“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
