angel Bonn N8
– DAC: dCS Vivaldi DAC 2.0
– Master clock: Mutec REF 10 SE-120
– reclocker: Mutec MC-3+USB
– Shunyata Research Omega Clock
– Shunyata Sigma V2 NR
– Preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Pandora
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Apex Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker cables: Furutech Nanoflux-NCF Speaker Cable
IC RCA: Hijiri Million „Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Hijiri Milion „Kiwami”, Furutech DAS-4.1
Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
Ethernet cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
USB cable: ZenSati Silenzio
Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, Furutech NanoFlux NCF, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante, Synergistic Research Galileo SX AC
– Table: BASE AUDIO 2
Accessories: Quantum Science Audio Red fuse; Synergistic Research Orange fuse; Harmonix TU 505EX MK II; Stillpoints ULTRA MINI; antivibration platform by SOLID TECH; Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END, Furutech NCF Power Vault-E
– Acoustic treatments by Artnovion
Analog stage:
– Drive: Clearaudio Concept
– Cartridge: Dynavector DV20X2H
– Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II
– Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer: DS Audio ES-001
– Tape recorder: Studer A80

Distributor: Audio Anatomy
Polish retailer: High End Alliance
Manufacturer: German Physiks
Prices: 91 500 PLN (High polish Polyester Black); 99 500 PLN (natural veneer); 110 500 PLN (carbon)

Specifications
Impedance: 4 Ω
Sensitivity: 86.9 dB / 1W@1m
Frequency Response: 29 – 24,000Hz
Power Handling: 120W nominal; 200W Short term
Amplification Required: minimum 70W/4 Ω
Crossover Frequency: 220Hz
High Frequency Adjustment: -2dB, flat, +2dB i +4dB przy 8,000Hz
Drivers:
– 1 x carbon fibre DDD driver
– 1 x 10” woofer
Recommended Room Size: 10 – 75 m²
Finish
– Standard:
– High polish polyester black or white, carbon fibre
– Special order: Satin or high polish veneer / Satin or high polish paint
Dimensions (W x H x D): 325 x 1 160 x 325 mm
Weight: 37.4kg / each