Robert Harley – BEST SOUND (highest value) at THE Show Newport goes to Audience!


Posted by: Robert Harley at 9:09 am, June 11th, 2012

Best Sound (highest value)
Audience Wavepower amplifier and Wavemaster preamp driving Audience’s ClairAudient 1+1 loudspeaker (see below).
Greatest Bargain
Audience’s new ClairAudient 1+1 loudspeaker. This tiny cube, priced at $1800 per pair, combined the transparency of a one-way crossover less design with the dynamics and extension at the frequency extremes you’d expect from a larger conventional system.


Posted by: Neil Gader at 9:09 am, June 8th, 2012

Audience presented one of the smallest and one of the largest new speaker systems geared to promote the scalability of its full-range-driver philosophy. Driven by all Audience power was the new Mk II version of the ClairAudient 16+16 flagship ($72k). It continues as a bi-polar, one-way line source with thirty-two A3-S2 three-inch full-range drivers but has been upgraded with the addition of eight 6” x 9” custom passive radiators. To my ears the difference was quite startling with solid low-end response that didn’t inhibit the speed and crystalline focus that makes this design so listenable. In comparison and obviously bass-restricted, the tiny ClairAudient 1+1 was captivating in how well it retains the flagship’s remarkable voice and timbre ($1800).

 

Sounstage Reviewers’ Choice for LSA 8+8, August 2009


“I’ve heard a number of speakers that go for six digits a pair, and some that cost more than ten times the ClairAudients’ price. But I can’t think of a single speaker I’ve heard that has combined all the strengths of the ClairAudient LSA8+8 so spectacularly. It may well be the most neutral speaker I’ve ever heard, and it puts everything together to present memorable, moving, magnificent musical moments. Absolutely glorious, and an easy Reviewers’ Choice.”
Vade Forrester, Soundstage – August ’09
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Positive Feedback Review of LSA 16+16 Loudspeakers, July 2009


“That’s what these newly crafted, supremely buffed and tweaked ClairAudient “LSA 16+16″ bi-pole speakers concoct: tactile musical force of a sort that makes it impossible for any music lover not to be sucked in, swept up, and transformed emotionally into immediate proximity with surging musical grooves and lyrical kaleidoscopes of shifting melodic shapes.”
Jim Merod – July ’09
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The Absolute Sound Review of LSA 4+4’s, June 2009


Robert Harley Blogs Audience
“The LSA4+4 sounded like a full-range speaker in every way, but with a coherence and seamlessness that was undoubtedly due to the lack of crossovers and disparate drivers. The midrange was palpable and immediate without sounding forward or emphasized. The top end had a full measure of detail and resolution, without the lack of air and extension I’ve heard in the past from full-range drivers. But the most surprising aspects of the LSA4+4 were its bass and dynamics. The bottom-end exhibited real weight and body, with a wonderful palpability of instrumental texture on acoustic bass. Similarly, the system was very quick, dynamic, and agile, with impact behind musical peaks.”
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Robert Harley, Editor – June 22, ‘09

THE Show ’08

No room at CES this year sounded better than the Audience set up. No room sounded as sonically accurate, as emotionally and aesthetically beguiling, as musically truthful and flat out startling with dynamic rightness of weight and timbre—as melodically, angelically charismatic.

Paired with the $7000 ClairAudient 12 subwoofer, this system was able to produce some of the most glorious midrange I’ve ever heard. Space was reach-out-and-touch real, micro dynamic events were breath taking, and the overall tonal balance was scary.

Positive Feedback On-Line/Jim Merod – THE Show ’08 Report

THE Show ’08
Audiogon Interview with Audience

Audience appeals to a wider audience (06:18)
We have THREE videos for you, covering the ever expanding product range from Audience LLC. We were lucky enough to convince John McDonald, the founder, to spend some time with us for this interview. We also caught up with chief designer Roger Sheker, who gave us many insights into their speakers and power products. DIY’ers should also check out his brief on Aura capacitors.

THE Show ’08-

Positive Feedback On-Line/Greg Weaver – THE Show ’08 Report