Pylon Audio Jade Twenty review

Keeping in line with the retro-chic norm, they come in a boxy cabinet finished to the highest order in wax-coated natural American walnut veneer, dressed with a well-knitted fabric grille that provides edge-to-edge coverage via loosely fitting studs and a foam lining. There were minor inconsistencies with the finishing of the grille framework, but it’s not something most people would notice and certainly nothing that would affect its sonic ability.

If you choose to use the Jade Twenty without the ornate grilles, you will be staring at a very large 12in paper cone woofer paired to an unconventional BMS compression driver that terminates with a tractrix-profiled horn, designed by Pylon Audio. Even the crossover frequency chosen for their mating is an unconventional 1200Hz, but Pylon Audio says it has worked hard on ensuring the seamless between the drivers. The woofer is ported through a slot at the bottom of the cabinet and the grilles have cutouts at the back for all three elements and fit snugly. Unusually though, the emblem on the baffle of the right speaker had a ‘y’ missing from its Jade Twenty logo. Call it QC negligence or call it a cottage-industry quirk, but it was odd nevertheless.

There’s no way you’re ever going to conceal such sizeable boxes in any room and in fact, they are meant to stand out. It’s their low-slung height that may be a concern for those with stepped seating or driver integration if you’re seated too close. You can opt for the riser stands (Rs. 40,000/pair) that will lift them up roughly six inches off the floor, suiting more rooms and seating configurations. We tested them without and the angled back profile of the front baffle helped to aim the tweeter right at our listening position. Being front ported makes them easier to place around the room and we had them about 4ft from the front wall and 3ft from the side walls, leaving sufficient space around the cabinets to create the necessary “air” around the speakers.

Although we started with a regular toe-in, it was quickly apparent that the wide dispersion of the horn tweeter was much better suited to just mild angling towards the sweet spot and letting them disperse their energy over a wider area. But the Jade Twenty wastes no time in holding you by your shoulders and looking at you eye to eye. The classic Fever by Elvis Presley is delivered with an immediacy and realism that commands your attention. The King’s voice never sounded this palpable through any dome tweeter and the blending with the big, burly woofer was impeccable, never making it sound disjointed or incongruous with the upper end. The speed and dynamic capability of the paper woofer was astonishing as heard on Stormy Weather by Teitur where the electronic bass is has palpable levels of depth at room-shaking levels without any of the lethargy or boom you’d associate with this size of driver typically.

It projects a strong phantom centre and while they do a great job of of the disappearing act, they lack the soundstage width and depth of the best bookshelf speakers at this price. The Jade Twenty though more than makes up for it in its entertainment factor, egging you to turn up the volume and just revel in the frankly, shocking transient response and light-footed musicality. Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Quartet puts the jazz maestro right in your room and the seemingly endless headroom and the dynamics just make you want to play it louder, closer to live music levels.

With a rated sensitivity of 91dB, you could use a tube amplifier to get a lot out of these speakers, our resident Rotel Michi X5 really brought them to life with the power and control they need to be treated with. Their biggest strength is that the insights they give you into the music, microdynamics and all…can even be appreciated at the lowest of volumes. Late-night listening was a revelation, making all sorts of music just sound more enjoyable and alive during the wee hours.

The optional stands would most certainly alleviate some of the soundstage shortcomings, especially the height of the image, which feels just short of natural scale without the stands. As is expected, on the most commercial of recordings, the compression driver does lean towards being just a tad bit hot and the thick grilles don’t make much of an audible difference whether you leave them on or off. But the overall sonic signature is instantly likeable and one that offers a magnified view of any recording you throw at it. The slightly brighter tonal balance tends to make it sound more detailed but it’s never offensive and the articulation along with the bass is a work of art here. Definitely worth a listen for the fun factor alone!

Not many ‘Made in Poland’ products have passed through our listening room, but the Pylon Audio Jade Twenty made a fantastic impression and makes a very strong case for anyone looking at a pair of speakers that are well-built, have a vintage appeal and sound absolutely rich and full-bodied. You will dig out new details in old recordings in no time, without ever feeling like things are getting too analytical to be fun. A class act this one!