Stereophile

CES 2011

Hansen Audio THE KING E

Hansen Audio - THE KING E“Hansen Audio's cost-no-object speakers have always sounded excellent at CESes, so one of the first rooms I visited at the Venetian was Hansen Audio's, to hear their new THE KING E (for Enlightened) loudspeaker. A 63"-tall, 6-driver, 3-way design weighing 420lbs, THE KING E was being driven by Tenor monoblocks and preamp, with the front-end a Clearaudio turntable fitted with a Graham Phantom II tonearm.”

“Listening to a 45rpm remastering of Manuel de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat, I was struck by the effortless sweep of sound and low-frequency performance that suggested that THE KING E specified frequency response of 18Hz–23kHz was not hyperbole. Percussion and pizzicato strings had a start-stop character that was very lifelike, with not a hint of overhang or boom.”

John Atkinson
Editor
Stereophile