The Bobby S Ultimate Loudspeaker from Stein Music of Germany is a robust stand-mounted two-way monitor that is unusual in several ways. It has a unique horn tweeter/midrange on top of a moderately large, for a monitor style speaker, dynamic woofer. The cabinet is finished in 100% knife-veneered birch and this model is the top of the line.
There are three versions of the Bobby S:
Bobby S
- Cabinet: Material MDF
- Cabinet: Finish Matte white or black lacquer
- Horn Finish: High gloss lacquer
- Horn driver: Carbon silk tweeter
- Bass: Carbon paper
- Crossover: Air coils and foil capacitors
- Wiring: SteinMusic Stateline solid core cotton wiring
- US retail price, pair: USD $8125
Bobby S Signature
- Cabinet: Material MDF
- Cabinet: Finish Matte white or black lacquer
- Horn Finish: High gloss lacquer
- Horn driver: Carbon silk tweeter with maple resonator
- Bass: Carbon paper
- Crossover: Air coils and foil capacitors, excellent quality
- Wiring: SteinMusic Highline solid core cotton wiring
- US retail price, pair: USD $11,250
Bobby S Ultimate
- Cabinet: Knife-veneered birch multiplex
- Cabinet: Hand polishing with natural acoustic varnishes from our own production
- Horn Finish: natural acoustic lacquers
- Horn driver: Carbon silk tweeter with bronze rear chamber
- Bass: Carbon paper plus maple
- Crossover: Luftspulen und Folienkondensatoren, Top quality from own production. Additional InLine Silver modules
- Wiring: SteinMusic Topline solid core cotton wiring
- US retail price, pair: USD $18,750
A little birdy told me these monitor speakers would do well in a large studio setting. Consequently, I mounted them on 28-inch weighted stands in a room 20' by 40' with a 25' sloped ceiling. I hooked them up with Jorma Origo bi-wire cables from the fantastic pair of new Zesto Audio Eros 500 Class A Mono Tube Amplifiers in for review.
I received a pair of Stein Music Speaker Match Signatures, Speaker cables, and Super Naturals Signatures. I did not use the Stein Cables, sorry Holger.
Super Naturals Installed
Please put them directly under the speakers, not under the original feet. The lighter one to the front, and the two darker ones to the back corners. The golden ring should show up.
Speaker Match Signature Connected
Please connect the black wire to the black bass terminal, and the red to the red tweeter terminal.
There are two switches on the speaker back plate: "Level" adjusts the volume of the tweeter. Up is louder. "Slope" adjusts midrange intensity. Up is a bit more "fat." I personally liked both switches down, as this is the most linear. The speakers were placed seven feet apart parallel to each other with no toe-in. Any toe-in messed with the imaging.
Loaded with KT150 Tubes and set in the middle setting, the Zesto Audio Eros 500 produced 200+ watts per channel of class A power 100% of the time. This is plenty of power for about any speaker on the planet and is fabulous with the Bobby S Ultimate. I was stunned.
With the exception of the lowest octave, the rest of the range was weighty and powerful. They threw a huge soundstage with tons of depth. The imaging was spot-on perfect and very similar to my double-the-cost floor-mounted reference speakers. They filled a large studio with voluptuous music and mellifluous textures. The Bobby S Ultimate loved the Zesto Audio Eros Tube Amps. My reservations about the very different drivers blending were obliterated. The Bobby S Ultimate spoke with one voice!
I was also concerned about the unusual horn-loaded speaker up top as I have never met a horn speaker I liked. Until now. This driver is silky smooth and extended like a fine dynamic driver. It also disappears into the music and does not get in the way of musical crescendos of showy brass instruments. I heard lots of air on top and beautiful silence between images. It also handles musical extremes well with delicate soft violin trills and powerful dynamic big band blasts.
Female vocals were perfectly produced with no thinness or lack of organic realism. I particularly like the rounded character of the images which I only hear from the finest speakers. LP playback was revelatory, particularly with the Stein Music Aventurin MC Cartridge, but I am not sure why. My Grado Epoch 3 and London Reference performed gorgeously, but the Stein offering, which is still available, was just wonderful on the Bobby S Ultimate.
A portrait of Bob Levi at LAOC 2022 (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson)
This is one amazing monitor voiced to give you the impression of low bass such that you almost do not miss it. With double vents firing forward on the speaker, this effect is quite excellent. I did not have a sub-woofer in that studio so the very fine sound and power of double basses from the Bobby S Ultimate was a great surprise. Overall definition from top to bottom was state of the art for a stand-mounted two-way design. I cannot say I have ever heard better!
Not inexpensive, the Bobby S Ultimate seemed high value to me with two-way speakers selling for $30,000 and more but not outperforming these beauties. Holger Stein, CEO and chief designer of these speakers, recently won the Counnas Innovation Award from the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society, a first for a designer from Europe. I have never tried anything he has designed that did not perform to the max for dedicated audiophiles and music lovers. The Bobby S Ultimate fit the bill for audiophiles who want the best two-way stand-mounted speakers available today and are most highly recommended.
Bobby S Ultimate
Retail: $18,750 per pair
Stein Music
USA Distribution:
Check the distribution page at Stein Music for dealers in the USA, as well as globally.
