Lindemann Audio MOVE

Lindemann Audio has been producing high-quality hi-fi electronics for many years. Some time ago, the company consciously moved away from more traditional full-sized separates. It now makes clever, smaller MusicBook all-in-one units and a small range of Skunkworks ancillary electronics under the Limetree name. However, those with long-ish memories might also recall that Lindemann Audio was known for its loudspeakers. Those speaker smarts never entirely disappeared; the new Lindemann Audio MOVE is the result.

Lindemann Audio could have made MOVE a safe pair of loudspeakers to fill out the brand. It could be straightforward for the reviewer to dismiss the Lindemann Audio MOVE for the same reasons. There is good historical precedent for such thinking; too often, the loudspeakers made by audio electronics companies are a bit… ‘meh’! This is an equal opportunity ‘blandemic’, however, as the electronics built by loudspeaker specialists are often a little mediocre. But Lindemann Audio smashes that cliché with the MOVE.

Point Source

While at first glance, the Lindemann Audio MOVE looks like a conventional ported two-way stand-mount loudspeaker, it’s a full-range point-source design. That brightly coloured main driver is a full-range unit. It’s not a coaxial driver where the tweeter is in the acoustic centre of the mid/bass in the style of Fyne, KEF, or Tannoy. It’s a full-range driver, covering from 40Hz to 9kHz in room.

The AMT folded ribbon above this full-range unit acts like a supertweeter. That’s ‘supertweeter’ in the old-fashioned sense, a driver that covers a small amount of high-frequency musical information and some spatial cues we perceive as ‘air.’ It also covers the more modern interpretation of the term as it extends up to 36kHz. In addition, an Air Motion Transformer acts as a supertweeter up to 36 kHz. This uses a reference class coupling capacitor (Alumen Z-Cap).

The speaker cabinet is more conventionally shaped for good reason. While radical is good, loudspeakers are the most visible part of many systems, and you have to live with them in the room. The rounded edges and traditional box shapes are popular for that reason; they fit the largest number of listening spaces. Nevertheless, the rear-ported design is made from HDF (high-density fibreboard) instead of MDF and that – coupled with its aluminium front panel – makes for an enclosure with very low energy storage.

X-Shape

This is aided by the supplied stand, which is a curved X-shape, that tilts the loudspeaker back very slightly, and aids in the reduction of resonance and energy dissipation. The stand also uses a clever form of point coupling, but this means the speaker sits between two arms that grip the last centmetre or so of the Lindemann Audio MOVE’s side panels. This is a neat way of keeping the loudspeaker in place, but detracts slightly from its otherwise clean lines.

Speaker placement is straightforward. The rear port needs to be at least 30cm from the rear and side walls. Then, they need to be around 2-2.5m apart, but when it comes to toe-in, they are distinctly unfussy. Regarding partnering equipment and the need for a lot of fancy room treatment or exotic cable, the Lindemann Audio MOVE is your flexible friend. You can be as elaborate or as prosaic as you choose. No problems either way.

No accident

A loudspeaker as well designed and executed as this is never an accident, but it’s also not the kind of thing the mainstream will ever create. What you have here is a stand-mount loudspeaker of extraordinary quality, starting from its sensational imaging properties. The loudspeaker does act as a fine point source, in the way something like the Eclipse TD models do. Sound is three-dimensional, holographic, and extremely engaging, as you feel this uncanny sense of layers of sound emerging from the speaker system.

Play something with even the merest nod toward stereophonic sound and you are met with a live sense of stage and presence. This works with those classic 1960s Phil Spector Wall of Sound recordings as it does from more audiophile ‘church hall acoustics’ recordings not produced by murderers. In the first case, you get a broad canvas of sound, in the second, a genuine recreation of the ambience of the venue. I’ve already said uncanny, but it needs restating… there is a total absence of can, here.

As if to prove these reviews aren’t just thrown together, the ‘can’ thing isn’t quite correct. The directness of sound from the Lindemann Audio MOVE reminds me of the sound from good headphones, in the right way. A pair of top-flight headphone designs also use a full-range driver and that absence of interference is something they have in common with the MOVE. Changes in dynamic shading are quicksilver-fast and this gives a sense of detail that few rivals can match. Put a few more drivers in the mix and a crossover and the MOVE makes those rivals sound glacial and ponderous. This is audio speed personified.

Speed and Clarity

That speed and clarity shine through on almost anything but become especially noticeable on drums. No, not in the vapid audiophile drum records; instead, listen to something like ‘Nowhere Man’ by The Beatles [Rubber Soul, Apple]. You get a clear sense of that ‘Ringo Swing’ from how he brushes the hi-hat. This shouldn’t be one of the recordings that make you notice just how much of a ‘song’ drummer Ringo Starr is, but through the MOVE, you hear how much he occupies the song. That only comes because of the speed of attack and decay the MOVE brings to the party. And it is a party!

This revelation goes on giving; once you begin to process how directly connected you are with the music, you begin to hear it everywhere. This isn’t just about clarity – although the Lindemann Audio MOVE is exceptionally clear and accurate sounding – it’s about ‘clarity of purpose’. It’s the kind of sound that can put you into complete ‘pause’ mode with the right track. Listen to Maria Callas sing ‘Costa Diva’ from Bellini’s Norma [Warner Classics] and you are pinned to the chair. To move, to make a sound would be an act of musical heresy. That happens rarely and usually with giant full-range speakers with a built-in sense of occasion. To be so moved by the sound from a pair of stand-mounts is little short of staggering.

Complexity as standard

I am sometimes concerned by smaller, full-range designs like the Lindemann Audio MOVE that they might fold under questioning. They are perfect for resolving small-scale pieces, but the real broad-scale stuff eludes them. That’s not the case here; the MOVE can rise to the occasion whether it’s a power trio like Rush banging out Ayn Rand’s philosophy to the sci-fi setting of 2112 [Anthem], the big-band appeal of The Atomic Mr Basie [Roulette] or Klaus Tennstedt’s powerful yet sympathetic interpretation of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. And it rises to the occasion with detail, precision, and good stereo imaging. Yes, eventually, physics takes control. Trying to fill a larger room with complex and dynamic full-range sound at high-volume levels pushes the MOVE beyond its limits. However, achieving anything better requires a far bigger loudspeaker anyway.

Delicacy so plaintive

The biggest downside of the Lindemann Audio MOVE for me was the whining noises it created in family members. Whining noises like, “Why do you have all that other stuff when this does all you need?”.  In fairness, it’s a tricky question to answer. The thing is, this answers a lot of questions about how high-end audio needs a lot of boxes to match. A MusicBook and a pair of MOVES make a strong case for the ‘turnkey system’ many people want. Sure, if you want a home PA or need to fill a room that could double up as a roller-skating rink with bass, then the MOVE is not for you. For most of us, it achieves everything we need from a good stereo system.

I approached this review with some trepidation. Lindemann Audio could have just made a perfectly competent ‘me too’ loudspeaker that would fill the gap. And people would buy one to go with the company’s excellent electronics. But it didn’t do that. Instead, it made a loudspeaker that made a mark. It’s one of the most direct and immediate loudspeakers today. And with the Lindemann Audio MusicBook COMBO (one of the few products where the price has been reduced recently), the MOVE is an absolute steal.

Technical specifications

• Type Full-range point source stand-mount speaker with high-frequency extension.
• Full-range driver main driver, AMT supertweeter
• Impedance 8 ohms nominal
• Frequency range 40 Hz–36 kHz
• Sensitivity 87dB @ 2,83 V (1 W into 8 ohms)
• Input power 30 W thermal, 60 W impulse
• Dimensions (WxHxD) 18.6x35x30.5cm
• Weight 6.5kg
• Price €3,200 (MusicBook COMBO, €3,690, stand €295)

Manufacturer

Lindemann Audio

www.lindemann-audio.de

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