First, I received the speakers sooner than expected (thanks for that:) and after a few hours of burn in I listened. Wow! These are a bit different than any of my other speakers (Wilson Sofia III & KEF LS50) and be assured I am very pleased. They play the music so nicely and give me all the information I’ve ever wanted. They are perhaps akin to my Sennheiser HD800 but without the bump in the high end. I’m currently integrating a James subwoofer that I’ve had kicking around and it looks to be a good match so far. We shall see. I could happily use them without the sub, but the James is very fast and should integrate rather well. One more item. I had not remembered that you are the president of the company. You treated me with courtesy, helpfulness, and were downright pleasant to work with. I appreciated your input on helping me make my selection. Kudos to you and your fine company. They may be some cables in the future. If so, I’ll be in touch. Thanks so very much. It was a great experience for me:)
-Alex Leatham
Audience Wins 1+1 2015, 2016 Editors’ Choice Award from The Absolute Sound!
Audience 1+1
When SS reviewed the single-full-range-driver Audience “The ONE” speakers, he was convinced that they were the best nearfield monitors he’d ever heard. His time with the larger Audience 1+1 speakers has led him to place the 1+1 above the “The ONE” at the top of his own personal “best” nearfield loudspeaker list. Just like “The ONE” speakers, the Audience 1+1 creates a three-dimensional soundstage that allows you to listen deeply into the nuances of a mix or a live performance. SS,246
Tech 50+ Boomie Award for Audience The ONE Personal Monitors
“The ClairAudient V2+ bookshelf speakers are among the best we’ve ever heard. What sets them apart is the clean, uncolored sound.”
Gary M. Kaye, Tech 50+ – February ’16
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Audience AV, John McDonald, Lenny Mayeaux, Loudspeakers, Cables, Power Conditioners, CES
Peter Breuninger interviews John McDonald and Lenny Mayeaux at the 2016 CES:
Audience Debuts Its Improved ClairAudient 1+1-V2 Loudspeaker And Introduces 1+1-V2 Option
NEWS RELEASE
Media Contact:
Frank Doris / Public Relations
631-645-5668
frankdoris@frankdoris.com
Audience 800-565-4390 (US and Canada)
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Audience Debuts Its Improved ClairAudient 1+1-V2 Loudspeaker And Introduces 1+1-V2 Option
San Marcos, CA, December 9, 2015 – Audience today announced the introduction of its ClairAudient 1+1-V2 loudspeaker, incorporating upgraded drivers to deliver even greater sonic realism than the original version of the 1+1. In addition, an available “kit” takes the 1+1-V2’s performance to yet another level of refinement.
The ClairAudient 1+1-V2 is a bi-pole (front- and rear-radiating) design that delivers surprisingly expansive sound from a compact enclosure.
The 1+1-V2 is the result of a highly improved Audience full range driver, the A3S2-16. The new driver basket and motor are machined to higher tolerances for a more precision assembly. The new driver also has a notably more powerful motor made possible by the use of higher-quality steel for the neodymium magnet. The new driver utilizes custom OHNO oxygen-free copper (OCC) leads between the motor assembly and the speaker lugs for improved conductivity. In addition, the A3S2-16 now has one 16-ohm voice coil rather than the dual-8-ohm voice coils of the previous driver, eliminating a jumper wire on each driver and the associated connections that were needed to parallel the two previous 8-ohm voice coils to yield 16 ohms for each of the two drivers.
The sonic results are significant: better resolution, “speed” and soundstaging and a more realistic timbre and natural quality to vocals and instruments. “The improvement provided by the new A3S2-16 driver is not subtle,” said John McDonald, president of Audience. “It takes this already exceptional loudspeaker into an entirely new realm of listener involvement. The speaker sounds bigger, more powerful and more high-end. For everyone who was surprised at what this small speaker could do before, they’re going to be even more impressed when they hear the new V2 and V2+.”
The 1+1-V2+’s available + kit provides yet another degree of sonic refinement. The 1+1-V2+ adds beautiful solder-less Tellurium binding posts and Audience premium Au24 internal wiring. The + kit option adds yet another layer of refinement, particularly evident by the smoothness, improved timbre and tonal richness.
The compact ClairAudient 1+1-V2 utilizes one A3S2-16 driver in the front and one in the rear along with two side-firing passive radiators in a crossoverless point source design, a configuration that yields exceptionally coherent and musically natural performance. The speaker is striking in appearance, with a multi-angled enclosure finished in high-gloss black accented by rosewood sides.
The A3S2-16 driver, although just 3 inches in diameter, delivers an extremely flat frequency response from 50Hz to 22kHz (depending on room placement), eliminating the need for a separate woofer, midrange driver, tweeter, and crossover network. As a result the inherent problems of integrating sonically dissimilar drivers and the accompanying phase distortions, loss of resolution and transient response degradation of a crossover network are completely avoided. The dual side-mounted passive radiators augment the output of the A3S2-16 drivers and enable the 1+1-V2 to deliver outstanding presence and dynamic contrast with an expanded soundstage, extended low-frequency response and increased power handling.
The A3S2-16 driver incorporates numerous engineering refinements such as a large patented neodymium-magnet motor structure and voice coil that moves with a highly linear excursion of 12mm; an exclusive titanium alloy cone material with a curvilinear shape; a concave dust cap specially designed to control high-frequency cone breakup and provide optimum dispersion; a unique ìSî-shaped surround that allows the driver to behave more like an ideal pistonic radiator, and many additional enhancements.
The ONE-V2 Upgrade Also Available Now
In related news, the Audience The ONE-V2 speaker has also been upgraded with the new driver. The ONE-V2 single-driver speaker is ideal for desktop music listening, compact high-end stereo and surround sound home theater systems. Measuring just 7″ x 7″ x 5.5″, The ONE-V2 employs a single A3S2-16 driver and a passive radiator and represents Audienceís effort to produce the finest small speaker possible.
The Audience ClairAudient 1+1-V2 loudspeaker is currently available at a suggested retail price of $1,995 per pair. The 1+1-V2+ is available at $2,345 per pair. The ONE-V2’s suggested retail price is $1,095 per pair and The ONE-V2+ is $1,445 per pair.
Previous ClairAudient 1+1 owners can have their speakers upgraded to V2 or V2+ status for $500 and $875 respectively.
The ONE can be upgraded to The ONE-V2 or V2+ for $250 and $625 respectfully. Like all Audience audio components and loudspeakers the ClairAudient 1+1-V2 and The ONE-V2 are engineered and assembled in the United States.
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About Audience
Audience was formed in November 1997 by John McDonald and the late Richard Smith, as a design and production company focused on building the best possible audio and video equipment. To pass the Audience test, each product must truly make a significant contribution to the reproduction of audio and/or video. Audience offers loudspeakers, electronics, cables, power conditioners, high-resolution capacitors and the Auric Illuminator optical disk resolution enhancement.
Audience’s commitment is to develop the very best products possible, and the company is committed to unexcelled customer service and product support. All Audience cables have an unconditional lifetime warranty and power conditioners have a ten-year warranty. For more information visit www.audience-av.com.
Dagogo Review of ClairAudient 1+1 November ’15
” All the versions of the Audience ClairAudient 1+1 are worthy of whatever associated gear or cables; you can afford to pair with them. The ability of the ClairAudient 1+1 to produce a reach – out – and – touch – someone soundstage, to my astonishment, is even better with V2 and V2+. It was already the best I’d heard in my house for under $17,000. I would say that the V2+ speakers are the reigning king of this much-desired attribute of high-end speakers. ”
Jack Roberts, Dagogo – October ’15
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Dagogo Review of ClairAudient 1+1 Loudspeakers by Jack Roberts
“It is very hard to believe that a pair of mini-monitors selling for under $1,800 a pair, weighing less than eight pounds, would be able to compete with and best in many areas with speakers that cost over five figures”.
Jack Roberts – June ’15
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The ONE Testimonial April 2015
Unexpectedly, The ONES (with SUB15) present organ music with great realism. It can be pure majesty. This near-field system is proving mysterious and challenging, urging me to further appreciate the art of listening — through acceptance. Perhaps it’s best approached one type of music at a time. The speakers can seem “purpose-built”. I discovered their excellence with opera. Now organ. Part of it is their “compact” imaging. They don’t work to recreate the whole (distant) space, but rather the personal space as apprehended by one listener in the much larger environment. (As I read what I’ve just written I wonder if there is a difference. I know that I struggle to describe and ‘understand’ their kind of repro.) Part of it is seeming to be at a virtual “console” while listening, eg the mixing board in a studio, conductor’s podium at the opera, keyboards of the organist. I love this illusion of control. Let me pretend to play for you now… Desmond Fretz
Audience Wins Multiple 2015 Editors’ Choice Awards from The Absolute Sound!
Below are quotes from The Absolute Sound 2015 Editors’ Choice Product Awards:
The ONE, as you might infer from its name, is a single full-range driver shoehorned into a small box. The driver itself is the same unit, the A3S, that Audience uses in its flagship $72,000 16+16 speaker. According to Audience, the A3S has exceptionally flat response, claimed to be +/-3db from 40Hz to 22kHz. Be that as it may, properly set up The ONE is the best desktop speaker reviewer Steven Stone has heard (after the Audience 1+1). SS, 236
Audience 1+1
When SS reviewed the single-full-range-driver Audience “The ONE” speakers, he was convinced that they were the best nearfield monitors he’d ever heard. His time with the larger Audience 1+1 speakers has led him to place the 1+1 above the “The ONE” at the top of his own personal “best” nearfield loudspeaker list. Just like “The ONE” speakers, the Audience 1+1 creates a three-dimensional soundstage that allows you to listen deeply into the nuances of a mix or a live performance. SS,246
Audience Au24 SE Cables
Audience has long insisted that mammoth wires are not only superfluous but can be a hindrance to good sound. Its slender Au24 SE cables and interconnects make a strong case that size does not always matter. While they do not appear to deliver as full a sound as some of their competitors, the Audience Au24 SE assemblage offers some of everything- a wide and deep soundstage, a goodly amount of detail, and superb transparency. When their relatively modest price is factored in, the Audience line only becomes even more impressive for its ability to compete with much pricier top-end cables. JHb, 249
Audience Au24 SE USB
This new USB cable is simply sensational in every way. The Au24 SE USB’s clarity, dimensionality, and gorgeous timbre put it in a class by itself. It seems to have no signature of its own, but rather more transparently conveys what’s coming from your computer. The dual-cable design separates the signal-carrying and power-carrying conductors. RH, review forthcoming.
Audience powerChord SE
The Audience powerChords offer bass clarity, weight, and pitch resolution that place them at or near the top of the affordable-power-cord pack. Except for a slight treble congestion and somewhat laid-back overall presentation, there is little deviation from tonal neutrality, NG, 208
Audience Au24 SE powerChord
The SE brings to the table new connectors with higher quality metallurgy and lower mass terminations making for an across-the-board sonic improvement to an already excellent line of products. Offered in three versions: low-power for DACs, preamps, and phonostages; medium-power for lower-powered integrated amplifiers; and high-power for power amplifiers. NG 219, RH 245, JHb 249
Audience aR2p Power Conditioner
Used with a CD player, the aR2p-Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device-enhanced soundstaging dimensionality, and depth. The 12-outlet aR12 was also found to be extremely effective, capable of delivering significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. 162, 179, 186, 235
Audience aR6-TSS
Used with a CD player, the aR2p-Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device-enhanced soundstaging dimensionality, and depth. The 12-outlet aR12 was also found to be extremely effective, capable of delivering significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. 162, 179, 186, 235
Audience aR12
Used with a CD player, the aR2p-Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device-enhanced soundstaging dimensionality, and depth. The 12-outlet aR12 was also found to be extremely effective, capable of delivering significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. 162, 179, 186, 235
Used with a CD player, the aR2p-Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device-enhanced soundstaging dimensionality, and depth. The 12-outlet aR12 was also found to be extremely effective, capable of delivering significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. 162, 179, 186, 235
Audience aR-12 TS
Used with a CD player, the aR2p-Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device-enhanced soundstaging dimensionality, and depth. The 12-outlet aR12 was also found to be extremely effective, capable of delivering significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. 162, 179, 186, 235
The ONE Testimonial April 2015
John, listening this morning to Charlie Haden & Jim Hall on The ONES I’ve discovered something impossibly pure. Can our hobby be this simple? With my Maggies system there was so much trying. Complexity and frustration. But here is “only the music”. As I learn to appreciate this kind of reproduction, I feel it letting me in. The more I suspend disbelief, the further in I go. In your letter about these personal reference monitors, you state their meaning: “they simply get out of the way.” I understand your company’s mission. With gratitude, – Dez