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   Description and Reviews

Reviews

« LE MONDE DE LA MUSIQUE » (january 2001)

                                            « The Art of a Great Designer »

      « CHOC 2001 »

   Strong points = An uncommun feeling of freedom and naturelness

   Weaknesses = None

     We conducted our listening session with the JMR Magic Stand. We have no other choice but to recommand  it warmly : this stand allows the speakers to give of their best.

    Our readers are fully aware of our immoderate passion for the Offrande, from the same designer. The Trenté brought us similar, and sometimes identical, sensations : this peculiar feeling that music is not reproduced but performed live. Supremely refined, incredibly balanced, and capable of amazing bass regarding their size, the Trenté also remain unassuming, so as not to disturb the dialog between the listen and the performer. The most beautiful treble, relaxed and lilting, is perfectly integrated to the spectrum. Though it does not smoothen anything, it is totally unfatiguing (strings, cembalo !). Music breathes with a rare naturalness and radiates colors, nuances, rythm, emotions. Such a faithfulness to music (volume, timbres, imaging) in so small a cabinet is pure magic.

Music lovers eager to have all the diversity and richness of a live performance at home will welcome it with open arms !

(Listening conducted with ICOS Pro/ALS CD player, REGA « jupiter 2000 » CD player, YBA integrated amp, CAIRN preamp and two amps « Ilo et Ion2 »)

«  LISTENER »  U.S Revue june 2000 Bruce Kennett

Standard audio reviewing accomplishes what, exactly ? I think all the slicing and dicing of the spectrum into bass, midrange, and treble just conditions the listener to shift his or her focus toward individual aspects of the sound, and away from the real message in the recording. Likewise the old-guard reviewers' obsession with « soundstaging » minutiae-with exaggerated spatial effects that aren't a part of live music to begin with : In extreme cases, listening for sound effects becomes the listener's ultimate goal, and music is abandoned on the sidelines. At Listener we praise certain products for their ability to make engaging, satisfying music-to take you directly to the heart of the performance and hold you there. Now we've got another major player on the Good side of the field : My response to the Reynaud Trentés is one of wonder, respect, and love (yes, I use that word deliberately), simply because these beautiful French loudspeakers reproduce music in a manner that is so full of emotion. If you read this and think that I'm over the top-you're right.

My job is to tell it exactly the way I feel it, and that's what I'm doing :

To date, this is the most satisfying audio component I've had the pleasure to experience.

My room is filled with the sensation of real people playing music. Instead of hearing disembodied notes hanging in space, I hear the musicians themselves moving their shakers, thumbing guitar strings, forcing air through oboes. It's the same thrill with every genre of music my family and I play.

How can I describe this for you ? Such a high level of performance has to come from technical excellence, of course, but there's something else going on here. Something deeper and more significant-for me, at least. Ask me about any single standard loudspeaker attribute and I'll answer that the Trentés do it superbly. But their mysterious ability to draw you in, to hard-wire you to what the musicians are doing...that's the real thing. They help you to feel things, important things, about why you've spent all this time and money gathering your albums. Compared to any other speaker I've encountered, listening to these Trentés is like the difference between an ordinary night and the magical atmosphere of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

The first impression I had in listening to these right out of the box is also the most enduring : that of an immediate connection to the people playing the music. Human gesture and intention. I've been referring to this in the last few issues, and it's as if the Trentés arrived on cue, to give a kind of perfect physical manifestation to what I'd been describing. Poet John Keats used to write about « negative capability »-the ability for you to become one with something that you perceive. If you see a sparrow pecking at gravel, or hear a nightingale up in a tree, and you're able to transport yourself to that creature, to become that creature, you are possessed of a rare gift and ability. Putting Trentés into your system will give you this same « negative capability. » Much of the time that I have spent listening to these Trentés, I have been lost in musical dreams and blissfully unconscious of sonic « attributes. » It's as simple as this :

To the person who loves music but is also familiar with hi-fi and its sounds, via Trentés, the music stops being « how much » and becomes purely « why. » ......

I've never felt as much enthusiasm for any product as I do for these speakers and stands, and recommend them to you passionately. It may take some work for you to actually hear these, but it's well worth the effort. Did I buy the review pair ? In a way : I was so emotionally affected by these Trentés, I located and bought a demo pair of their bigger sister, the Offrande and I look forward to telling you more about them in future issues.

LA NOUVELLE REVUE DU SON December 1998 J.Hiraga, R.Lacrampe

The hifi market is in a state of crisis, but some remain at the height of their art. Jean-Marie Reynaud is one of them, and continues to feed our dreams of sonic perfection.

Jean.Hiraga : The transparency, the flexibility of sounds, the wealth of timbres are really marvellous with this small Trenté, a close parent to Jean-Marie Reynaud's bigger speakers. Of course, its bass is not as deep and as authoritative than with his floorstanders. But it is nevertheless present, in quantity and in quality, enough to avoid frustration when listening to a double-bass or to a piano, and to please those more attentive to the essence of music rather than to its contours. A truly enchanting speaker, lively and full of energy, of elegance and delicacy, recommended for true music lovers.

R.Lacrampe : : JM Reynaud's processes is a mixture of scientific approach and of an immoderate passion for music. His solutions are indeed original but, above all, generate audible improvements even with classic transducers. The Trenté thus distils a peculiar listening pleasure. The bass region is deep and easily transcribed, the lower-midrange is not bloated. There may be a smidgen of weakness in the extreme bass. The upper-midrange / treble is analytical without sounding dry. The reproduction is more lively than usual. A speaker for music lovers. TECHNICAL QUOTATIONS : Dynamics subjective : 9/10 - Definition : 9/10 - Stereophonic Effect : 9.5/10 - General Consistency : 9/10.

« PRESTIGE AUDIO VIDEO » November 1998 P.Vercher and J.Vallienne.

Once the Trenté on their stand, the image naturally blossoms beyond the plane of the speakers, in width and in height. The image doesn't shrink when a wild dynamic shift occurs. Even with a symphonic orchestra, the performers are not crushed down to the ground when they play together. The Trenté are the only speaker of this size and price to bestow such a breathing to all types of music. Timbres are rich and radiant, their transparency is not achieved through any king of upper midrange or treble emphasis.

The construction and positionning of the tweeter is refined, stublty analytical, full on energy when needed (percussions for example), and works in perfect harmony with th « 6.7 » » bass/midrange transducer. A nice piece of work from this independant designer whose products bear witness of his passion and pragmatism.

« HAUTE FIDELITE »  April/May 2000 L.Thorin.

« Best buy » haute fidélité

Once perfectly set up, the Trente are offering themselves with wonderful grace. First observation : for a speaker of this size, the bass capacities are quite astonishing. Although powerful and full of energy, the low-end stays perfectly under control. Far from being dry and bare, the bass is of a generous nature, without exaggerated emphasis....

One can only be surprised by the quantity of music coming out of such a small box, with such enthusiasm. This musical flow is nevertheless perfectly channeled, very precise... To finish with, the Trenté demonstrates a good imaging capacity. The soundstage is credible and differenciated, the performers assume a defined position and stay there. Focus is extraordinary.

Conclusion : Once again, another achievement to Jean-Marie Reynaud's credit. It may be irritating, but one cannot deny the splendid qualities of this speaker. The reproduction is strickingly free, opened, refined, precise, but also fast, nervous and unrestrained when the need arises. The dimension they bestow to recorded music is simply marvellous, especially when one considers their small size.

«  FEDELTA DEL SUONO »  Nov/dec 99 - Andio Morotti (ITALY).

« Oscar » fedelta del suono

Associated equipment . CD DENON DVD 5000, PREAMPLIFIER : AUDIO-FLIGHT, AMPLIFIER : AUDIO-FLIGHT, STAND : MAGIC STAND

Painters know it well : things are what they seem to be because they bathe in a given light. They also know that the problem is not to reproduce this thing, but to capture that light. Take off the light from a painting from Gauguin, Renoir or Van Gogh and tell me if what's left is still art. We audiophiles tend to forget this since we are always focused on what we are hearing instead of what we are «  seeing « . A high-fidelity system like the one reviewed reminds us that sound also has its own light, invisible to the eye but not to the soul. This peculiar light exists in every music, and bears witness of a culture and a certain state of mind. This system translates music in a palpable way, and with a lot of glow.

Your soul, and not only your intellect, is for once drawn into the music. Emotion overwhelms the listener. The secret of such a system ? First, the synergy between its components. Then, the extreme care that we brought to its technical set-up. And, last but not least, the extraordinary quality of each component, individually. Thus, a magnificent soundstage opens before us, wide, high, deep. But contrary to an Opera stage, where lights can be harsh and false, the glow is in this case natural and transparent. Music is allowed to flow freely, to define and to redefine itself permanently. The instruments' timbres are marvellous, thanks to a perfect tonal balance and to bewitching dynamics. Music is fluid, smooth, rich, powerful and refined. Never is it unstable, hesitant, artificially sweetened.

The extraordinary qualities of the Trente are beautifully demonstrated :

grandiose transparency, excellent equilibrium, large bandwidth and optimal dynamics. But this is not surprising, since I already knew this speaker and its sonic excellency.

Such a perfect harmony between components reminds me of the association of stars in a constellation. This system demonstrates that hifi can reach, through some combinations, a dizzying closeness to the live event...