This month’s Exotica is the very definition of luxury and the sort of dreamland purchase that is beyond the reach of most mere mortals. Unless you have the expendable income of a Premiership footballer or Russian oligarch, you’ll need to start getting lucky with those lottery numbers. Very lucky... Everything about the Audiovector R 8 Arreté is impressive, from the size and scale of the cabinet to the seemingly fiendish complexity of the design, which appears to have drivers firing and venting in all directions. The piano-lacquered Italian Burl Walnut veneer, seen here, is gorgeous too, and offered alongside Italian Grey, black and white finish options.
But although this floorstander looks and feels like a flagship model from the Danish company, its wallet-straining price tag is still a world away from its big brother, the £190,250 R 11 Arreté. If all that’s too rich for you, the entry-point for the Arreté range is the R 1 standmount, at just under £5,000, although this and the R 3 and R 6 floorstanders forego the luscious gloss of the R 8 we have before us here.
Take a walk around the R 8 Arreté, and what initially looks like a relatively conventional, if heroically built, speaker soon reveals itself to be something massively more complex. Yes, the aluminium baffle may appear to house all the drivers – the AMT ribbon tweeter and what are surely a mid/bass driver and a pair of bass drivers – but that’s just the tip of the technology iceberg. As the venting on the rear panel, also made from aluminium, and the eye-catching finned plinth suggest, there literally is more to this than meets the eye.
Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Hi-Fi Choice.
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Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Hi-Fi Choice.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Old boys network
As the lineups start to emerge for this summer's festivals, Nigel Williamson investigates where the problem lies for the continuing dearth of female headliners
DESTINATION: LEITH
Welcome to a friendly haven of Californian cool in the creative heart of a former Edinburgh port. Simon Berkovitch samples the sunshine on Leith
Core values
Apple’s revamped HomePod smart speaker off ers attractive sound quality, but its Apple-centric focus remains frustrating for Cliff Joseph
Forty something
Creek Audio is celebrating its big four-o with the release of the new 4040 A integrated. Nick Tate lights the candles and listens in
One for all
German high-ender AVM wants to make top all-in-one performers. David Vivian takes a listen to its all-singing integrated amp
Three for all
The 700 Series receives a helping of tech from the flagship 800 models. Ed Selley sees how the smallest speaker fares
All in one
DAP, DAC, amplifier and streaming device, is there anything A&K’s new Acro can’t do? Cliff Joseph finds out
Wooden wonder
Better known for its speakers, ELAC’s range of electronics now has a new flagship turntable. Ed Selley takes it for a spin
System matching
Why finding the perfect synergy between your chosen integrated amplifier and favourite speakers holds the key to maximising your system’s potential
Game on!
At times the hi-fi and gaming industries might seem like they’re worlds apart, but Cliff Joseph reckons they both share a love of high-quality sound