Following is the complete list of show reports on the Audience room from THE Show Las Vegas 2013.For those of you who have long been waiting for the ONE loudspeakers – shipping will begin in about ten days. We also expect to start shipping the 1+1 mid May.
Positive Feedback – Greg Weaver
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue66/ces2013.htm
By far the most interesting new speaker I heard at this year’s event was the Audience ClairAudient 1+1 ($1800 per pair) standing on Target stands ($150/pr). Sourced by the Bryston BDP-1 player ($2195) and BDA-1 DAC ($1995), the rest of the electronics included the prototypical Audience Wavepower amplifier and Wavemaster preamp, neither with an announced price as yet. The hotel wall current was tamed by use of two (one on the front end components, another on the power amps) Audience Adept Response aR6-TSS power conditioner ($6000), and all cables were from Audience, the Au24 powerChords ($2200/6 ft.), the new Au24 SE RCA interconnects ($1290/meter) and the Au24 SE speaker cables ($1995/2meter). I have one of the new Au24-SEs in house, and the initial results are WONDERFUL. Watch this space for a review this spring.
The Audience ClairAudient 1+1—and they sounded EVERY BIT as good as they look
When I asked to give them a listen, the first thing Richard fired up for me was a Redbook FLAC file, “From the Beginning” from Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s 1972 release, Trilogy, on the Bryston BDP-1. I have to say that while I’ve heard this cut hundreds of times, this time it was revelatory! This system served up everything in a delicately layered, remarkably liquid, and compellingly involving manner. It’s amazing how much music you hear when you eschew the “evils” of crossovers! Well done, gents! Well done!
Stereophile/John Atkinson
The Audience ClairAudient 1+1
By John Atkinson • Posted: Jan 16, 2013
Over at T.H.E. Show, Audience were demoing the ClairAudient 1+1 bipolar speaker ($1800/pair), which uses two of the small full-range A3S drive-units developed by Roger Sheker, one on the front, one on the back, loaded with two passive radiators on the speaker’s sides. The sound was dynamic, with surprisingly extended low frequencies.
The less-expensive The ONE ($995/pair), which uses just one A3S driver, was being demmed very effectively as part of a desk-top system (above), driven by a $550 Teac amplifier and a $695 QLA media player. AC conditioning was, of course provided by Audience AdeptResponse units.
The Absolute Sound/Neil Gader
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-2013-consumer-electronics-show-neil-gader-on-loudspeakers-under-20k/
Audience ClairAudient 1+1 has no minuses
Audience, (pictured above) the full-range driver specialists, has further refined its unique technology in the mini ClairAudient 1+1 ($1800) Boasting a newly sculpted angular front baffle to minimize diffraction effects its equipped with twin A3S full range drivers and dual passive radiators. Designed for intimate environs, it projected terrific mid range transparency, speed.
Part-Time Audiophile
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/02/04/las-vegas-2013-audience-av/
Audience AV has branched out — have you heard? The company, already very well known for their superb Au24 line of cables and capacitor-based power conditioners, have been not-so-quietly rolling out a line of loudspeakers.
With prices starting at $995/pair for the new The One single-driver loudspeakers (shown in blue, below) all the way up to the $72k/pair ClairAudient 16+16, Audience is entirely serious — and seriously kicking ass.
The basic design rotates around s small, but full-range driver. The One uses … one. The 1+1 uses … two. The 16+16 uses … 32. You get the picture. As you move up the line, sensitivity, total output and impedance all climb.
The new, final, look for the ClairAudient 1+1 is a front+rear setup, that is, there are two full-range drivers, setup as a bi-pole, and two passive radiators on the flanks, also setup as a bi-pole. The result? 360° sound. Which is precisely what I heard — a bewilderingly wide, deep sounds stage that had me convinced, for the first 10 seconds, that not only was I being punked but that, perhaps, everything was wired out of phase. It wasn’t, but man, that was freakin’ huge.
Moving to The One, the sound field was far more in line with what I expected, but I have to say that these little boxes have no right to make this kind of sound. Surprising, impactful, and compact. Completely unexpected — I’d love to get my hands on some.
