Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Sequerra Met 7 Mk II Speakers by Bill Way

I lived with these for many years and enjoyed them immensely.

Their midrange is just lovely. Very neutral, neither warm nor overly etched, nice "liquid" quality when the source material calls for it. They reproduce dynamics from piano to fortissimo and beyond with an ease that suggests big, full-range systems. Bass in these little boxes has been written about often: it is chameleon-like, either rolling off as expected from small boxes, or producing deep, and sometimes quite deep fundamentals with an authority that astonishes. More on that in a bit.

Sound staging and imaging are exemplary. Get the rest of the system right and you will clearly see individual instruments taking up space in your room. Get it all right and your guests will stare down the speakers in broad daylight and ask where the music is coming from. Really.

These are punchy, hugely dynamic speakers. Wide dynamic ranges are reproduced with very little tonal change. The sound blooms quite naturally, sounding only a little harder at very loud levels. Sound staging, which is exemplary at normal levels, pretty much collapses when you are shaking the room, and the sound may appear to come from the speakers instead of from the three-dimensional area behind them.

Now the bad news: the high end is smeared somehow. It *is* detailed, resolving individual voices in a chorus clearly. It is never harsh, but when you compare these to, say, the old Spica TC50s, it is almost like the difference between digital and analogue. There is something weird going on here, and I don't know what it is. Maybe it has something to do with the enclosure design, as the tweeter is recessed a couple of inches inside the box. Some people won't mind this; many won't hear it. We didn't mind it either, until we hooked up those Spicas one evening. That was the end of the Sequerras for us.

Still, I miss these as rock n roll speakers. Pink Floyd's "The Wall" played very loudly is a riveting, sometimes frightening experience. Harry James rarely sounded better, and never from a mini-monitor. Put Celia on, crank it up, and everyone will dance. They play astonishingly loudly, all the while retaining most of their musicality.

As far as interfacing these to the rest of your gear, I've found they have a strong preference for punchy tube amps. The VTL Compact 100s are magical with them, cleaning up the high end a tad, and emphasizing the their dynamic nature. An old c-j 75-watter does just fine with them, too - probably a bit better balanced but not as exciting. As an added little benefit, they sounded particularly good with my backup speaker wire, which is 14-2 solid-copper house wire. Bring plenty of power: I consider 75 watts pretty much a minimum. Solid-state gear does OK with these as well -- at least it doesn't do anything terrible.

Placement is easy: a third in from the sides and rear walls, and on the stiffest stands you can fashion. The more rock-solid the stands, the smoother the bass response. The differences between something really solid and a typical speaker stand is enormous. I had steel stands built from three-inch heavy-guage steel tubing welded to quarter-inch(!) steel plates top and bottom, filled the tubes with sand and lead, bolted spikes to the bottom and bolted the speakers on the top. Toe them in to face you, with the woofers at ear level. Near-field listening with these is most addicting. The sweetest spot is small, but the area for *very* good listening is extremely large. These are easy to live with. Do *not* get two pairs and double them up, a la Advents -- it's messy sonically and doesn't improve a thing.

As always, dealing with Dick Sequerra is an added benefit. He is knowledgeable, charming, eager to please his customers, and sneaky as hell in a good way. (Remember the chameleon-like bass? Maybe it has something to do with the oh-so-cleverly-hidden port!)

REVIEW: Sequerra Met 7 Mk II Speakers Review by Bill Way at Audio Asylum