Notable honorable mention exhibits at CAF 2025.
Capital Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Audience (703) is more commonly known as a manufacturer of cables and power conditioners, but here they premiered a floorstanding speaker as a follow-up to their very highly acclaimed monitor, now in its fifth generation. The music was exceptional, but the speaker holds even greater promise if paired with higher-performance components, including tube amplification for which it is eminently suited, with its internally powered bass driver. Its modest size and elegant presentation make it suitable for fine homes.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

“Taking the opposite approach to crossover filter implementation (or the lack thereof) the Audience Bellare ($36,000/pair) employs multiple 3** wideband drivers to produce all the loudspeaker’s output from 120Hz up—there’s no crossover above that point. This, the manufacturer maintains in its promotional materials, “preserves phase integrity, tonal purity, and an ideal radiation pattern” with a variety of amplifiers, including low-powered single-ended designs. Low frequencies are the responsibility of the Bellare’s active bass section that’s equipped with a 300-watt amplifier that provides DSP room-correction and has the capacity to adjust the speaker’s bass output level with the supplied remote. Driven by Atma-Sphere amplifiers, cymbals on well-recorded jazz tracks were pristine and extended. Vocal sibilants were well behaved. Reproduction of an acoustic bass’s upper harmonics was exceptional on Patricia Barber’s version of “Ode to Billie Joe” with bassist Michael Arnopol from the 1994 album Café Blue.”
Andrew Quint – Dec ’25

“My notes are all about the Bellare’s clarity. The sound was crystalline on the Minnesota Orchestra’s Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11,. On Patricia Barber’s “Yellow Car III,” cymbals were steely and drums were immaculately well-defined.” On “Ode to Billie Joe,” the bass was notably clean, though the treble remained the true revelation.”
Ken Micallef – Dec ’25
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“..the Audience ClairAudient Bellare ($36,000/pr), held court at the 2025 Capital Audiofest and impressed us once again with a smooth delivery, a gigantic soundstage that stretched out in every direction, and a truly natural and endearing tonality.”
Marc Phillips – Dec ’25
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