XTZ Divine 100.49 Tower Loudspeaker Review

XTZ is a Swedish hi-fi company that has in recent years set up in North America, and the Divine 100.49 Tower is their magnum opus. Priced at $7200 a pair, these loudspeakers pull very few punches when it comes to delivering a uniquely high-end boutique experience – except they're an internet direct offering. When Gene first told me about the new XTZ Divine tower, my immediate reaction was along the lines of “Hey, sweet, I recognize that mid-range driver; this will be fun”. So I obliged and got myself into checking out these extremely high-end beauties, and yes, reviewing them was a pretty fun experience.

Design Overview

When the Divine towers first arrived, my initial reaction was “Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?” As a somewhat pricy speaker, I knew these were going to be pretty big and heavy, but I underestimated just how high XTZ was aiming. Shipped via freight in boxes that closely resemble an elevator in size, simply carrying these to my listening room was an exercise in, well, getting exercise. The next step was getting the towers out of their boxes, and that too, was quite the task with my ten foot ceilings requiring all sorts of contortion and angling precision to slide the boxes out. But with some much-needed help, I pulled it off and got things set up. An array of floor and carpet spikes were included to adjust the angle, intended for the end-user aim the tweeter at the listening position.

If you saw the Divine Towers on the showroom floor of a typical audio store, you would not be remiss to assume that they retail in the 20 to 30 thousand dollar range. That's because they hit every box on the checklist when it comes to a visually high-end design, from elegant curves, a rock-solid cabinet, fine European drivers, a quality finish, to an ambitious smorgasbord of rear panel options for fine tuning adjustment, tri-wiring, active tri-amping, and port tuning. If you're looking for a stop-gap speaker, this is not it – you could spend a year playing with this toy and still not have tried “everything” it has to offer.

XTZ Divine Port 

Undoubtedly the centerpiece of the Divine tower is the Accuton C173-T6-90 mid-range driver. A highly efficient ceramic cone unit with a double roll surround and an elite vented neodymium motor design, it is very much among the end-all be-alls of pure mid-ranges. This is a driver alone that retails for 25 percent of the cost of the entire speaker. The tradeoff is that the tweeter and woofers are more reasonably priced units that strive to complement rather than try to compensate for the mid-range unit. In theory, this is clever design and the question then becomes whether XTZ put it all together well enough. Even if they didn't, a dedicated and knowledgeable individual could attempt an active crossover, for instance a DEQX by accessing the drivers directly – XTZ makes that option available too.

Upon finally hearing the Divine towers, my immediate reaction was that the speakers were strident in their default setting. However - I decided to try out the fine tuning adjustments and took a look at the instruction manual, which I felt could have been easier to follow. I discovered that the default setting (the way the speaker arrived) apparently has the tweeter level elevated by a whole +3 dB, and after some preliminary listening I removed the tweeter jumper, which was ultimately the setting I found to be most comfortable to listen to in my environment although I might have preferred if these adjustments had been a little more fine. The final setting I arrived at had the midrange and woofer jumpers inserted, but the tweeter jumper removed.

 

Rear Panel with tweeter jumper removed

 

 

XTZ Divine 100.49 Tower Loudspeaker Listening Tests

My Crown XLS2000 amplifier was the amp most fit for the towers, and my Marantz SR6003 AV Receiver handled the pre-amplification and digital-to-analog conversion. All sources were HDMI-based, and all speaker cables were 12AWG. All listening was done in “Pure Direct” mode.

As mentioned earlier, with the tweeter set by default to +3 dB, the Divine Towers were an initial disappointment with something “off” about the upper midrange. At first listening I enjoyed the bass, but my friend felt it was a bit loosey-goosey, so I took out a single port plug and used it. This tightened things up immediately.  I didn't think the second port plug was necessary in my room, but it might have helped in a smaller room.

We threw on Lupe Fiasco's Tetsuo and Youth. On the track Deliver, the rolling bass line was reproduced tightly with power and punch. Simply put, this song sounded fun. Additionally, the studio effect of silence in the acoustic space appeared to translate very well into my listening room. On Adoration of the Magi, I found the sax to be pretty seductive with a good bite, which I would say the tweeter on these things is best described as very soothing. The soundstage produced extended well wide of the physical location of the speakers, although I wouldn't go as far as to say it went beyond the confines of my room. The bass was not only present, but powerful enough to shake the room.

 

XTZ Divine Walnut Veneer

I switched it up with Eau de Vie from the Shiki soundtrack, which the Divines rendered atmospherically and with very aggressive left-right stereo imaging. I did feel there wasn't the greatest perception of depth in the stage, which is probably a consequence of the width. The sustain on some of the lower notes was the high point of the experience, and made me think that even more than the Accuton mid, it was the dual seas woofers that were the star of the show. This is no doubt a partial result of the high-end cabinet construction.

Next up was Nostalgia ft Kedrick Lamar by Pusha T. The soundstage rode very high, the beat sounded great, and vocals were perfectly centered. Yep, these classy, exquisite looking European speakers must be tailor-made for urban music.

My friend wanted to hear something everyone's innately familiar with, so we threw on some Celine Dion as a juxtaposition to the rap. This is where things got a bit dicey, as while the width and height were fine, both of us had a bit of a feeling that even playing around with the tweeter, mid, and bass controls, Celine's voice always felt a bit unfamiliar. Perhaps that's her real voice though, and I've never heard it just like that. It certainly did sound different from how I've been accustomed to hearing it on the vast majority of speakers in the past, including my own personal reference speakers.

After my buddy was gone, I put on that track I seem to throw on any time I listen to awesome new speakers – the Legend of Zelda Main Theme Medley! The most profound impact was in the percussion, which stood front-and-center and was very well defined in my room. My gut told me that the midrange seemed a bit too smooth as the brass section didn't have quite the bite and snarl I've grown to expect over the years. I also did feel the highs lacked a certain perfection to them, and the sound-stage was not the deepest I have heard. However these are mostly minor concerns that are only highlighted under extended scrutiny and intense familiarity with the track itself.

I then listened to Swan Lake as performed by Belgrad Philharmonic. It was a rather positive experience as there was great instrument separation, leading to a decently layered presentation possessing an excellent sense of height. I would best describe it as engrossing.

Next, I threw on Going Out Fighting by Minutes Til Midnight. The Divines produced what's best described as a tactile guitar with an entrancing sustain, guided by razor sharp imaging and punchy bass. One thing that consistently stood out about these speakers was no matter what content I fed them, the vocals didn't have any edge - sibilants were always very relaxed and smooth. No listening fatigue was noted during any of my extended listening sessions which is something I can't say about some other speakers I've had in my room.

Finally, I chilled out to Don't be stupid - Shania Twain Live. What came to mind is that while these speakers aren't perfect, they're very fun and with the live source material produced a “you are there” presentation. The hi-hats were best described as “relaxing”; and the kick-drum was genuinely tactile. They made Shania's vocals very pleasant.

Overall, the sound of the XTZ Divines wasn't what I would call cut-throat accurate, but their voicing always erred on the sins of omission rather than the sins of commission, which I commend.  Keep in mind, that if you know someone who knows how to set up active crossovers, you can get these speakers sounding cut-throat accurate as the drivers are implemented very well.

XTZ Divine 100.49 Tower Loudspeaker Measurements and Analysis

The measurements were taken as per the Audioholics Loudspeaker Measurements Standard. 

Please note that frequencies below 500Hz are dominated by the room, NOT the speaker.  Since the measurements were NOT spliced with groundplane data, you're actually seeing the influence of the room for those frequencies.

 

XTZ Divine Frequency Response  (in-room @1 meter)

Give or take, sensitivity of the Divine Towers sits just around 92dB/2.83v at 1 meter. On-axis frequency response from the speaker shows roughly a +/-3db variation with a general dip in the mid-treble that helped keep the speakers well free of excessive sibilants. Response below about 400 Hz contains some boundary artifacts – it was very tough for me to remove the room from the equation when measuring such absolutely massive speakers. Based on this measurement, one could expect an overall soothing, yet forward presentation. I do feel that implementing an outbound crossover could get the response flatter and the driver integration tighter than the default passive design, but you would need to find someone capable of setting it up as doing so is truly a science.

 

Listening window response
(in-room @ 1 meter)

The listening window response shows the general response in the forward direction at angles correlating to typical seating positions. You can identify the crossover region in the bottom curve (15 degrees vertical above the speaker) as the dip in response in the upper midrange. Give or take, the horizontal response is mostly symmetrical, as the loudspeaker layout is symmetrical. The majority of the response stays within a roughly +/- 3 dB window.

 

XTZ Divine Tower Impedance vs Frequency

The XTZ Divines are a true 4 ohm load which is usually to be expected of any speaker with a dual woofer configuration, particularly a 3-way configuration. The electrical phase angle is never a problem so most amplifiers will be comfortable driving these babies – but do have the current on-tap for when it's needed. With their medium-high efficiency I got them pretty loud with my Crown Amp.

 

XTZ Divine Tower Harmonic Distortion @ 89db @ 2m

This is absurdly low. We are talking class-leading performance here. In fact, I don't even think these results are entirely accurate, as I suspect what was recorded was just the distortion in my amplifier as well as background noise. XTZ can pat themselves on the back for a well-engineered speaker in terms of non-linear distortion.

 

 

XTZ Divine Tower Cumulative Spectral Decay

CSD, or Cumulative Spectral Decay, is a three-dimensional plot derived from the loudspeaker’s impulse response which can highlight issues. There's some minor ringing in the waterfall plot, but it's very low in level. My guess is that it's from the cone breakup mode of the aluminum woofers and could only be avoided with a more aggressive crossover. This is something an active crossover could make “look nicer” but I'm not sure if there's any audible consequence to it – not any I observed, at least.

XTZ Divine 100.49 Tower Loudspeaker Conclusion

XTZ has found a relatively untapped niche in the Internet Direct market by offering showroom grade speakers at a fraction of the price point. The Divine Towers offer exceptional midrange detail, elite bass resolution, and an almost calming presentation that was voiced with a lot of care and even more ambition. These speakers are heavy, as they want to be the last speakers you'll ever have to lift. Given their price range, you will want to audition them yourself to know for sure, using XTZ's generous 60-day “buy-and-try”.

 

XTZ Divine Tower Review
MSRP: $3600/ea

XTZ Sound
Web/Store: http://www.xtzsound.us/

Phone: 46(0)34520049

 

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value