The following is a translation of the August Edition 2009
of Lyd & Bild Magazine
SUPER SOUND STARTS HERE
AUDIOVECTOR S3
AVANTGARDE ARRETÉ
Like a fool, I sat there and trembled in disbelief. My ears instantly revealed what was not obvious to my eyes. The wildest improvement I had ever heard!
Actually there was no reason for my surprise. A few years ago I had a tuned and tweaked version of the Mi3 Avantgarde speakers from Ole Klifoths hand for testing. A version which gave some sound improvements, but none so radical as this.
The Arreté version of the one-year-old S3 Avantgarde can be summarized as a race-modified version of an already potent sports car. Almost like a Porsche GT2 or Ferrari 430 Scuderia. With cage, fire extinguisher system and slicks on the rims.
It looked almost exactly like the S3 Avantgarde, on which it is based. Therefore, I expected no more than subtle improvements, but I was shamefully mistaken. It may well be that the Arreté version resembles the donor speaker, but just as a racing tuned sports car, the Arreté vesion is tighter, more direct and pure with superb communication skills for a speaker of its size and price.
The Arreté uses the same curved NRFB-cabinet as the other four editions of the S3 series. But here the Nanopore damping is upgraded, the crossover is modified and the rigidity of the cabinet is reinforced on the front, back and interior, which complete the change with a new bass driver and cryogenic treatment of all electrical components. Right down to the three pairs of cable terminals on the back! Cryogenic treatment works such that internal wiring, switches and components, freeze-treated at - 238 degrees, ensures a more consistent structure in the copper material.
Beyond Normal Boundaries.
If I were the owner of a pair of S3 Avantgarde, I would prefer to consider an upgrade to the Arreté version rather than swapping to another speaker, when the time comes for sound improvement. For I can not imagine another speaker of this size, which sounds so powerful in the bass with the same crystal-clear sound from top to bottom. These speakers are fairly compact, and yet they have a power in the bass, which will leave far bigger speakers blushing with embarrassment.
KEF Reference 207/2 (at approximately EUR 20,000), with its three 12-inch bass drivers, have appreciably greater clout in the deep bass, but the much smaller (and cheaper, ed.) Audiovector Arreté speakers go deeper in the bass in a normal room and have tighter control of bass dynamics, when coupled with smaller amplifiers.
Which also tells how easily run these speakers are.
Positioned correctly, they play the veneer off many more expensive speakers I’ve heard. I never had a dull moment with the Arreté speakers.
As true high-end loudspeakers, they have that rare ability to dig out more of the musical nerve than most speakers. An old and beloved recording from 1980, with a 17 year old Anne Sophie Mutter under competent direction of Herbert von Karajan, was a gratifying déjà vue. The recording is analog and was converted to the digital format and is not one I often use when I need a recording of the highest possible quality.
But the Arreté speakers revitalized this recording, which immediately sounded fresh and sonorous, with a unique clear focus. Beethoven’s violin concerto sounded more like a modern recording, with much more dynamics than I’m used to from such old Deutsche Gramophone recordings. They often sound tame and with limited detailing.
Then it was something entirely different with Keith Jarratt trio “Setting Standards” from the New York Sessions. The recording is only three years younger than Mutters performance of the violin concerto, but it sounds much more open and dynamic.
This Arreté did not hide this fact and created a depth and timbre from the Steinway piano, worthy of a fine electrostatic speaker. The track “So Tender” had a fantastic sense of depth and space. Gary Peacocks bass and Jack DeJohnnettes drums were noticeably differently located in a three-dimensional soundstage, so even if the mixing has brought them forward the soundstage, gave me the delightful live feeling, because the dynamic contrast is so great.
These speakers are absolutely wonderfully fast – and faster than most – at reproducing sudden attack on drums and keyboards.
And they dig deep in the soundstage. Allison Krauss’ and Robert Plant’s “Killing The Blues” from the album “Raising Sand”, always sounds dark and enclosed. The only speakers which sound better on this particular CD, are the already mentioned KEF Reference 207 / 2 and the Piega CL 90 X. Both cost around £10,000 more per pair.
The Arreté speakers reproduce the different vocals with far more air, and here, the slight background noise in the recordings, which are drowning in the dark sound of other speakers, can finally be heard.
Joni Mitchell “Shine” is another example of the transparency of these speakers. Small nuances and underlying sound buried deep in the recording, become a part of the experience instead of drowning in a bottomless deep of color. Complex recordings are equally passionately reproduced as the simpler ones.
Anthony and the Johnsons “The Crying Light” becomes a revelation, causing chivers down your spine. Totally clean and lucid, the vocal stands right in space of me with an infinitely deep soundstage behind. The scale of the soundstage is far bigger than the speakers in front of me. The SACD version of Bob Dylan’s “Oh Mercy” is no exception. The resolution of the Avantgarde tweeter is striking good. It is better than that of electrostates on both transparency and overtones.
One gets the feeling that the highest tones are weightless, so uncompressed is the reproduction of them. Dylan’s “Man With The Long Black Veil”, creates a surround effect in space, which is more credible than you can count on getting from many clever six-channel installations.
The weight of the bass dynamics, and the almost total dynamic control of these speakers make them better “rockers” than most. Ryan Adams’ “Easy Tiger” is not the world’s best recording, but the Arreté speakers reproduce it with a clear and yet deadly loudness.
It is easy to follow the tonal phrasing of a bass guitar under the hammering of the drums, and apart from the KEF speakers’ physical grip on bass foundation, the Arreté speaker equals it on precision and deep bass. The decrease in the frequency response ranged between six and seven decibels from 31.5 to 25 Hz.
Impressive bearing in mind that Audiovector specify the Arreté speakers lowest frequency to 27 Hz with a decrease of 7 dB.
Conclusion.
If you position the speakers randomly and match them with a small amplifier, they may sound a bit slim, but never anemic. They play great on most things, but with a muscle amp in the high-end class, they really shine. Then you have really exploited the potential of what is one of the best compact floor standing all round speakers in the high-end class up to Eur 15,000. The Arreté version does everything that the Avantgarde version does, only better. It is like a bloodtrimmed racing car, where everything goes faster, sharper and more entertaining than the sports car, it is based. It should be called GTZ RS, so pure it is. (The new Nissan Supercar, referred to here, is one of the best street racers ever!).
