Text and images by Juan C. Ayllon The Usher SD-500 monitor experience is akin to test driving a 2019 Porsche 718 Cayman -- whatever reservations you may have about its entry level status fade as it handles difficult passages with ease (fittingly, our review sample arrives in sports car red). This is one serious bookshelf speaker. It’s designed for smaller listening spaces, but performs well in my 20' x 16' x 8' room. Diminutive and sleek at 14 ¼” (H) x 11 ¼” (D) x 7 ½” (W) and 18 ¾ lbs., it shares the same 1 ½” diamond tweeter used in Usher’s premium range speakers -- including their new $22,000 TD-10 towers. A metal dome coated with amorphous diamond on both sides, the Usher DMD tweeter combines excellent stiffness, heat conductivity and optimal mass with its proprietary electromagnetic motor design, resulting in superb detail and accuracy. This is significant, as these tweeters alone retail at $880 a pair -- nearly half the price of the SD-500s, which list at the $2,000 mark. Combined with their very fast, newly designed 0538 5 ½” paper fiber coned mid-bass driver, it paints a vivid non-fatiguing and surprisingly full presentation for such small speakers. The Chassis The 1” thick front baffle angles slightly back for time alignment between tweeter and woofer, featuring a magnetically-attached, removable grill and a slim, three-quarter inch by 4 ¾” wide front port near the bottom. The bass-reflex cabinet is thoroughly-braced and the crossover, using air-core inductors, premium capacitors and OFC copper wiring, is set at 2.1 kHz to optimize the role of the DMD tweeter and keep the midbass performing at its most linear best. The four speaker terminals on the rear (one pair for the tweeter, another for the bass) come with jumpers but can be bi-wired or bi-amped. The SD-500 is available in piano black, red and white (later, it will also be available in piano Madagascar Ebony, like the TD-10 in the photo below). Specs System : Bookshelf 2-way Bass Reflex Type Tweeter : 1.25" DMD Dome Bass : 5" Paperfiber Complex Cone Frequency Range : 45Hz~40KHz Impedance : 8 Ohm Sensitivity : 86 dB Crossover frequencies : 2.1kHz Setup The SD-500s are heavy for their size, demanding the care and effort of lifting a nine month-old infant from its cradle to a high chair when transferring them from shipping box to stands. Fred Kat of Usher Audio USA recommends that the tweeters be at ear level when listening. However, if the stands are too short, he adds that they can be angled with wood shims so that they aim at the ear. For us, it’s all academic, as the 30” speaker stands we use place the DMD tweeters at optimal height. Since we’re using a pair of bi-wired Straight Wire Pro SC Special speaker cables (a superb, coax design cable for the money -- smooth, detailed with ultra-low resistance -- that I've employed since 2016 (read more here)), we remove the terminal jumpers. Coincidentally, I notice with or without the jumpers, sound differences seem minimal to negligible. Putting It Through the Paces The SD-500 does live rock well. In The Doors’ vinyl album, Absolutely Alive, the emcee’s requests to clear the aisles, the roaring crowds and the stadium echo sound accurate and natural, enveloping the room; the toms, and bass are punchy and deep, the snares crisp, keys and wailing electric guitar lush and the timbre of Morrison’s vocals, true, as he belts out, “Who Do You Loooove?” (The Doors. Absolutely Alive. Elektra Records, 1970). As a side note, adding the Hsu Research ULS-15 Mk2 subwoofer crossed-over at 50 Hz makes the experience even more visceral and impressive, making it the envy of many a floorstander (you can read my review of the Hsu Research ULS-15 Mk2 sub here) That said, when peaking too much over 80, 81 dB ten feet away from the speakers, the bass and Morrison’s voice and start sounding a bit congested and boxy (these bookshelf speakers are, after all, designed for smaller spaces). Downshifting into instrumental jazz, the SD-500s proves delightful. The soft, warm tones of Anthony Wilson’s hollow body guitar are captured, rich and nuanced, in the ballad, “The Other Shore”, while Mark Ferber’s brushed snare and cymbals and Joe Baggs understated Hammond B-3 are fleshed out in real space. (The Anthony Wilson Trio. Savivity. DSD128 (Native DSD Music). Groove Note Records, 2005) And if it’s speed and hard bop you want, the SD-500s delivers; in “All the Things You Are” of the same album, Wilson’s dizzy riffs, Ferber’s frenetic cymbals and drum kit, along with Baggs’ masterful B-3, slalom through the melody with plenty of finesse and slam. The SD-500s also demonstrate great grip and versatility traversing through the curves and nuances of the female voice. Jacintha in “O Garso” and Diana Krall in “Let’s Fall in Love” sound their sultry best, vivid, balanced and spooky accurate. (Jacintha. The Girl From Bossa Nova. DSD128 (Native DSD Music). Groove Note, 2004 and Diana Krall. When I Look in Your Eyes. DSD64. Verve Records, 1999) Unleashed on the hairpin turns and winding passages of classical music, the SD-500s reveals plenty of torque and sensitivity. With conductor George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of “1812 Overture”, they present a broad soundstage that’s dynamic, powerful and rich with detail; strings, horns, woodwinds, percussion are transfixing, taking turns in quieteer passages then converging in roaring crescendos, enveloping the room with a rousing performance (George Solti/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra. FLAC. The Tchaikovsky Album. Decca, 1997). When tasked with A/V duties, the SD-500s shine, handling drama and action movies with aplomb -- especially when paired with a good subwoofer like the Hsu. The speakers disappear in Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible 3, rendering a palpable, transfixing wall of sound that engages the senses and draws us in. Conversations, explosions, background music? They’re an easy victory lap for the Ushers. Concluding Thoughts Although the Usher SD-500 monitors are ideally suited for near-field listening and smaller spaces, as we’ve shown, they also perform well in medium-sized rooms. And, despite being the smallest and least expensive Usher speaker utilizing their diamond tweeter, don’t let that fool you -- they leverage that technology to great effect, rendering a wide range of music with great clarity, nuance and style. The resulting sensation is that you’re listening to music -- vibrant and alive -- not speakers, over a broad soundstage. Moreover, combined with a good subwoofer, their delivery of HD movies is jaw-dropping good. If you are in the market for smaller monitors that deliver big sound, at $2,000, the Usher Audio SD-500 is an excellent buy -- and worthy of a checkered flag. Equipment Used
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