Of titles that might mislead us, loudspeakers that get us back on the path, and the question of what we’re actually doing with this wondrous hobby.
A doctor from the University Hospital in Tübingen once explained it to me like this: If we could see as well as we hear, we could read a newspaper lying on the moon and lit only by a candle. Since, for many of us, reading a newspaper at a certain age is already a challenge, we can agree that our ears are remarkable, and caring for them should be a central concern. Yet, when it comes to buying speakers, our eyes often lead us, seduced by elegant or aggressive designs (depending on our preferences) and alluring brand logos. Retailers repeatedly confirm that it’s quite difficult to focus their customers on listening.
And this touches on two of the three topics mentioned earlier: how we approach our hobby, and those mysterious speakers that supposedly promise salvation. Let’s linger on the hobby. We’ve discussed this time and again among colleagues, but still it’s worth repeating: listen more and trust your ears. How pretty speaker X is, or how enthusiastic an author (including myself) was about speaker Y, become irrelevant once the initial excitement fades and you’re alone in front of your setup, anxiously questioning the quagmire you’ve sunk your hard-earned money into.
For me, decidedly neutral speakers that refrain from coloring the sound are how I find my way back to happiness. In a line of business where every other month a new, often unattainable device arrives on your doorstep, you’re not only walking through a garden of temptations, but often succumbing to them. We are only human, after all. Speakers that don’t impose their character but simply relay the music also make me reflect on my own perception, as they don’t intoxicate me with flavor enhancers. It cleanses the senses and, simultaneously, elevates the musical experience, as I hear more of the musician’s intention rather than that of the designer.
To get to the point: The Audio Physic Avantera is the prime example of this kind of speaker. And I won’t desperately try to maintain suspense or sprinkle information in a dramaturgically effective way. No, these speakers are among – mind you, in my environment and with my ears – the best I’ve ever experienced. And this realization didn’t come after long contemplation. It hit me like a ton of bricks within a few seconds.
I had placed the Audio Physic speakers in my living room, but had yet to position them properly. I used good cables and wired them to the integrated amp I had ready at the time, and I planned to leave them alone to loosen up their chassis. You know how sensitive to burn-in these thoroughbred beasts can be. Through Tidal, I played a CD I had mastered myself. From the first notes, I was amazed by the incredible clarity and lack of coloration. However, after just three bars, the Avantera pointed out a small error in the cut that I hadn’t noticed during mastering. I immediately listened to the master again in the studio and was forced to admit that these speakers were more accurate in a non-treated living room than my current studio monitors in a professional acoustic environment. Strong stuff.
But you’d be mistaken if you were to assume that these acoustic magnifying glasses are only good for pea counting and fail to convey the emotional impact of the music. In fact, when a system can pave an unobstructed path for every nuance brought out by a great musician, you can reach heights denied to anyone with a lesser setup. This somewhat aged realization was reaffirmed by the Avantera every single day. I continually heard novel subtleties in the playing of skilled pianists that I hadn’t noticed before, or at least not to that degree. When you can hear not just a beautiful line but the entire, finely detailed relief, music truly becomes three-dimensional even in the living room.
But how does the mastermind behind these speakers, Manfred Diestertich, achieve such incredible clarity? You could fill tomes with the answer, and no amount of space would do justice to the flood of information, as every aspect of loudspeaker design has been questioned and rethought at Audio Physic. Carsten Barnbeck has already shared insights about the larger sister model, the Cardeas, which also apply to the Avantera. Therefore, I will only highlight a few as-yet-to-be-discussed aspects.
To ensure that a slim speaker like this that acoustically doesn’t stand in its own way still has enough volume for confident bass reproduction, all internal braces are made from ceramic foam. This material is significantly stiffer than MDF, and it only takes up about fifteen percent of its volume due to its open structure. This way, both the internal volume increases without changing the external dimensions, and the enclosure can be noticeably stiffer. Moreover, this ceramic works so well as a diffuser that significantly less damping material is needed in the treble while completely removed in the bass. As we all know, this can certainly benefit a speaker’s liveliness and directness.
Diestertich has been contemplating component placement on the crossover and found that it makes an audible difference whether the second capacitor (on a third-order crossover) is placed up- or downstream of the tweeter, even though nothing changes in the measurements. All frequency bands have since been accordingly designed, with the bass using coils rather than capacitors.
My colleague Barnbeck has already reported on the magnificent midrange drivers. Thanks to newly developed surrounds, they function without centering spiders, just like the cone tweeters. The development of these chassis has progressed so far that midrange and treble are produced by exactly the same drivers. This homogeneity can be attested to by anyone who has heard good monitors from PMC, ATC or Neumann, where this entire range is covered by domes. Different approaches, same coherence.
Consider the enclosure’s sophisticated material combination, the magnetic feet, the driver arrangement on the baffle, the glass panels, or the decoupled terminals, etc., etc. To cut myself short, I could go on and on about these speakers and still not cover all the innovations that Manfred Diestertich and his team have conceived over the years.
However, to listeners, the sound itself is far more important. Rarely have I heard a realistically recorded opera stage (Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde, Vienna State Opera, Christian Thielemann) so convincingly in my living room as through the Audio Physic Avantera. More than most other speakers, they achieve not only width and depth, but also a remarkably accurate height of the sonic events. All at once, there are fewer overlaps between the orchestra and the singers because the orchestra is audibly positioned lower, allowing the singers to operate more freely up top.
Shall we debunk another prejudice? Here goes: what I described above isn’t just true for classical music. Every truly great musician and every well-crafted production benefits from this openness. Chet Baker sounds even more lost, the Beastie Boys come across with even more grit, Angus Young earns another medal for his right hand and, as always, you can’t help but kneel before Prince.
As for the resolution of the title, it is obviously presumptuous to label a speaker that comes in at more than €20,000 an underdog. Yet, it assumes precisely this role when compared to high-end competitors priced at several times that. And in a blinding moment, this down-to-earth, brilliantly engineered underdog from Sauerland becomes a star.
Accompanying Equipment
Turntables: Transrotor Apollon TMD with SME 5, SME 3012, and others | Cartridges: Clearaudio Talisman and Stradivari V2, Ortofon Vienna and Jubilee, Denon DL-103 | CD Player: Mark Levinson No. 390S | DAC: Merging Technologies | Preamp: Crane Song Avocet | Power Amps: Digital amplifier based on ICE Power, Accuphase P-4200 | Integrated Amp: Lavardin IT | Loudspeakers: Spendor Classic 3/5, Wilson Audio Sasha DAW | Cables: Vovox and others
Loudspeaker Audio Physic Avantera
Concept: Passive floorstanding speaker with internal woofers | Driver complement: 28 cm woofer (inside the box), 18 cm low-midrange driver, 15 cm midrange driver HHCM SL+, 39 mm tweeter HHCT III+ | Impedance: 4 Ω | Recommended amplifier power: 40 to 250 W | Frequency response: 27 Hz to 40 kHz | Sensitivity: 89 dB | Scope of Delivery: Speaker Set VCF V Magnetic Plus M8, black glass cover | Dimensions (W/H/D): 10/123/43 cm | Weight: 45 kg | Warranty period: 5 years | Price: Around €23,900
Audio Physic
Almerfeldweg 38
59929 Brilon
Germany
Phone: +49 2961 961 70
info@audiophysic.com