The new high-performance Arx A3 is earning a solid reputation for itself.  Dual SplitGap woofers and the excellent Arx planar magnetic tweeter make a formidable loudspeaker for under $500 the pair.   Excerpts from Tom Shope’s report on the Arx A3 from the August 2010 issue of Affordable$$Audio:

So if your budget is a mere $500 and you are seeking a floorstanding full-range speaker that delivers the natural, clean, open sound associated with high-end models, your options are extremely limited. On the other hand, what if you could buy a $1000 pair of speakers for only $500?

It would seem that Jon Lane and The Audio Insider have targeted a very unusual market. By controlling costs on the parts of the speaker that have little impact on sound (like the cabinet veneer), and focusing entirely on high value, high performing drivers and crossover, they are attempting to deliver high-end sound for low-end dollars.

What you get for your small outlay is an unexpectedly sophisticated sound. Yep… sophistication for $500 bucks! The ribbon tweeter provides just what you’d expect, that is, if it wasn’t attached to such a bargain speaker. Detail in spades, with a clean, open, and vivid presentation.

The A3s really delivered on the bottom end. “Tight, clean and powerful” is how I would describe the bass. I would not expect a music listener to need or want the support of a subwoofer with these speakers unless the room was quite large. The bass performance is actually quite impressive considering the size of the drivers. While it is true my listening room is on the small side, the room was nicely pressurized by these small drivers and a very satisfying bass line was pumped out and just improved as liberal power was applied.

The A3s deliver a knock-out sound and one listen will leave you staring in disbelief at your receipt. If you are constrained to a tight speaker budget, but you appreciate the (typically) sophisticated sound of more expensive speakers, then you would be very hard pressed to find anything that betters the high-quality Arx A3.

For the complete review, visit Affordable$$Audio and open the August 2010 issue (PDF file).

New Arx speaker models are entering the market and are making a very strong impression.  Excerpts follow and run the gamut of all Arx models, the A1 bookshelf, the A2 LCR speaker, and the amazing A3 tower.  This is what superior components, low distortion, and good design sound like:

Based on my initial listening impressions (less than 8 hours), I can safely say that the Arx A2 is a vast improvement over the Original Acculine A2 (non-r version). The Arx A2 addresses my major criticisms of the Acculines, such as weak bass, and the unforgiving nature of the Neo3 tweeter on bright tracks such as mainstream pop music. If you were impressed by the original Acculines, you’ll be thrilled to hear the improvement of the Arx line.

The Planar tweeter and SplitGap woofers work exceptionally well together…I think that Jon Lane and the folks at TAI have a definite winner on their hands. A big kudos to you at releasing this speaker at this price point. The Arx are a definite win for the value-oriented audio enthusiasts.

-”Miwo”, writing at the AVS forum.

I’ve been listening to the Arx A3 for the past 24 hours using a Rotel receiver and my Neuhaus Laboratories T-2 amplifier, using vinyl records, CDs and iTunes music as my sources.  A full review will have to wait until they are completely broken in but for now I would like to report that the Arx speakers are noticeably better than the Acculines and the difference was apparent pretty much from the moment I hooked them up…The sound was detailed, rich and sweet in a way that just makes you want to stand up and cheer.  Stereo imaging is excellent and the speakers have a big sound that really creates presence and impact…Even at 24 hours in, they are definitely keepers and I am looking forward to complete break-in and a full review.

-Don Lindich at The Sound Advice Blog.  Don continues at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Arx is noticeably better than Acculine in every way and rate in an entirely different league. I did not think it was possible, especially since the price stayed the same.

Arx’s clarity, detail and precise sound definition are stunning and unequaled for the money.

What I was not expecting is Arx’s warmth, richness and great sense of naturalness. Often when speakers go to extremes with clarity they sound harsh or bright and Arx has commendably avoided this.

The Arx A3 speakers also have a big, full sound that creates real presence in the listening room.

Writing in listener comments at our own forum, “daggerNC” notes:

And here is one my most important criteria when I judge speakers (and other components in the chain) – imaging and sound staging. I’ve got to be able to sonically “see” the musicians on the stage (real or studio): Steve dead center with his guitar, drums behind him, the sax to the left and back about 8′, cow bell on the left side of the drum set, backup vocalists either left and/or right of Steve, etc. And…….I can “see” the sound stage pretty well with these little bookshelves! Nice, but what really exceeded my expectations is something that is very special that only truely “good” speakers can do: portray all the different instruments and singers as unique sonic entities so that you can “see” the individual musicians with your ears. If you are present at a live performance (acoustic in a smaller venue is best) you hear all the musicians playing together, but you also can distinctly see and hear the bassist and the drummer and the lead guitar and the rhythm guitar and the keyboardest, etc. It’s not just hearing the instruments and vocals all mashed together, but hearing all the individual elements playing together to make one. It’s a very cool effect, and adds to the realism of the playback. Kudos to the Arx A1’s for doing a really decent job at this – not at the level my electrostatics could do, but d@mn, for these little inexpensive speakers???

So, bottom line…the A1’s are here to stay.  My initial impressions conclude with this: somebody’s stupid here. Either Jon is for offering such a great little speaker at such a low cost, or we (speaker buying public) are for not scooping these up at this price point!

Another AVS poster, “Tawaun da Bomb” has just started to get to know his Arx A3 and has this to say:

I just received my Arx 3’s and it will be a very tough speaker to beat for $499 a pair, very nice deep tight bass, very detailed mids and excellent topend extension…

Other comments related to The Audio Insider by phone and email are consistently enthusiastic: Arx make music.  They have the ability to look inside a recording and lay out in space the “flesh and blood” of the recording.  Arx are transparent, detailed, dimensional, and musically-satisfying. 

Thanks to all for validating our design goals and we look forward to posting more comments and reviews soon.

6Moons writer Glen WagenKnecht has penned a substantial listener review of the Swan M200MkIII active desktop monitor.  Some of Glen’s high points follow. 

The Swans M200 Mk III are a class act. They live up to expectations imposed by history and push pedigree yet further upscale.  As a computer monitor, they offer a phenomenal level of sound quality and have a visual aesthetic of decadent luxury.

The review is located here and the Swan M200MkIII is found here.  Thanks Glen!

The D1.1seC is in-house.  Here are two test shots intending to show the quality of the finish – this speaker sample has a 100% gloss over the Khaya Crotch veneer, which is also referred to as African “Rosewood” Mahogany.  Obviously, snapshots won’t do this superb finish justice as this is the finest look we’ve ever seen in a Swan product.  These are quite remarkable in person.

One of the perks of working on new models is approving a fun new speaker.  We’ve just unboxed a pair of brand new Swan D1.1 mini-monitors in Khaya Crotch (African “Rosewood” Mahogany) and have some snapshots to share.  They measure 11-1/2″ tall, 7-3/4″ wide, and 8-1/2″ deep.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we are.

Compact but powerful: The new Swan D1.1se.

The D1.1se is also the perfect compliment to the D2.1se.

High-output drivers for a surprisingly authoritative sound.

Finished in Khaya Crotch, European Birdseye Maple, or Gloss Piano Black.

The D1.1se is designed by and built just for The Audio Insider.

The D1.1se includes a removable black knit grille.

It’s not often that a self-powered monitor of this quality costs less than the great majority of unpowered premium monitors. The SwanMkIII is one of this rare breed, and users are discovering that great sound, unexpected value, and user convenience can go hand in hand.

Jason Parker loves his M200MkIII and enthused about them at the AVS forum recently. His capsule review appears here as well:

“I just got my Swan M200MkIII. In short? They KICK A**!

“Plug them in, connect them together, and with the supplied cable hook up your iPhone/iPod, and YOWSA! These suckers are clean, and LOUD! They are so loud that the limitations of the recordings via the iPhone can cause quick ear fatigue, so be careful out there. I moved them into the living room next to my MacPro where all my music has been ripped Apple Lossless. I can quickly move the mini-plug back and forth between the M200MkIIIs and an Arcam 300 feeding my tremendous Swan 6.2s. And?

“Yeah. Swan and Jon know what they are doing. I have two favorite songs I jump right to when auditioning. Song one, is the Talking Head’s “Slippery People”. Song two is Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo A La Turk”. First up the M200MkIIIs. I’ve listened to my Arcam/Swan6.2 combo for a long time now. Press play (from my iPhone remote application — that is SO COOL!) and… I was at home immediately. If I had been led into the room blindfolded, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference at first blush. To me that’s impressive! What great songs! So I switched to the Arcam combo. Now, to be fair, the Arcam/6.2 combo wins. It wins at every point. But, it IS a contest, a good one at that. Anyone thinking between the 6.2 and 6.1, even though I haven’t heard the 6.1, I would just say trust Jon and Swan. The 6.2 is an amazing speaker. Especially when paired with a top quality amp like an Arcam. That’s my $0.02.

“Comparing the M200MkIII, the Arcam/6.2 wins in every category, crystal clear, nuanced highs, smooth deep and satisfying bass, and a “you are there” immersive soundstage. But the thing is — the M200MkIIIs are only a half step, maybe only a big toe, behind in every case. Given that they are in a much smaller enclosure, with its own amp (that is not a $1500 Arcam) they are outstanding. The M200MkIIIs are clean and even with no coloration, just like the 6.2. They simply trounce a pair of Energy C-100s I have upstairs (which I consider a pretty good speaker for the money BTW). Now one big reason I could tell the difference between the M200MkIII and the 6.2s was the soundstage. But I can’t attribute that entirely to the smaller speakers. See my 6.2s are set quite wide, about 14 feet. Which brings me to my only knock on the M200MkIII package, the speaker connect cable. The cable itself is a high quality 4-pin cable. But it is only 6.5 feet in length. I couldn’t move the M200MkIIIs 14 feet wide for an even comparison, and I wasn’t going to haul the big 6.2s closer together in my room. Further, at 6.5 feet, even in a small office, you might find it hard to place the speakers with the cable out of the way. I’m already looking for a longer cable (Jon, any suggestions?). I mentioned fatigue earlier. I want to reassure you. First, I was using an iPod. Second, I was trying to see how loud they can go… which is VERY LOUD! When played at reasonable volumes in rooms like a good sized living room, or an office, the M200MkIII play astoundingly nice. For an active set of speakers you can just hook up the iPod or computer to, I can’t recommend them enough. If I was going to college, this and an iPod/laptop is what I’d want to bring to blow everyone else on the floor away. Look no further.

“I can’t wait for this years work X-mas party. I’m going to cause some major raucous!

Cheers!
-jason”

MacFeed offers some follow-up thoughts and FAQ’s to their review of the Swan M10.  Thanks again, guys!

To get to the point, we love the Swan M10s more then we did when we first plugged them in. Age has treated them well and the sound has become richer and deeper as the speakers have fully burned in. Crisp highs are accompanied by deep lows as beauty exits the black tweeters and gold woofers.

The M10 earns 5 of 5 stars at MacFeed.  Thanks Charlie!

Sound is all relative in the end. When reviewing products that deal with the performance of sound, we have to come to a general consensus and with the Swans there was a consensus that we needed no consensus. These things are not perfect, in the world of high-end audio nothing could be – ever. But these things are going to be as close as you are going to ever hear so we are going to give it the label anyway. When we turn the chrome knob on the Swans up we are reminded why we love music so much and reminded how good music can sound. We given the Swans a perfect 5.0/5 rating because they are that good.

TAI has added three pieces of the excellent K&K gear to our inventory, a triode-converted amplifier, a tube headphone amp / control front end, and a tube phono stage.  K&K tube components use current sources (CS) and regulation, which flatten tube curves, slash distortion, and increase drive.  Of all available single-stage amplification, triodes are already lowest in distortion but supporting them with the CS drops this already low level through the floor.  The sound is powerful, dynamic, and decidedly un-tubelike.  A nice addition for the work we’ve been doing lately on a half dozen new speaker models, and more than resolving enough to reveal what they’re doing during design.  (The main The Audio Insider site is here, where we feature Swan, Dana, and other brands.)

The K&K ST70-based amplifier converted to ~15w triode output.

The K&K amplifier starts life as a common Dyna ST-70, the ubiquitous 35w/ch EL34 amp from the Sixties (be sure to read K&K’s take on this design).  Ours kept only a pair of mint condition output transformers – designed by David Hafler, expertly wound on grain-oriented steel, and very good, as it turns out – which were rebuilt with Teflon-and-silver wire leads, new powder-coated end bells, and stainless hardware.

New chassis, rebuild output transformers, and new power transformer.

A new 300ma high-current PA060 power transformer from Ned at Triode Electronics supplies current.  A new nickel-plated chassis houses the parts.  The real star of the show is the K&K differential input stage and driver, a very modern circuit using special Lundahl amorphous input transformers (I opted to use K&K’s top Premium series for all three new components, and all use the upgraded amorphous Lundahl transformers.)

The K&K Premium input / driver board with tube CS and Lundahl amorphous transformers.

I also converted the K&K ST70 from the amp’s original EL34 pentodes to 6B4 triodes.  Since the EL34 runs at over 400v in the original design, a few modifications were needed to adapt the circuit to the 6B4’s, which want a B+ rail of 250v.  I retained the original tube rectification, plugged in a new Mullard GZ33 rectifier, and I also converted the power supply, using the voltage drop of individual inductors per channel (there are four altogether) to get the Sovtek output tubes down to 350v.  While still 100v high, the Sovteks are actually closer to the WE 300b than the classic 6B4 and run fine at the higher B+.  Quiescent current is set through the CS to 50ma per tube, which through a CLC filter makes even the big power transformer run warm.

New-old-stock Mullard GZ34 rectifier.

Heavy-duty Sovtek 6B4 output triodes.

Russian ex-military dual triode signal tubes, one per channel.

Input stage adjustable Current Sources (CS).

While the amp is customized, The K&K phono stage is closer to its original circuit, having been modified only in the power supply.  There I installed two pieces of vintage NOS iron, the first being a potted ITC power transformer, and the second being a potted UTC choke to filter the B+ supply.  The supply is thus L-C, which offers the best passive regulation.  With such a large input L, the power supply’s turn-on time constant (K&K use a relay to energize the active circuit when the PS is up to speed) has moved up to about 30 seconds.  A NOS Sylvania 6C4 does the rectification.

The K&K Premium Phono Preamplifier.

One phono channel showing Russian dual triode, CS, and on the PCB behind them, adjustable MC input loading and Lundahl amorphous step-up transformer location. 

Phono preamp back panel.  Adjustable MC loading and optional balanced outputs.

Phono preamp’s custom power supply, finished in a vintage-look green hammertone.

The final piece is the K&K Differential Line Stage board, left stock but populated with PIO output caps bypassed with Teflon-and-foil caps, and joining signal switching, attenuation, and system power from a modified new Quicksilver chassis (thanks to Mike Sanders.)  I use this amplifier to drive dynamic headphones like the Sennheiser 600, which serve as one of my references. The power supply for this component uses a NOS Chicago Standard power transformer fed by a potted isolation transformer, and the back-panel switched outlet I plug the phono preamplifier into is fed by another isolation transformer.

 K&K line preamp / headphone amp built on Quicksilver preamp chassis.  Solid copper ground planes and subchassis, dual K&K shunt attenuators, and point-to-point OFHC copper and solid silver wiring throughout.

The use of a very highly modified ST70 as one of our test amps for speaker development was a calculated move – more on the just what can be done when both the electronics and speakers are bona-fide ultra-resolution when we reveal the new Dana models later in 2009.  Watch this space for a series of three articles on the new Danas…and how they sound driven by the K&K superstars.

While typically a 15w amplifier would be doubted in such a setting, especially when development moves beyond 2-way monitors, the K&K strategy paid off.  This amplifier can energize a large room through 88dB speakers, and in the nearfield we’ve even gotten near physical levels out of the ~85dB Swan D2.1se.  The advantage such an amplifier has is near-instantaneous overload recovery, something big consumer amps lack.

 One of the system’s eight Lundahl amorphous-core transformers.

The use of current sources and Lundahl amorphous transformers has revolutionized this very basic amplifier and turned it into a reference tool that sounds just as wide band and powerful as any good 50w transistor amp I’ve used over the past 25 years.  This assortment of equipment has removed the veils of conventional transistor amps and yet has the sheer speed, extension, micro- and macro-dynamics that not only belie that power comes from a moderately-sized tube amplifier, but turns on its head any doubts about transformer-coupled tube amplifiers.

The Lundahl amorphous core transformers used throughout are a revelation.  This is ultra-fi resolution and a deeply engaging, spacious, vivid sounding amplifier, as are all the K&K pieces.  The sound is tremendously detailed and “wideband”, yet organic and faithful to the recordings.  For a little less risk of transistor artificiality, I prefer tube rectification where possible, and while the push-pull circuit’s lack of 2nd order harmonic distortion removes the usual tube sound, the complete lack of grain says that this isn’t solid state we’re listening to.  The system actually sounds “faster” than that, owing to that grain-free presentation and such rapid recovery from big passages.  The system is challenging, to be sure, as it is quite ruthless to recordings, but it’s this quality that makes it such a valuable tool, at least until more power is called for.

Thanks are due to Kevin Carter at K&K.  This year we’re turning out a number of what I think will be seen as affordable reference-class speaker designs and we couldn’t have done it without Kevin and K&K.

The Audio Insider just negotiated our first shipment of the exciting new Swan M200MkIII (yes, that’s Mark 3, as in the 3rd generation of this venerable studio monitor.)  We’ll be stocking these premium self-powered speakers the first of September and will allocate our first deliveries from a reservation list.  Preliminary pricing for this MSRP $599 speaker is only $399 exclusively from The Audio Insider, but will rise to $479 sometime before 2010.

What’s new in the M200MkIII?  Double the power, bi-amplification, all new electronics, deeper bass, and solid milled hardwood side panels.  Not a bad few months work from Swan.  Click on over to the new M200MkIII product page and read all about this new model and drop us an email to reserve yours.  (Preorders also accepted from the product page.)