As the weeks roll by and I get through more and more of my music collection, I am continuously amazed at just how good these Parker 95 signature speakers are. My amplifier (a single ended triode) just loves these speakers. The level of detail is extraordinary in near-field listening, which is how I listen to these speakers. I listen between four and eight feet and at desk height in a well treated room. I’ve used a variety of studio monitors (KRK, JBL, Roland, M-Audio) both passive and active in my listening room. My prior system relied on a pair of high efficient Klipsch speakers driven by the very same Decware SE84CS amp. The difference was like lifting a burlap sack off the speakers! The Parkers were highly recommended by many low powered tube amp listeners. I had the Parkers made by a professional speaker cabinet maker, assembled and shipped to my house for a fraction of the cost of a commercial speaker. I had auditioned a number of efficient speakers both finished and in kit form, utilizing both multi and single driver designs. The build quality of these speakers and design is hard to beat.

How do they sound? The soundstage on the Parkers is very large in all directions. The speakers commonly vanish and the stage reaches well beyond the speakers boundaries. Focus is very tight, individual instrument placement is very precise with lots of air around and in-between. Vocals are certainly the speakers specialty, they are lush and alluring, NOT overly present or front row. The SET amp just singes so well through these speakers, I can’t imagine listening without this level of midrange ever again. The top end control from the Ribbons is this speakers second best quality. I also can’t imagine listening without a Ribbon tweeter ever again. They are detailed and very extended without ever being bright or edgy yet smooth without being rolled off. The added ambiance and feeling of realism the ribbons offer is unmistaken and never fatiguing. Bass response is good and tight, since I use a high quality music sub I was not concerned with bass response however, I found that these speakers produce a substantial amount of deep bass all on their own making it easier for the sub to vanish in the room.

The speakers are also fast and dynamic. Snare drums are present and real, standup bass fingering is very apparent. They allow an acoustic guitar to easily be in the room with you along with a piano or violin. Recordings that I am very familiar with are showing layers of music I never heard so clearly before. My music tastes are very broad and I have found them equally enjoyable for all so far. From simple folk rock to Mozart concertos, the Parkers remain extremely revealing but always musical, a lot of that has to do with the SET amp which again is performing better then it ever has. The Decware Select excels with the 2-ohm load and with the absence of a crossover, the 95 db ratting is an understatement.

I got the opportunity to listen to the Parkers on a friend’s high powered HiFi solid state system (mostly Conrad Johnson) in a more traditional listening room. They performed better then most (all) speakers he had been auditioning around $3000, although the low powered SET was sweeter and more musical, these speakers are not limited to such.