⌈ CARE ORCHESTRA is an Italian company founded in 2010 in Milan. It is a sister company of Sartori Acustica, a distributor of over 70 audio brands and custom-made systems for various purposes, from hotels to yachts. We test the smallest Care Orchestra loudspeakers, the CELESTIAL DEEP BREATH EVO model in a black finish. ⌋

T IS NOT A COINCIDENT THAT PRODUCTS FROM ITALY have something special about them. The simplest description would speak of sophisticated design, and it would be true. In the case of this country, however, one more factor must be added - elegance. It manifests itself in all areas of life, but it is most visible in design. And it just so happens that CARE ORCHESTRA products are, to a certain extent, well-measured and balanced designer products.

When talking about its products in this way, you have to remember about other local companies, let it be Sonus faber, Chario, Pathos, Audia Flight or Gold Note, as the most obvious examples. This is because these companies combine high-class artistic design with advanced engineering, in which you can see the desire to include their own contribution in the projects. The products from Italy are supposed to be special in every respect. This can be said of any ambitious market. In their case, however, this is the rule, not the exception.

▌ Celestial Deep Breath Evo

CARE ORCHESTRA IS A COMPANY RUN BY distributors and designers of ready-made, custom audio and audio-video systems. Therefore, its lineup is to a large extent shaped by the “servant” function it performs in relation to the basic scope of its activity. Paradoxically, perhaps that is why its offer is so diverse and the products are so beautiful.

This differentiation includes not only models, but also types, although it must be clearly stated that Care Orchestra manufactures mainly loudspeakers. We can choose from seven speaker series - the "Hi-Fi" series, to which the tested speaker belongs, includes seven models. In addition, the price list includes wall speakers, speakers featuring marble cabinets, ones intended for portable devices, etc. An integrated amplifier and a speaker cable complement the line.

| A few simple words...

JACOBO BLESIO
dział sprzedaży

When Care Orchestra was founded, as a mission of the company, in addition to proposing a very good product from an acoustic point of view, we also wanted to enhance the nationality of the company and therefore we chose to keep the production in our country, renouncing low industrial costs but favoring the craftsmanship world MADE in ITALY for its quality and the possibility to customize the products with attention to the customer's wishes (all emphasis ed.). In spite of a basic production with "typical" characteristics such as black or white lacquering, one characteristic is the complete customization of the finishes, with marble, leather, various colors and fabrics.

Our aim was to give the hi-fi product not only a high-level Hi End connotation, but also peculiar imprinting by combining aesthetics with acoustic and manufacturing quality and with the components used. Also, from the point of view of the technical choices, we have designed particular expedients, for example, to accurately connect the filter components with custom-made supports, without pre-moulded bases. Or, we have opted for internal connections made only with audio cables with certain characteristics of resistance and capacity.

From the point of view of the speaker case, in addition to technical choices on volumes, thicknesses, mass, ducts, etc., we opted to make the cases without visible junction elements, without applied panels, visible screws, with aesthetic consequences perhaps not immediately visible, but very important, such as the lacquering of the cases in their entirety. Our marble products are carved from solid blocks, precisely to avoid joints.

As a result of the above, we like to consider ourselves a 'tailor-made' business.

We work with architects to provide clients with a solution that is integrated into their furnishings and interiors. We also work with luxury multinationals (names can't be mentioned due to a confidentiality agreement) to create customized audio solutions made to measure, in very fine and high-quality materials. We study solutions together with architects to meet the customer's needs.JB

CELESTIAL DEEP BREATH EVO is a mid-sized stand mount monitor; the internal volume of its cabinet is 15 liters. It is a two-way bass-reflex design, and it features very good drivers..

Low and medium tones are reproduced by the Scan-Speak driver from the Discovery series, with a diameter of 165 mm. It has a membrane made of glass fiber coated with a damping material. Its upper suspension is made of low-damping rubber. The combination of these two elements was developed by Scan-Speak, who calls it NRSC (Non Resonant Suspension Coupling). As we read in the company materials, it is aimed at achieving "a smooth frequency response of the acoustic pressure". This driver uses a cast basket and aluminum rings in a magnetic system.

The tweeter also comes from the same series by the Danish specialist. The ø 25mm soft dome has high efficiency and a frequency response of over 40kHz. The manufacturer also emphasizes low distortion and a low resonant frequency - 475 Hz. The driver is placed not on the axis of the front baffle, but with an offset. I suggest placing the speakers with the tweeters inwards.

The cabinet is made of MDF boards and finished with black varnish. However, as Jacop said, you can order any finish - of course for an additional fee. The drivers are mounted in precisely cut holes in such a way as to cover the baskets with laser-cut leather. In the case of a tweeter, it performs an acoustic function. Instead of classic fabric grilles, the company opted for "architectural" grilles. They make them of plexiglass, with holes cut in it; they also feature a magnetic mounting. Such grilles significantly change the sound, but look really good.

The crossover was built in point-to-point technique, a time-consuming, but the best one. It is a simple 2nd order circuit, with an air coil for the tweeter section and a powder core coil in the woofer section. There are also three very nice resistors and two Jantzen polypropylene capacitors. Internal wiring is unusually expensive - these are silver cables from Van Den Hul. The loudspeaker terminals are very impressive with their massiveness. However, I had a problem with connecting the Siltech Triple Crown cable spades to them, which I managed to clamp only on one side.

The manufacturer specifies quite a wide frequency response, from 48 to 41,000 Hz. The loudspeakers have high sensitivity, amounting to 91.5 dB (1 m @ 2.83 V), which should favor tube amplifiers. Their nominal impedance, however, is relatively low and amounts to 4 Ω - so you may want to pair them with some powerful amplifier.

The Celestial Deep Breath Evo is delivered in a neat plywood crate, reinforced on the corners.

▌ SOUND

⸤ HOW WE LISTENED The Italian loudspeakers stood 245 cm from the listening position and 250 cm from each other (counting from the axis of the loudspeakers). They were placed 75 cm from the wall behind them, counting from their back baffle. They can be placed closer to the wall, but they don’t need it to deliver full sound.

I determined the distance between the speakers and their leveling using a rangefinder, namely the Bosch PLR 50 C. You will find out more about speakers setup in the Micro-tuning article. So we set up the loudspeakers, HIGH FIDELITY № 177, January 1st. 2019, HIGHFIDELITY.pl, accessed on: 03/10/2022. More about the acoustics of the HF listening room in the article "High Fidelity" listening room in the eyes of MARIUSZ ZIELMACHOWICZ, HIGH FIDELITY № 189, January 1st. 2020, HIGHFIDELITY.pl , accessed: 03/10/2022.

⸜ Recordings used for the test | a selection

⸜ FREDDIE HUBBARD, Open Sesame, Blue Note/Audio Wave AWMXR-0012, XRCD24 (1960/2020).
⸜ BURT BACHARACH & DANIEL TASHIAN, Blue Umbrella, Big Yellow Dog Music/Sony Music Labels Inc. SICX-30088, Blu-Spec CD2 (2020).
⸜ TOTO, Toto IV, Columbia/Sony Music Labels SICP 10139~40, „Deluxe Edition. 40th Anniversary”, SACD/CD (1982/2022).
⸜ GRATEFUL DEAD, The Best of The Grateful Dead, Rhino 081227 95598 4, 2 x HDCD (2015).
⸜ OLEŚ BROTHERS & DOMINIK STRYCHARSKI, Koptycus, Audio Cave ACD-001-2022, COMPACT DISC (2022).

ANDRIJA ĆURKOVIĆ, EDITOR of the Croatian magazine "Hi-Fi Media", whom I recently interviewed for "THE EDITORS" series, told me how his brother heard Rogers loudspeakers in Munich once, a brand he hadn't known before. The sellers told him that Rogers offers a "British sound":

"But what is that British sound? In Germany? We didn't understand it at all. (...) I fell in love with their description and decided to buy them one day. (...) The whole Rogers story was of great importance to me, because by chance, in some 'silly' way, I chose loudspeakers that in my perception of sound determined key aspects important for its reproduction.

⸜ WOJCIECH PACUŁA, Andrija Ćurković, „Hi-Fi Media”, „High Fidelity” No. 222, October 2022, → HIGHFIDELITY.pl.

I am recalling this story to say that although stereotypes are a simplification and thus often distort reality, they often carry a grain of truth in them. In this case, the point is that if the sound we hear stays in our memory, if it is "burned" in our subconscious, then later we will always associate it with a specific context. If someone then tells us that it is a sound from one or another "school", we will look for that particular set of features. It will always be a specific sound in our head. As was the case for Andrij and the "British sound".

And it does not matter that this is not entirely true, because in the end it is "the binding truth." Therefore, as soon as I heard the first sounds of FREDDIE HUBBARD's trumpet and the TINA BROOKS tenor saxophone from the Open Sezame album, I knew that the Italian loudspeakers sounded exactly the same way as I remembered from listening to the Castle Clifton speakers, my first "Audiophile" loudspeakers. But I was also well aware that Celestial Deep Breath EVO sounded much better.

Their sound can be described as saturated and dense. It is the best description of their deep timbre. The instruments have a large volume with them and are not shallow. The version of the disc that I am using has been remastered from the original master tape by ALAN YOSHIDA, the originator and inventor of the XRCD format. He prepared it in the Ocean Way Mastering studio, using the JVC analog mastering system, and the disc was released by the Audio Wave label.

This disc sounded spectacular with the Italian loudspeakers, due to the depth of the sound and its saturation. Usually, a sound of this class, this type of sound, is achieved with gold CDs and with SACDs. Alan once wrote to me that when he was developing various techniques for XRCD, he tried many different CDs, even copper ones. However, the classic aluminum one seemed to be the most transparent one. With the tested loudspeakers it can be heard that in combination with other techniques it gave fascinating results.

So with the Care Orchestra I got a big, saturated and dense sound. You could say "British sound" to refer to Andrij and his adventures with Rogers, but it would be another simplification. With the sound from the British speakers the reviewed one share high culture of sound, some kind of calmness, and not quite the timbre. I mean the latter too, obviously. But less obvious was that it was not all about the specific timbre, in which the midrange is the most important, but about the class of this sound, its inner richness.

Which turned out great on the BURT BACHARACH and DANIEL TASHIAN’s album entitled Blue Umbrella. It's a short release, in the mini-interview in the booklet it is called an EP, but it's a beautiful release. The tested loudspeakers presented its sound as a dense whole. But it was not a "magma" but a "constellation" with lots of information, chords and details. The disc was released in Japan on the BSCD2, which translated into a very good resolution, shown by the loudspeakers without hesitation.

On the other hand, it would be difficult to call them "open". I mean - they are open, but not in the sense that they are colored, but open to information. Because the piano, guitar and voice on the aforementioned album had a good definition and a kind of lightness. It was a lightness resulting from the definition in question, and not from the lack of anchoring in the lower midrange. Because the latter is an important part of the sound of these loudspeakers, which can remind us of the "British sound" again.

And that’s good, that’s OK, it is not a bad reference. Only that these speakers are not easy to analyze, because they do not use crude "tricks". The lower midrange, which I am talking about, results from the very good interaction of bass and treble. This is why it is so impressive. Thanks to this, the instruments have a strong sound and large volume. As this is not a coloration, the loudspeakers do not impose their sound in a particularly clear way. Subcutaneously - yes, they direct our attention to what connects sounds, not divides them. On the outside, however, they are very neutral, however paradoxical it may sound in this context.

The feature that makes this possible to a large extent seems to me to be a perfect energy transfer. Seemingly warm, at first "rounded", after some time they turn out to be resolving. Therefore, the sound comes to us as a mass, not as a collection of details. When in Africa, the piece closing the TOTO’S IV album, we hear the sound of synthesizers, it is a dense sound with "background". It is not just a "leading edge" of the attack.

| Our albums

⸜ TOTO Toto IV

Columbia/Sony Music Labels SICP 10139~40
„Deluxe Edition. 40th Anniversary”

Super Audio Compact Disc/CD ⸜ 1982/2022

Toto IV IS THE FOURTH ALBUM of the American band TOTO, released in 1982 by Columbia Records. It was the group's biggest hit and at the same time most profitable album. The single Rosanna from it spent five weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and Africa was number one the Hot 100, and was the first and only Toto's number one. A year later, during the Grammy Awards ceremony, the group won as many as six awards, including the Album of the Year, Producer of the Year and Recording of the Year (for the Rosanna).

Due to the high budget, recording process for Toto IV went on through 1981 and 1982. The special feature of these sessions was the combination of as many as THREE 24-track Studer tape recorders into one system. This resulted in recording of 70 tracks (two were for the synchronization code). Six of the recordings, including the two aforementioned hits, were recorded in Studio 2 Sunset Sound by AL SCHMITT, known for his excellent recordings of Ray Charles, Sinatra, Jefferson Airplane and almost the entire music scene.

As he wrote in his autobiography, it was a very pleasant experience for him because there was no tension during the recordings, only fun. And he added: "I think one of the reasons why Toto IV was so successful was that making it was fun for all of us." (AL SCHMITT, Maureen Droney, Al Schmitt on the record, London 2018, p. 118).

During the recording, Schmitt did not use acoustic screens and the whole band was playing at the same time in the studio. Only after the structure of the recordings was registered, the recorded some additional material. As for interesting facts, he mentions the creation of the percussion base in the Africa. As he says, Jeff Porcaro and Lenny Castro entered the studio and recorded a long drum string. Jeff chose two bars that he liked and he and Al looped them - on a 24-track! - creating a background for the entire piece. Yes, it's only two seconds!


The album has been released countless times. Discogs names 225 versions in almost all formats. The one that I would like to recommend to you seems to be the best. And it is certainly the most beautiful one. It is a SACD disc, with stereo and 5.1 surround versions. It was released in a mini LP 7” format. Its cover has been made flawlessly and it is beautiful. Same goes for all accessories - reproductions of Japanese singles, concert tickets, a list of TOTO recording sessions, a photo book, a poster, etc. Some copies were accompanied by a postcard with a reproduction of the cover.

The first SACD version was released by Sony in 1999 and it was a single-layer version (!). The Japanese edition in question was introduced for the 40th anniversary of the album's original release on August 3rd 2022. It is interesting that the SACD layer was remastered in DSD from the DSD transfer from the master tape from 2002, and the CD layer from the newer transfer from 2018. The TOTO team and Elliott Scheiner are responsible for the new DSD master.

This is a fantastic release with great sound. ♦

→ www.SME.co.jp

THE CARE ORCHESTRA Loudspeakers do not go down particularly deep with the bass. However, a short listening session allows you to notice that they are about extracting the most energy and density from the sound, and not about "pumping" the air through the bass-reflex ports. Thanks to this, the loudspeakers are very fast and dynamic. It was audible with TOTO, GRATEFUL DEAD and other albums. If we sit in front of them and hear "warmth", it is "warmth" coming from the preserved timbre harmony, not from the correction of the frequency range.

Although… As I said, there is a grain of truth to every stereotype. That is why all the albums I mentioned had a "sweet" treble. It is hard for me to call it a withdrawn, because it is not. The richness of sounds from the top of the range recorded on the Koptycus by OLEŚ BROTHERS & DOMINIK STRYCHARSKI was obvious. I could hear that the tweeter used in the Celestial Deep Breath Evo is really very good, just like its application. But still, if I were to say something with my hand on my heart, I I probably wouldn't forget about the "warmth" of the sound.

Finally, shortly about the way the Care Orchestra loudspeakers create space. It is a design that builds a deep, and even very deep sound stage. All the sounds recorded on the aforementioned album with long reverb were shown far back, but with good volume - their were not decreased. However, we should not expect a bloated stereo emphasizing the sides of the stage. This is not the case.

▌ Summary

CARE ORCHESTRA DEEP BREATH EVO offer a refined sound. They are intended for long listening sessions, not for short "demos". They develop the sound in front of us slowly but surely. They have a very well-preserved internal resolution, which means that we get a rich, harmonious presentation.

They did not try to go very deep down, because the focus was placed rather on speed and dynamics of the presentation. And still the sound is dense and low. If this is a "British sound", then in the version where it is achieved not by over-emphasizing the midrange, but by resolution. And it is what leads us to pay attention to vocals, because it is their credibility that we most need in evolutionary terms. Great sounding and looking, and wonderfully made loudspeakers. ■