Vermouth Audio Reference Micro Monitor by Terry London

Almost forty years ago, I traveled to the Indonesian Islands of Komodo to see the Komodo dragons and Bali to visit the artist community, especially to see the alluring sculptures of the endemic wood carvers. In my wildest imagination, I would have never thought that I would be writing a review on a piece of “art” from Bali, Indonesia. Vermouth Audio is located on the Island of Bali. Vermouth Audio, which manufactures high-end level wires and speakers, has a great reputation in Asia, Australia, and Europe. Hendry Ramli, the owner and chief designer of Vermouth Audio, is considered a very innovative creator of speaker designs. The company is also highly regarded for the build quality of their handmade wares, along with using the finest materials/internal components throughout their product line. There have been a few very superlative U.S. reviews on Vermouth Audio’s interconnects and speaker wires, but none on their high-end monitor speakers. Due to the very positive reviews of the Vermouth Audio wires, I began receiving requests from readers to review one of the company’s monitor speakers. I contacted Joshua Masongsong of Believe High Fidelity Ltd, located in Texas, who is the U. S. importer for Vermouth Audio. Joshua and Hendry decided that they would send me the latest model, the Reference Micro  Monitor, which retails for $14,000.

When I opened the wooden crate, I was surprised on two accounts. First, each Reference Micro monitor weighed in at 53 pounds, much of this weight is explained by massive internal bracing, and they were pretty large (width 9 inches x depth 17 inches x height 18 inches), so much for this pair of speakers being “Micro”. Secondly, the physical beauty of the lacquer finish (piano black) and the build quality of the cabinet rank with some of the most highly regarded speakers in today’s market, regardless of cost. The Reference Micro Monitor is based on a bass reflex design with a front slot port. The Micro’s frequency response is from 33Hz to 50kHz, and its sensitivity is 85dB. I found the Micro very easy to drive. They performed well with low-watt tube amplifiers and became even more dynamic with the added bass extension of high-current solid-state amplifiers. The proprietary crossover uses Jantzen and Mundorf premium components and point-to-point wiring. On the back of the Reference Micro Monitor is a single set of speaker wire binding posts composed of tellurium copper and rhodium finish.

Hendry Ramli spared no expense regarding his choice of drivers for the Reference Micro Monitor. The two drivers used in the Micro are highly acclaimed for their build quality/performance, and are relatively expensive transducers. The ribbon tweeter is the Raal 70-20 XR that uses the C-core transformer. The mid-woofer is an Accuton ceramic 5-inch C168-6-890 driver.  Based on past listening experiences with Raal ribbon tweeters, I knew that the Micro’s high-frequency performance would be highly resolving, delicate, and sweet. I had some concerns regarding the Accuton ceramic driver’s delivery. In many speakers that I have auditioned that use ceramic transducers, I have found them to offer outstanding clarity, hence delivery of micro-details and excellent transient speed/dynamics. However, for my ears, ceramic drivers minutely change the overall timbres/tonality of instruments, slightly washing out the colors compared to natural fiber or pulp designs. They can also present the micro-details and minutiae of the music to the point where it starts to sound clinical, which I call listening to the music as if it were under a “microscope”. This concern turned out to be irrelevant. Mr. Ramli and his team, based on extensive experimentation with crossover points and listening tests, have preserved the great virtues of transparency/micro-details and transient speed/dynamics without crossing the line into analytical listening, and made this ceramic driver produce a density of gorgeous colors rivaling natural fiber transducers.

When I was listening to singer Ann Hampton Callaway’s album “Easy Living,” what I first noticed was that the pair of Reference Micro Monitors completely disappeared and created a vast, very precisely layered soundstage. Ms. Callaway was located right in the middle of her sextet, and her image was perfectly life-size and cast a three-dimensional figure of her standing. The tonality/timbres of her voice were rendered in a beautiful manner that allowed me to relax and enjoy the emotionality of her singing.

The great and forgotten jazz trombonist, Al Grey, cut an album in Chicago on the jazz label Argo, entitled “Snap Your Fingers.” The sound quality of this album is superb, particularly in terms of overall dynamics, the tonality of the different instruments in the big band, and the spatial qualities of the music recorded in the studio, compared to the live numbers recorded in a jazz club. The Reference Micro Monitors presented all of the above sonic virtues in an engaging, yet lively, manner. The Reference Micro Monitor has excellent dynamic range. It can go from a very quiet musical passage where you hear all the details beautifully rendered. Still, when the band ratcheted up to a surging crescendo, it effortlessly scaled up and never seemed strained regardless of volume levels.

On tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec’s iconic 1961 Blue Note recording “Blue and Sentimental,” the playing of the great guitarist Grant Green is a special treat both artistically and sonically. Mr. Green was in an immensely creative groove, and the legendary sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder captured his tonality perfectly, along with the nuances of his finger work as he plucked the guitar strings. The Reference Micro Monitors revealed all of these details: the gorgeous colors of Green’s unique timbres/tuning of his guitar, the grip and impact of Paul Chambers’ bass, and the dynamic impact of Philly Joe Jones’ drumming.

Based on what I have shared in this review, the Vermouth Audio Reference Micro Monitor should be considered in the pantheon of world-class two-way stand-mount monitors. It is one of the finest examples of a synthesis which blends the total clarity/transparency, micro-details, transient speed, pin point imaging, and dynamics of a professional recording studio monitor, with the density of rich tonality/colors, a liquid overall silky smoothness, deep extended defined bass, and a sweet but very detailed high frequency presentation. And lastly, that subjective, but real, attribute of musicality and engagement found in the finest speakers for musical lovers in their home systems. I hope Vermouth Audio Reference Micro Monitor gains more listeners in the States, as it’s a highly detailed yet engaging musical speaker that could bring great pleasure to many dedicated music lovers.

Specifications:
Price: $14,000.00 per pair

Design: Two-way bass reflex, front-firing port

Midwoofer: Accuton C168 114mm Voice Coil 7″ Ceramic

Tweeter: RAAL True Ribbon 70-20XR AM Nanocrystalline C-Core Transformer

Frequency Response: 33Hz-50KHz +/-3dB

Bass extension: 27Hz (-10dB)

Sensitivity: 85dB @ 1W @ 1m @ 1 KHz

Crossover Frequency: 1.75KHz

Crossover: Jantzen & Mundorf Premium component

Crossover Assembly: Point-to-Point Wiring with a CNC wooden board.

Internal Wire: Vermouth MSSCC

Connector: 1 Pair Vermouth Tellurium Copper Rhodium Plated Binding Post

Power Requirements: 20 to 150 watts

Dimension (H x W x D): 447mm x 236mm x 453mm

Finished: Black High Gloss

Packaging: Wooden Crate

Website: https://vermouthloudspeakers.com

TJ’s Associated Equipment
Source:
Pass Labs DAC-1
Reimyo DAP-999EX Toku DAC
Mark Levinson 31.5 transport
Pro-Ject reference CD transport & LTA power supply
Wadia 22 transport
CEC T-3 double belt transport
Amplification:
Coda 5.5 amplifier
SPL 1200 amplifier
Plinius SA-50 amplifier
Threshold 550e amplifier
Aric Audio Super SET 300B amplifier
SPL Elector preamplifier
Aric Audio Custom 12AX7 preamplifier

Loudspeakers:
Rosso Fiorentino Arno 40
NSMT System Two
Music Design Knight One

Accessories:
Jena Labs Symphony XLR ICs
Jena Labs Reference AES/EBU digital cable
Vermouth Audio Reference Speaker Cable
Krolo Design reference rack & footers
Puritan Audio power conditioner & grounding system
Audio Archon power cords