Can there be a more conservative speaker company than Castle? So what's with these nifty Art Deco shapes?

Really there's nothing wrong with being conservative. In audio, if it means sticking to known principles and prudent design techniques rather than bending with the prevailing wind of the day...hey, we're for it! And for many years that's what Castle was about, making classic speakers in beautiful oiled wood cabinets that would harmonize with your parents' furniture.
     They were good at it, too, and still are. We fondly remember the Castle Winchester (UHF No. 30), a speaker so good our panelists wouldn't go home after the session was supposedly over. And not so long ago we raved about the Castle Eden, which graced the cover of issue No. 53.
     But time marches on, and Castle has noticed. After the Boomers came Generation X, and now Generation Echo (the Boomers' kids). Not all of them are earning their living squeegeeing windshields on street corners. And notwithstanding a certain pessimism rampant in the audio industry, they're just as interested in music as their parents were.
     So enter the Castle Inversion series. Most noticeable is the shape. No, it's not an illusion, the cabinet really does taper up. Then there's the grille...or rather the grilles, one over each driver, as in car stereo systems. And then there's the price.
     Actually, when it comes to price Castle isn't being quite consistent. The big Inversion speaker, which we showed in our Las Vegas show report in UHF No. 55, will be more expensive than any previous speaker in the line, at some $5000 Canadian. This one, however, which is the first of the new series, is not really expensive at all, and it is in fact quite a lot cheaper than the Eden.
     Smaller too. Its woofer is made of knitted carbon fibres, like the Eden's, and though it somehow looks smaller it has the same 16 cm diameter. The tweeter...well, we could barely make it out behind the grille.
     The upward taper may be more than a styling statement, since nonparallel surfaces help prevent resonances associated with internal standing waves. On the other hand, none of the new speakers have rounded or beveled edges, to avoid the diffraction that messes up the stereo image.
     The light veneer finish is very fine, as it always was on Castle speakers. Like other low-cost Castles, this one has binding posts whose buttons are entirely plastic. Add to that the fact that the jumpers between the posts for the woofer and tweeter are round wire, and you can pretty much forget about using spade lugs with these speakers. Get good banana plugs, and tighten them until they squeak.
     Our Inversions were brand new, but they already sounded rather good as we began the 60-hour break-in period. Once we were through we perched them on our Target HJ24 stands, adjusted the position for best bass and image (not exactly tough), and dove into our set of test LP's.
     Our overall impression would turn out to be positive, but it certainly didn't start out that way. Our first selection, the gorgeous Nobody's Blues But Mine from the Opus 3 Test Record 4, is a challenging piece because it is so perfectly recorded, and of course we had just heard it on our 3a MS5 reference speakers. It has richness, rhythm, variety, depth, image...it constitutes a test all by itself. It can easily turn up even minor shortcomings in a speaker, and that is what it did with the Castles.
     "I was waiting for the magic in the first notes," said Reine, "but it didn't come." The timbres of most of the instruments were as they should be, though Reine hated the trumpet, and Gerard commented that the speakers were exaggerating the metallic quality of the honky tonk piano. "It's still not bad for the price," he said. Albert agreed but added that the music hadn't held his attention.
     And then things got better. Much better.
     Yet it certainly isn't because our second recording isn't a handful too. Walton's Façade suite (Reference Recordings RR-16) is also wonderfully recorded, with a cornucopia of tones and instrumental blends it would take five other recordings to find. Several test speakers tripped over it, but the Castles didn't.
     The woodwinds were excellent, even the piccolo, and the bassoon was especially rich and pleasant. "The cello comes out better than on any of the other speakers we've tested," said Albert. Though there was a touch less depth than with our reference speakers, the image was remarkable, with each instrument in its place. There was a pleasing liquidity not just to the sound but also to the playing by the musicians.
     We also noted approvingly that, before the music begins, the slight surface noise (which is pretty well inaudible once the music starts) was not exaggerated. Excessive surface noise is one sign of a pronounced high frequency resonance in a speaker.
     Perhaps the speakers were warming to the task, but they just kept on getting better. "What's going on?" asked Gerard incredulously after we had listened to Amanda McBroom's song Dorothy (from West of Oz on Sheffield LAB-15). The harmony by the singers in the opening was wonderful, each of the singers well separated and easy to place. We noted that the sound was at once smooth and extremely detailed, without one of those qualities being achieved at the expense of the other. By now we definitely liked what we heard.
     "But I have to add that the midrange is leaner and more distant," said Albert. "That reduces the warmth somewhat."
     We liked what the speakers did with Ain't No Fool from Jerry Ricks' Empty Bottle Blues (Hungaroton SLPM 37062). The plump bottom end you hear with larger speakers was leaner, of course, but the overall balance was completely normal. Small details in both voice and guitar were easy to hear, and the impact of the guitar slaps was very good. Reine noted particularly the clarity of the tiny inflection at the end of each word. Gerard noted that Ricks seemed younger with these speakers. "But his picture is on the jacket," he said.
     Albert commented on the speaker's top end, which is detailed yet seems to round out the sound nicely. "These would be great speakers for someone with a lousy CD player," he said.
     Certainly we hadn't noted any tendency toward "boxiness" in the sound of this speaker, and so it found its way surefootedly through the minefield of the percussion set in Secret of the Andes. Some very low tones, such as the resonance of the kick drum, were pretty much lost, but the rhythm just skipped along, and all of the other sounds came through the way you would expect with much more expensive speakers. Impressive! Instrumental timbres, including those of the cymbal and the piano, were more than acceptable.
     Yes, we would have liked more bottom end. "On the other hand, these speakers let you hear into the music," said Gerard. Albert thought a nice little subwoofer would make a splendid addition to these pleasant speakers.
     (We should mention that Castle management has had the same idea. With home theatre now spreading even in Europe, there will be a Castle Inversion subwoofer and even a centre speaker.
     The frequency response curve (shown below) may seem odd, because at no frequency is it ever louder than it is at 1 kHz, the frequency that always serves as a point of reference. But in fact it's a good curve, confirming the speaker's excellent neutrality. Of course a speaker this size doesn't produce deepest bass, but what it produces is clean until about 42 Hz (though of course at extremely low level). Not many competitors can say the same.

     The square wave (shown below) is also encouraging, with vertical risers and a decent shape. Not bad at all.

     Would we recommend these small Castles over their larger and more traditional-looking brandmates, the Edens? Not really, but these speakers take less space than the Edens, and the drop in performance is the strict minimum you could expect. Considering what a bargain the Eden is, this is high praise.
     Best of all, the Inversion 15's wonderful balance and musicality augurs well for what we can expect from the two larger models. Members of the Echo Generation may not be able to rely on public pension plans, but at least their music isn't going to let them down.

Model: Castle Inversion 15
Price: $1075 in Canada
Dimensions: 42 x 22 x 26 cm
Warranty: 5 years, transferable
Most liked: Superb detail, smooth top end, very good musicality.
Least liked: Terrible connectors, limited bottom end
Verdict: All new generations should come on like this one.

     Small speakers, small price, great joy. The extraordinary lateral image, the solid chords, the communicative rhythm, the fine dynamics, the multitude of details, the lyricism, the spaciousness...all of that can guarantee fine musical pleasure to Castle owners.
     And if you have a yen for the piccolo, let me reassure you. The Castle passed even that difficult test, reproducing it in light and slightly carefree fashion.
     Just like the real thing.
--Reine Lessard

     Do you have a source that spits digital at you every time you feed it a CD? Do you always reach for the volume knob in order to survive the hard glare and the piercing highs? These are the speakers you've been waiting for.
     They are so smooth you'll think something has to be missing. Music seems to flow around them as sparkling water flows around polished stones, and abundant details appears with delicate transparency.
     However, there is something missing, namely natural warmth. Voices, clarinets and cellos sound lighter than expected (as if they were performing outdoors, say) and bass is timid. Okay, very timid.
     I think the time has come for a Castle subwoofer to anchor down that smooth ethereal sound.
--Albert Simon

     It has been many, many years since I first heard a Castle speaker. I liked it right off. In the years since then, one thing I noticed is that there is a Castle family sound, with few models deviating from it. A "conservative" sound? I guess so. No flash and tizz (happily), but remember when one of the Castle people would bring his clarinet to shows and play duets with his own speakers?
     He could do the same thing with this speaker. It too has a conservative sound, ever so slightly distant yet delightfully detailed, with no heart-stopping effects, yet with a natural tonal balance that grows on you more and more as you listen.
     Of course I've spent some time listening to the larger Castle Inversion speakers, and my impression is that they're going to be killer products. Listening to this first member of the series has not shaken my confidence.
--Gerard Rejskind