Staff Review: David's first impression of the Audiovector R1

Staff Review: David's first impression of the Audiovector R1

Most of you will be well aware that we are big fans of the Danish Audiovector speakers and the SR 1 and 3 ranges were very popular.

These models have now been followed by the new R series speakers and we have just received the R1 and R3 Arrete speakers and also the new Freedom grounding cables ( these are only sold with the Arrete models).

While I loved the SR1 range and especially the SR1 Arrete which is the top model in the range I have to say that my initial impressions of the new R 1 speakers are extremely positive. They offer a significant improvement over the previous models specially in the mid and high frequencies. The new R1 ribbon tweeter is derived from the £50,000 R8 model and the detail retrieval is exceptional  but with great subtlety and with no sense of harshness. The midrange is very open and the bass for a relatively small standmount speaker is incredible.  The RRP of £4799 might seem a lot for a standmount speaker that is until you hear how good that is. There are two other models in the range the R1 Avantgarde at £3850 and the Signature model at £2399.

The first time I heard the speakers at the Munich show I was really bowled over by the huge soundstage they were able to produce and I was looking for a subwoofer because of the amount of bass they were producing.  Listening to them in a system and a room I know I am still absolutely blown away by how good these speaker are.

Moving on to the Freedom grounding cables I was initially a bit sceptical specially by their £600 price however after listening to them plugged into the R1 Arrete speakers they are an absolute bargain. While I thought the R1 Arrete was good in the treble the grounding cable produces a much lower background noise and therefore the top is even sweeter are more natural and more subtle details are present. The  midrange is also cleaner and the bass seems to be fuller and yet cleaner.

So to sum up the new R 1 Audiovector Arrete is probably as good as any stand mount speaker  I have heard up to £10,000 especially with the Freedom cable which is an absolute bargain.

I strongly suggest listening to these speakers and even if you would not normally consider a stand mount speaker these have as much bass as many floor standing speakers and seem to be able to work in both small and large rooms with no issues.

 

Check it out here: 

https://www.kronosav.com/products/audiovector-r1-arrete-loudspeaker

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