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REVIEW: Rauna Tyr Speakers

67.139.104.162


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Model: Tyr
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $500
Description: 2 way standmount- concrete cabinets
Manufacturer URL: Rauna
Model Picture: View

Review by jonbee on July 30, 2012 at 11:35:31
IP Address: 67.139.104.162
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for the Tyr


Rauna is a Swedish company which built several speaker models in the 1980s which featured good quality Seas drivers, crossovers using well regarded ERO (Vishay) 1822 metallized film caps, and most notably, cast concrete cabinets. Needless to say, they are very heavy, which made shipping very expensive and ultimately they left the US market.
The Tyr model is a 14" tall 2 way, with a 6.5 in. treated paper woofer and a 1" dome tweeter. It weighs about 31 lbs. Stereophile reviewed them very positively and had them on their recommended list in the mid '80s. Here at AA member Cut Throat has written very positively about them.
I've alway wantd to hear them, and have watched their used prices plummeting over time. They often sell on ebay for under $100 now, and when a local pair turned up on CL I picked them up cheaply.
I auditioned them in my office system, powered by a Magnum Dynalab receiver. I compared them directly to my $5000 retail Volent VL-2, which has been the primary speaker in that system for a couple of years.
Firing them up was a revelation. These are fast, detailed, with low coloration and very nice impact. The midrange balance and naturalness is spot on, and the overall presentation is well integrated and very well balanced overall. The have very clean, dynamic bass to around 50-55 hz. The modern speaker I've owned recently that sounded most like it is the Ascend Sierra 1. The Sierra goes a bit deeper in the bass (one of its' strong points) and is more laid back in the highs, but the balance and musical rightness with all types of music is similar.
Compared the the Volent, the level of fine detail and ambience is notably less, and it does not reach anywhere near as deep. The Seas tweeter is pretty nice sounding overall, by does not present high end info nearly as cleanly or as defined as the LCY ribbon in the VL-2.
The top end is slightly emphasized on the Tyrs, which is the main deviation from neutrality. They seem to like a lot of power to get them moving, but are quite punchy and dynamic when cranked.
I'm usually disappointed when I revisit vintage speakers, which often sound slow and colored, but not at all with these. They stand up very well against good modern speakers at the $1k price point, and because of their overall balance and musicality I prefer them to quite a few I've heard for much more $.
I often sell the subjects of my curiousity pretty quickly, but not these. For very few dollars they simply sound great, and I'll probably keep them around until some family member wants a pair of good speakers.
BTW, the foam "grill" covering is nearly always gone, which makes them look pretty funky, but 1/4" open cell foam can easily be cut to size, wrapped around and attached by gluing the "hook" side of velcro tape to back of the enclosure.
Anyone on the lookout for really good sound on the cheap should keep an eye out for these heavy little devils, or their quite rare floorstanding brethren.


Product Weakness: A bit of top end emphasis, very heavy. Ugly without the foam grills.
Product Strengths: Fast, dynamic, low coloration. Well balanced and musical. Dirt cheap!


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Magnum Dynalab receiver
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): oppo dvd-> Aune DAC
Speakers: review
Cables/Interconnects: Zu libtec and mission
Music Used (Genre/Selections): all kinds
Room Size (LxWxH): 16 x 12 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: room is a bit bright
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 week
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Rauna Tyr Speakers - jonbee 11:35:31 07/30/12 ( 11)