Absolute Sound 2014 Awards for Audience Cables, PowerChords, Conditioners, Loudspeakers

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Au24 SE Phono Cable
$1245/1m pr.
The Audience phono cable, in a crowded field of contenders, soars above many of them with its alacrity and transparency. Extremely flexible and lightweight, the phono cable is simplicity itself to use. Coupled with its jackrabbit speed is a naturalness of timbre that makes for refined and seductive listening. It also seems to filter out external noise effectively. JH, 230

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Audience The ONE
$995
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. SS, 236

 

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Audience Au24 SE powerChord 
$2420/6 ft.
A power cord that touches all the right bases and then some. To be expected are its neutrality, low noise floor and almost intuitive sense of recorded space and ambience. Beyond that is a stronger micro aspect that hones in on images with incisive focus and seemingly effortless flow and immediacy. Last but not least, the Au24 powerChord is one of the more flexible premium cords available, very handy for angled runs. NG, 219

 

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Power Conditioners
Audience aR2p/aR12/aR6-TSS/aR12-TS
$695/$4995/$6000/$8995
The aR2p, Audience’s compact, dual-outlet power conditioner and isolation device is based on the massive twelve-outlet versions of which Audience is rightly proud. Its enhancement of soundstaging, dimensionality, and depth can be profound. Further up the Audience food chain are the twelve-outlet heavy-hitters. The aR-12p delivers significant improvements in bass definition and depth, overall resolution, and soundstage depth. If six outlets are sufficient, the aR6-TSS with the new “S” filter takes the performance to another level. Across the entire line the build-quality is nothing short of exemplary. AR2p also available in Teflon-cap version for $1600. Reviewed in Issues 162, 179, 186, 236

The ONE

Trulygadgets.com Review of The One

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“In fact, we challenge you to a blind listening test- we haven’t found a speaker nearly this size anywhere near this price range that can offer sound as detailed and full-spectrum. The better the recordings, the better your amplifier, the better these will perform”.
Greg May, trulygadgets.com – February ’14 Read Full Review

 

HiFi+ Review of The ONE October 2013

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The ONE isn’t going to be for everyone, but those who like it will struggle to find better from any loudspeaker with a crossover ‘in the way’. This isn’t just another small loudspeaker, it’s the start of a revolution!
Issue 68 – Oct. ‘13
By Alan Sircom, editor

 

Testimonial on The ONE, October ’13

Hi John, The One loudspeakers resolution is so high & precise that I’m
hearing new notes, in my system, that I’ve never heard before except maybe
through my electrostatic headphones. The One loudspeakers are basically high
resolution headphone speakers that you listen to without having to wear
uncomfortable headphones that also restricts movement. I prefer listening to
the The One loudspeakers, rather than my electrostatic headphones, as one
can tell. I think that loudspeakers with crossovers & tweeters is an
outdated past technology, that in my opinion should be discarded, but we
know that’s going to take time until more audiophiles hear these profound
speakers. Thank you John for putting so much effort & time into creating
these, shall I say it again? profound & emotional speakers that touches the
human soul. Sincerely, Jimmy.

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