Loudspeakers above £4,000
Living Voice Avatar 2
The Avatar is a development of the Auditorium (featured on the previous page), and whilst superficially similar in appearance features many improvements beneath the skin. The changes start with the drive units, the tweeter is replaced with the excellent Scanspeak D950000 tweeter and the bass driver units are custom made and feature larger magnets than the standard Auditorium. The crossover is similarly uprated, both with improved quality parts but also in terms of layout by means of star earthing. Finally the cabinets feature refinements including additional bracing.
What all these technical changes do to the sound is quite stunning, the speakers have even more definition and openness without losing the inherent musical strengths of the standard Auditorium. The other key strengths of the standard design, primarily their tonality, is further improved, and the dynamics remain just as exciting and wide ranging as ever.
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Aspara Acoustics HL6
The HL6 is a very exciting speaker, it’s not only superb to listen to but it’s also quite beautifully finished and remarkable compact for the performance on offer.
The first thing to strike you about the sound is that it’s crisp and immediate, one of the reasons I love higher efficiency speakers is their ability to pull you into the performance and these do exactly that, they’re also able to dig out a tremendous amount of information without ever sounding overly analytical.
The build quality is superb, the front baffle is made from one inch thick solid oak and the rest of the cabinet is made from birch plywood. This attention to detail shows itself as very low colouration in the critical midband area. They’re also very easy to drive with a quoted 93dB sensitivity meaning that amplifier choice is very simple and quality rather than power is the only requirement.
A contoured slot on the rear of the speak acts as a restrictive exhaust for the end
of the coupled cavity horn loading. We found that Aspara’s recommendations of using
them approximately 40-
Standard finish is natural oak but other finishes (including paint finishes and piano lacquers) are available to special order for a premium.
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ProAc Response D30/D30R
Due for launch in mid June 2013, the D30 fills the gap between the D28 and D40 in
their range. It is available in two versions, one with a soft dome tweeter and one
with a Ribbon tweeter (the ‘R’ version). It shares a similar carbon fibre bass unit
with the D40.
Two versions will be available, one with a soft dome tweeter (£4,500)
and the other with a ribbon tweeter (£4,750). Naturally we'll be having a listen
to them as soon as they have models available to audition.
Living Voice IBX-
This speaker is to the same basic specification as the OBX-
The finish range and prices are:
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Above: AN-
The AN-
The fundamental basics of the speaker stay the same throughout, it’s a fairly large, two way, rear ported, stand mount design using an 8 inch bass/mid driver and 1 inch soft dome tweeter. The speaker proportions may seem quite different from modern fashion, being wider rather than deeper, but in most rooms this is far more space efficient, and is responsible for the speakers impressive scale and imaging.
With a claimed efficiency in the region of 94dB up to 98dB (with efficiency rising as you go up through the range) and presenting an easy load to the amplifier these speakers allow a colossal choice of partnering amplification, and although they naturally lend themselves to smaller zero feedback valve amplifiers they will work well with any amplifier of sufficient quality.
Great attention is paid to the design and construction of these speakers, the cabinets
are made entirely of birch plywood (with the exception of the entry level AN-
The AN-
One of the more recent innovations within the Audio Note range is the use of Hemp
cones, which on some models are standard fitment and on others are available as an
option (the alternative being paper cones). As you’d expect, the paper cones sound
incredibly fast, clean and exciting to listen to. In comparison the Hemp cones have
a slightly richer and more relaxed presentation (almost as if you are a couple of
rows further back in the concert hall). The main benefit of the Hemp is the improved
mid band texture, tonality and resolution. I am regularly asked which I prefer and
hand on heart I find it difficult to say -
So what makes the AN-
As will all efficient speakers the dynamics are impressive and believable. What’s
more bass extension is remarkable, especially considering their size and efficiency
(the manufacturer claims a remarkable in room -
They are incredibly subtle and revealing devices too, and whilst they will reveal
the limitations of poor matching equipment, paradoxically they have the ability to
often get brilliant results even from poorer recordings. They pull off the trick
that many Audio Note products manage, they effectively disappear leaving the recording
and the performance right in front of you. Nowadays it’s very infrequent that I hear
new things in my favourite recordings, but the AN-
As you go up the range transparency, dynamics, detail retrieval and musicality all increase.
Please note there are no grilles supplied with the speakers, but if this is a problem for potential owners we can always provide something to protect the drive units from small fingers! Once you see the quality of the veneers available you will not want to hide them away under grille cloth unnecessarily.
I have broken this large range down into the following 3 sections:
Entry level model
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Internal crossover models
These models have cabinets made entirely of Russian Birch plywood which are fully veneered in a selection of stunning veneers (see lower down for the listing of finishes).
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External crossover models
These models feature external crossovers and come equipped with additional wiring to run between external crossover enclosure and speaker. It is possible to purchase a stand with the crossovers onboard for an additional £1,500, but personally we would only recommend it for when space is seriously limited.
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Dimensions: Width 36cm, depth 27cm, Height 79cm (plus stands).
The finish options available are: Maple, Curly Maple, Palisander, Olive, Tulip, Alder,
Oak, Apple, Cherry, Walnut, Black ash, Wenge, Birch Burl, Birds Eye Maple, Makassar-
I’ve pictured a few of the finishes below, we have samples of these finishes viewable in store too.
Finishes:
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Stands:
A choice of stands are available including Audio Notes own design (a flat back stand that requires mass loading) and the fully welded skeletal Something Solid XF (please see speaker stands section) are suitable.
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Living Voice OBX-
The OBX-
The finish range and prices are:
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Living Voice OBX-
The details of the new top model of the reflex range of Living voice speakers have
just been confirmed. Cosmetically they are almost identical to the OBX-
The finish range and prices are:
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A version with the crossovers internally mounted is also available this called the
IBX-
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Aspara Acoustics HL1
The HL1 is a two way horn loaded speaker and features a compression driver with titanium diaphragm for frequencies over 800Hz, beneath that is a 12“ bass driver in what Aspara call a modified exponential horn, whose mouth exits towards the floor.
Sensitivity is a claimed 100dB (although this is one of very few speakers where I feel that the manufacturer may have under rated the figure, subjectively they appear even more efficient than the numbers suggests). What this means is that they’re so easy to drive that almost any amplifier of suitable quality will excel with them, and even 3 watts should be sufficient to reach perfectly high enough listening levels in most rooms.
As is to be expected with any good horn loudspeaker the speed of sound is quite remarkable, and the wide bandwidth upper horn, which removes the need for a conventional tweeter gives a very seamless presentation. I was expecting stronger beaming of the very high frequencies, but in practice it’s much less than expected, and as long as you can see into the centre of the horn from your listening position then you should get good coverage. The bass system is remarkably compact for the low frequency extension available (which is sufficient to cover for most instruments), and it does this whilst offering great speed and tonality, imbuing the music with solidity and scale.
To ease setup the speakers feature an adjustable control for the higher frequencies allowing fine tuning to suit their surroundings, and with a little experimentation it’s possible tweak them to you preference remarkably easily.
Pictured above left is the standard Light oak veneer, above right is an American Walnut finish which along with a variety of other custom veneers and paint finishes are available to special order (some finishes may be subject to a premium).
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rcuit this design uses a 100volt charge to pre bias the capacitor in the very simple crossover.
Vitavox CN191
The CN191 is a substantial corner horn which has its roots in 1949 when it was first designed, yet it can still offer a musical performance that is practically unmatched for speed, scale and resolution.
These speakers are two way horns, using massively built Alnico mid range compression drivers coupled to wooden mid range horns. Frequencies below 500Hz are dealt with by a 15 inch driver in a corner bass horn enclosure that uses the rooms walls to extend the bass response. The sensitivity of the system is an immense 105dB meaning amplifiers with just a watt or twos output will suffice in most circumstances, which results in ultra low distortion, maximum energy retrieval and practically complete dynamic contrast.
As standard they are finished in Walnut veneer, other finishes are available but may be subject to a premium
Vitavox CN-
Vitavox CN-
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