Review Alpha-Audio

Review Alpha Audio

Author: Jaap veenstra

The design is definitely distinctive: a sleekly finished cylinder with units inside it behind a neatly fitting front. This must be a VoiceVictory speaker! In our case, the cylinder is supebly finished in a copper-colored lacquer. That looks cool! Yes, we know: tastes differ, but we just like it.

Ferdinand Verbeek – founder of VoiceVictory – is pretty clear in his approach: start with solid stuff and work from there to a finished product. And we like that philosophy.

Pros

– Neutral sound behaviour

– Versatile

– Tight finish

– High quality components

Cons

– Design must be your thing

Build quality

Controlability

Sound

Price

VoiceVictory Supreme

Looking at the VoiceVictory Supreme, the first thing we see is a remarkable design: a round cylinder. More about that later. Milled into that cylinder is a large baffle. Inside it are four units in a three-way configuration: two solid Dayton woofers with dual voice coils, an insanely beautiful dome mid from Bliesma and a tweeter from the same brand. The tweeters are a matched pair. In the crossover you will also find only solid components from Jantzen and Mundorf. In short: no complaints here!

The enclosure is a funny story, though. As reported in the video, the idea for the shape came when the sewer was being repaired in front of Ferdinand’s (student) house. He then “borrowed” a piece of pipe and started making a speaker out of it. And that turned out surprisingly well! Not surprising: a round shape is much less affected by standing waves. And if the PVC is thick enough (25mm in this case), it is also super strong, remarkably heavy and also resonance free.

This new line-up from VoiceVictory has additional damping in the form of some bitumen and some ‘wool’. That makes this speaker enclosure truly damped and ‘dead’. Tap the enclosure and you get damped ‘tick’ everywhere you tap.

All colors… no really!

VoiceVictory speakers can be ordered in any color. Standard colors are simply included in the price. Special colors, such as our “copper color” cost a little more. How much depends on the color and paint type.

What is nice to mention is that the lacquer used by VoiceVictory is special. It is very tough and actually cannot scratch easily. Where ordinary lacquer is actually a bit “elastic” and “soft,” this lacquer is hard like a diamond and particularly scratch resistant, which is nice, of course.

Hypex and Eversolo

Ferdinand believes in a total package. A concept. Now the VoiceVictory Supreme play on any amplifier – including tubes – and with any streamer, but Ferdinand likes to work with Eversolo and Hypex. The Nilai power amplifier is super stable, neutral and keeps the speakers under control in all conditions. The Eversolo A6, A8 and A10 offer great value for money and sound good. The combination of VoiceVictory, Hypex and Eversolo is just very nice and cost interesting, Ferdinand thinks. And we certainly agree!

The test setup

We tested the VoiceVictory Supreme in its own “ecosystem”. That is, with two Hypex Nilai power amplifiers and an Eversolo A8. This entire kit costs 12,000 Euro, 2000 for the two Nilai monos and about 2000 Euro for the Eversolo A8. That’s around 16,000 Euro total, excluding cables. Not a bad deal, considering the performance!

The sound

Let’s talk about what really matters: the sound. So Ferdinand provided the duo along with the Nilai monos and an Eversolo A8. However, we also tested – together with Ferdinand – on the Alpha reference system. Purely to see how it plays on the Pass amplifier. That’s more of an impression than a test, but it was interesting to do.

Nilai and Eversolo

We do understand Ferdinand: this is just a particularly fine combination. Once it made some miles in – burn-in took about a week – we hear a very neutral sound with an extremely nice midrange and a looseness in the midrange that really appeals to us! Vocals are really beautiful and acoustic parts are incredibly transparent. As if we can look into the strings of the guitar. Or peek under the hammers of the piano. Very special.

When we switch genres for a moment, we hear that this system can also rock. Or do some punches with electronic music. Porcupine Tree? No problem. Massive Attack? No problem. Rage Against The Machine? Bring it on… it just plays. And so it should.

The Nilai’s just keep control under any circumstance. Even at 80% or 90% volume, we hear tight and deep bass…. Those Daytons are really nice woofers! And this speaker can go low! We heard that 30 Hz is no problem at all. Amazing from such a relatively compact enclosure.

Short on the Alpha system

Surely the Alpha system gives a different result on this VoiceVictory Supreme. Not that the sound-balance changes…. it’s more the accents that are different. Where the Nilai’s goes for ultimate control and slightly drier reproduction, the Pass goes more for flow and air. The center is even smoother and gets a little more glow. We like that; after all, everything revolves around the middle. However, we must admit; the bass of the Nilai seems a bit drier and tighter.

Yet in both systems we hear the power of this speaker very clearly: super clean midrange with deep and insightful bass. And a pleasant, open treble area. And all this is finely balanced.

Measurements and conclusion

We measured the VoiceVictory Supreme with the CLIO 12, using a DPA 4061 as a microphone. It is flat up to 20 KHz. Unfortunately, we were not able to do an impedance measurement ourselves, because this speaker is simply too heavy, the connection is all the way down and we cannot put it down on the workbench either. We will get another impedance measurement from VoiceVictory.

Measurements VoiceVictory Supreme – 1 meter and 2 meters

This speaker was not very easy to measure because the baffle is quite long and it is a three-way system. We therefore measured at 1 and 2 meters. It can be clearly seen that at 2 meters the response already becomes more balanced. We listen at 3 meters and that explains that it appears very homogeneous: it pulls together at a distance.

Resonances are very well controlled. You can see that in the waterfall (these are measured at 1 meter, so take the peaks with a grain of salt). There is really very little resonance; hats off!

Specifications

Type test	Speaker class	Speaker type
Single Test	Floor standing speaker	Dynamic
Speaker system	Signal control	Frequency range
Bass reflex	Passive	25 Hz – 400000 Hz
Crossover	Efficiency	Impedance
3-way	88 dB	4 Ohm
Dimensions	Weight speaker	Production country
Width: 25 cm Depth: 25 cm Height: 120 cm	31 Kg	Netherlands

Conclusion

If you call a speaker the Supreme, it must be really, really good! Well… the VoiceVictory Supreme is. The speaker is just exceptionally well put together. The PVC casing works, the components are of excellent quality and the finish is… Supreme: everything fits seamlessly and the paintwork is second to none. Alpha Approved!