Audiophilepure

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2024/9/30/alta-audio-aphrodite-speakers

Creative, highly improvisational, exploratory, and mystical sounding with masterful musicianship, Aphrodite’s spatial cues made me feel like I was inside the church with its high ceilings and reverberations. Track 11, “Este a Székelyeknél” (In the evening at the Székelys), is based on a Hungarian-Transylvanian folk tune composed for piano by Béla Bartók in 1908 (from Ten Easy Piano Pieces);  Bartók then orchestrated it in 1931 with woodwinds and strings (No. 1 from Hungarian Sketches). At times, both Frisell’s guitar work and Downes’ organ imitated the high-pitched wood instruments of the Bartók orchestral version, while Cyrille tastefully chimed in with the resonating bells on his cymbals. It gave the piece a pleasant, oriental-like sound that Aphrodite displayed with impressive finesse and delicacy

https://www.hifinews.com/content/make-mine-large

Launched alongside the N801 was the actual range-topper, the Nautilus 800, the single 380mm bass replaced by a pair of 250mm units. It cost more, at well over £10,000 per pair, but was slimmer, easier for amplifiers to drive and didn’t need a huge room to work well.

Bowers & Wilkins (as the company is now) went on to introduce diamond tweeters with the 800D range, now in its D4 iteration. The Nautilus itself is still listed, with a 30th anniversary edition launched last year at a mere £100,000 per pair. But there is a waiting list.

They have a high engagement factor, drawing one into the music and allowing to fully enjoy and comprehend what is being conveyed. Their clever design makes them easy to place and position, and their patented midrange driver enables sound to expand far beyond the speakers, creating a remarkable horizontal and vertical soundstage.

The same goes for the depth of the sonic sphere, where the Challenger II allows music to emerge from a deep, black background, cutting through with refreshing airiness while staying true to the realistic portrayal of musicians and instruments.

Voices and instruments are presented with lifelike size, drum attacks are sharp and fast, and the leading edges of notes retain their crispness. This enables the Challenger II to instantly lock into the beat, reproducing music with stand-out clarity, transparency, and vividness.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2024/9/30/alta-audio-aphrodite-speakers

In short, Aphrodite is gorgeous in Piano Black and bold-looking. As with all Alta Audio speakers, the cabinet is not just a rectangular box; its sides taper off from the bottom up to the top. The drivers are beautifully displayed in the front, from top to bottom, with the symmetrical D’Appolito near the top, followed by the larger 9” mid-bass and then the thunderous-looking 10.4” subwoofer. The Alta Audio logo is a dash further down, followed by a bass port. A tasteful-looking black removable cloth cover for the front can easily be attached and removed magnetically.

At first sight, the entire cabinet appears to be a solid enclosure. Still, a closer look reveals that the upper half of the unit’s back and sides have a sturdy black cloth hood protecting the open-back dipole, which, when exposed, looks like a thin black monolith with the back of the drivers showing. It connects magnetically and firmly and should be kept on even when playing music, but it can be taken off to look at (admire?) the dipole. Only the subwoofer is enclosed/sealed in the lower part, the Alta XTL bass enclosure, the back of which, near the bottom, is the pair of speaker posts (for the use of either jumpers or Bi-wiring or Bi-amping). “Aphrodite” is written in orange script font between the posts for a final elegant touch.