Intro
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After reviewing the small speakers from this likeable Danish brand, it is now the turn of the big brother, the System Audio Legend 40.2 Silverback. Accompanied by Primare from Sweden. A Scandinavian get-together.
The System Audio Legend 40.2 Silverback speakers are active, digital speakers with a choice for an XLR cable as signal input, or a wireless WiSa signal. The Primare SC15 Mk2 (€ 2000) has WiSa and is included for the review.
Using WiSa, the signal from the Primare Amplifier is sent in 24-bit, 96 kHz to the System Audio speakers, regardless of what the input signal is. The signal entering the speakers through an XLR connection is also digitised.
The quality of the WiSa amplifier has thus influence, because the signal in the amplifier is resampled or digitised to a 24 bit, 96 kHz signal. This makes the Primare an important component, even if the connection is wireless. The wireless connection offers a feature that a connection over XLR does not: room correction.
The Primare SC15 Mk2’s trump card
This Primare WiSa amplifier has one very important trump card and that is the ability to make use of the included automatic ‘Room EQ’. The other way to have this feature is the Stereo Hub provided by System Audio itself. We know this hub from the 5.2 speakers review.
Room EQ is built into Primare’s Prisma app, and is available if you use the SC15 Mk2. To use Room EQ, you start a measurement session from the Prisma app on the phone, the speakers emit a loud noise and you wave the phone around the living room for a minute. The operation and options for manual adjustment is exactly the same as described in the review of the System Audio 5.2 speakers, so I’m happy to refer to an article about Room EQ.
Switching on the Room EQ function turns the System Audio Legend 40.2 Silverback from a pleasant-sounding speaker into a good speaker with substance and control over the music. The difference you will experience depends on the acoustics of your room.
The Primare SC15 Mk2 is almost three times more expensive than the Stereo hub offered by System Audio, but brings benefits: better audio quality on all fronts, especially due to the better power supply used by Primare and the Prisma streaming platform with the Prisma app that has Qobuz and Tidal built in.
Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it. I was under the impression that the reduced sound quality was due to these being active speakers with built-in power supplies not reacting well with the Audes power conditioner. I now understand there is no connection between the two in general but only for the specific psu in the Silverback (unless it has to do with the Primare?)
Hoi Martijn,
Bedankt voor je review, heel duidelijk. Wat betreft jouw opmerking hieronder, dit review is begrijp ik, toch MET de Audes gedaan. Terwijl zonder de 40.2 dus beter klinkt ? Waar en wat hoor je (niet?) precies en geldt dit ook voor andere actives in jouw ervaring (beter zonder conditioner)?
Quote (Audes ST-900 review)
June 3, 2024 at 6:09 pm #202362 REPLY
Martijn (redacteur)
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“Niet alle apparaten met een switch mode power supply aan boord gaan goed. De System Audio Legend 40A actieve speakers, die ik net gereviewed heb, gaan bijvoorbeeld niet goed samen met de Audes.”
As stated on the second page of the review, the Audes was not used with these speakers.
Thanks, but my curiosity and question really is about what you heard with and without the power conditioner in combination with actives and if this can be generalised if known yet?
You cannot generalise if a hifi component will respond well, so it is always trial and error.
When I review, I always compare with and without.
The Primare amplifier responded well.
I did not make notes about how it sounded, but if my memory serves me correctly the overall character of the sound became unpleasant. Like the sounds did get hard edges. It was just not pleasant to listen to.