Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1122-the-curious-case-of-avalon-acoustics

valon is by no means the only company where this lack of coverage is caused by a simple lack of contact. There could be any number of reasons for that. Perhaps the company simply doesn’t need a review. Or it doesn’t want a review. Or whatever. That’s fair, of course. And if that’s the case, and you let us know, at least we can more accurately answer correspondence asking “Why haven’t you reviewed these specific products?”

Driven by the mighty HUMBOLDT, one might mistakenly walk away with the impression that the ESE offers plenty of cacophonous thrills, dynamic fireworks, and crushing bass, but little in the way of nuance, delicacy, and overall refinement. This would be a mistake. For starters, the ESE speaks with a superbly coherent voice, this despite its use of five (5) drivers per side composed of different materials. When a speaker designer can blend the outputs of drivers fabricated from beryllium, anodized aluminum, and Kevlar into a coherent wavefront, much of that success owes to a simple factor: the use of a high-quality, well-designed crossover network.

The core VSA crossover technologies (VSA prefer to call their crossovers “networks”) devised so many years ago by AVS and here tweaked, refined, and reimagined so skillfully by Damon and Leif, also yield a sound of remarkable transparency, image and staging solidity, and overall cohesion, along with plenty of low-end slam. Whatever the musical genre, the ESE allows the listener to focus his or her attention on each aspect of the transducer’s considerable performance envelope while never losing sight of the sonic whole. Let’s start with the “image and staging” portion of the equation. From the “almost” entry-level E-3 Mk II up to the earth-shaking U11, all VSA models stage and image “out of box” as impressively as any dynamic driver system that I have encountered.

Acora SRC-1 Speakers

Practicality aside, the SRC-1s are beautiful. Not entirely as black as the Spinal Tap album cover, they still have some detail in the black, looking absolutely beautiful when light hits them. They are austere enough that they should work within any décor, though they probably lend themselves to a more modern room. As does everything black. The amount of time and precision to cut granite to this level of accuracy should not be overlooked either. The cabinet joints and driver cutouts are perfectly executed.