Speakers

The Kantu Be speakers are a new and improved version of Legend Acoustic's reference passive speaker. A full 3.5 way speaker design which boasts a new beryllium tweeter.

Beryllium is extremely strong, light and stiff. Rod explains that this makes it a perfect material to make tweeters from however, it is expensive. Hence the modest increase in price as compared to the standard Kantu 14.

What you get though is more detail and naturalness in the sound. The beryllium material is able to react faster and more precisely giving the listener more detail and it's 'breakup frequency' is above 40kHz therefore it does not distort at high frequencies like other drivers. 

To note, these Kantu Be are only available in the Jarrah finish.

We try to have both the Kantu 14 and Kantu Be on the floor ready for demonstration in Carlton. Just ask and we will hook them both up for you for your very own Kantu shoot-out!

One of the most anticipated pairs of speakers of recent times. The promise of that "trickle down" Platinum range technology at a much more inclusive price point had a good chunk of potential MA newbies and Silver/older Gold upgraders very excited.

There's no doubting the potential of these speakers, give them a bit of consideration when setting up, choose the right amp and speaker cable and they are beyond what would be considered high-end esoterica just 10 years ago.

As a previous "Gold" owner (GR20s, equally giant-slaying in their day), I was more excited than most to hear these and they did not disappoint. I'm a massive fan of the MPD high frequency driver, an A.M.T./Heil driver always stands out to me but can dominate a speaker design if the rest of the drive units and crossover cant keep up. Its a balance that MA demonstrated with the current Platinum range and could easily have "dropped the ball" here trying to impliment the array into a cheaper package. To MA's credit they've done a fantastic job, the little C-Cam mid-range I think is the secret to this speaker working so well.

I urge you to come and hear these speakers play back a well recorded acoustic instrument or small ensemble to really get an idea of what a modern design can acheive when it comes to nuanced reproduction.

_________________________________________              Darren

The mighty Neuphonix is the top of the range of Krix floorstanding home speakers. Like a Mission 753 in configuration but much better performance.

There's no finer way to break one's own ribcage than to put a kick drum in the chamber and pull the trigger on the Krix flagship speakers. A true three way cross over ensures the crisp mids and high notes are not muddled by the awesome power of the 4-driver bass array.

There is an in wall version of this loudspeaker that is surely amongst the best architectural loudspeakers available.

Perhaps the best value in the Classic range. Absolutely gorgeous midrange. So lifelike!. Enough fast, accurate, bass to sound full range but a still easy to accommodate in any room enclosure size. Built in the UK to the same exacting standards as the SP200!

These 3 way extreme speakers deliver an incredibly dynamic and effortless performance. Utilising commercial cinema technology, the Theatrix are capable of producing high sound pressure levels with pristine fidelity and extremely low distortion. A dedicated midrange driver enhances performance and ensures superior vocal intelligibility.

Equipped with an adjustable mid/high frequency driver array, the In-Wall is able to deliver pin-point audio imaging and consistency from both vertical or horizontal positions.

By rotating the array though 90 degrees at the centre of a LCR configuration for instance, a soundstage of three Platinum In-Wall IIs will generate the seamless tonal integrity of the finest boxed systems from a stealthy in-wall location.

A Dual Subwoofer design for a true in-home Cinema experience from Subwoofer Kings, SVS. 

Other in Wall Subwoofer designs are quite complicated to install requiring a lot of space for which most Australian homes don't readily have in their walls. They also require the sourcing of separate amplifiers. 

Although, In-wall Subs are routinely asked for, we find ourselves putting in traditional stand alone units because of these complexities. The SVS Dual 3000 In-wall changes this equation and we'll be using these for in-home Theatre installations.

The Yamaha NS-800A speakers have just landed at Carlton Audio Visual. We've had them running in and stretching their wings in the main demo space.

The NS-800A feature the same innovative cabinet design as the top of the range NS-5000 speakers. That is to say that instead of packing the insides of the cabinet with acoustically absorbing material like foam, Yamaha uses their 'absorber tubes'. These don't completely dampen the sound rather they keep a freshness and pep to the music.

Even without being fully run-in, these speakers are exciting, forward and immeadiate. They don't quite have all the pep of the NS-5000s but that's to be expected given that the NS-5000s are nearly triple the price.

They also don't feature the Zylon drivers of the NS-5000s having instead a pulp (paper) mix in the driver. The Zylon evidently works to give the higher range of speakers extra punch and attack.

But the lineage is still clear and if you love that Yamaha pure and fast sound, you're going to love these.

What I've also noticed is unlike a lot of bookshelf speakers, the mid-range is still quite present with the NS-800a. They are quite consistent throughout the frequency sweep and don't show the characteristic hole in the mids which plagues many a lesser set of bookshelves.

You won't be dissapointed by their bass either. Rich and full. Surprising for a bookshelf speaker, even one like this, that is on the larger side. But more importantly articulation and attack are not lost in the bass either. This can be another pitfall of less efficient bookshelves that find it difficult to articulate bass lines and give you more wooliness than crispness.

Sometimes in this industry companies will bring out a new model or range and you get the sense that the main purpose for said range is to put in some cost cutting measures in the components, dress it up in a new faceplate and charge more...needless to say we steer clear of such brands...

REL's new S series is the antithesis of that. In fact they've packed so much more value into these Subs we just couldn't wait to get our hands on them. More power (800 Watts) with new amplification modules, better damped and faster drivers, options to stack and daisy chain your Subs to build the ultimate Sub tower....who wouldn't want that...!

They've also built on their incredible sense of musicality and 'ear to detail' with filters that ensure the superior musical reproduction of the higher frequencies. Where the older S series faltered a little, if anywhere, was in its Home Theatre capabilities. This new version has dealt with that impeccably...more dynamics and higher intensity mean when something blows up on screen, you're gonna feel that rumble...

Check out John Hunter (head designer @ REL) going through the ins and outs

One Subwoofer to Rule Them All. Introducing the SB16-Ultra.

An unrelenting passion for awesome bass performance and engineering perfection guided every aspect of the SB16-Ultra subwoofer’s design.

Groundbreaking technology, rigorous design and extreme testing in real world and laboratory environments allowed SVS to achieve massive output levels, extreme low frequency extension, near-perfect frequency response accuracy, and pinpoint transient response.

The culmination of all SVS design advancements, SB16-Ultra represents the greatest leap forward in performance and innovation since the inception of subwoofers.

A very pure British loudspeaker product. There are no faux brand values in these Philip Swift designed and built loudspeakers. They stand uncorrupted by corporate takeovers and brand marketing in an environment full of legacy and provenance fakery.

On Special for Black Friday ending on the 27th of November or when stocks run-out. Please contact us for up-to-date availability on colours.

All of the rumble and wallop of Hollywood’s most action-packed blockbusters is yours from the potent Gold W12 Subwoofer, in which a 12" (305 mm) long-throw driver is reinforced by a pair of Auxiliary Bass Radiators (ABR) and powered by 600 W of Class D amplification. The power and scale this combination are capable of generating can be felt just as easily as it can be heard, thanks to its prodigious 20 Hz bass extension.

Gold W12 has a number of fine-tuning options, and thanks to Monitor Audio’s Automatic Position Correction (APC) system, the subwoofer can work at its optimum no matter where it’s positioned. And this is no blunt instrument – Gold W12 is just as capable of delivering all the music and harmonic detail of a kettle drum to the earth-shattering power of a volcanic explosion.

Settings adjustment is provided by the innovative controller mounted on the cabinet top panel, or by using Monitor Audio’s proprietary ‘SubConnect’ software. The settings provide four fully configurable user pre-sets per input, including modes for; Flat/Music/Movie and Impact equaliser settings. Fine-tuning can be made by adjusting the frequency, slope, trim and equaliser filters for each pre-set. The Night Mode actively reduces the dynamic range of louder sections according to the level the listener desires.

As the reference and the three way floorstander of the SOnus Faber Lumina range, the Lumina Vs have a deeper more commanding sound than the others in the Lumina series. 

The same Dampened Apex Tweeter provides the Sonus faber singing quality in the treble that doesn't sound harsh or brittle. The natural fibres in the mid and bass drivers are a light and accurate material and another typically Sonus Faber feature that you see from their $200,000 speakers right down to their $1595 speakers.

The Lumina's are finished in a real leather wrap and a wooden front with inlay details that feels and looks super classy. Italian style combined with the highest calibre engineering and HiFi prowess will make a striking addition to any lounge room.

A tower of bass without peer across the world of audio, the PC-4000 is an icon of SVS design innovation standing tall as the most sophisticated cylinder subwoofer SVS has ever developed.

Room-energizing output and deep bass extension below the threshold of human hearing with less than half the floorspace required of comparable ported box subwoofers.

An effortlessly powerful amplifier and driver combine with advanced DSP technology for a level of performance and user control not seen at this price before. The PC-4000 also comes standard with the SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System for cleaner sounding bass with increased definition and more punch without room rattle and reduced bass bleed to the rest of the house.

Silky deep and seamless is what comes to mind when you play this new model from Acoustic Energy. Although a slimline d'appolito design it is very consistent with Acoustic Energy's tonality of deep and sweet but in this their capital floorstanding model of the 500 range of the moment you also get exceptional detail and spatial rendition.

Its an interesting effect actually, the initial response might be that they have an old fashioned quality but they have a much greater ability to convey air and space than those aged designs.

The AE509 is a 2.5-way floorstanding speakers that, thanks to the newly developed 1" tweeter combined with a two 5" mid/bass drivers, offer lighter membrane construction materials. The result is greater diaphragm force and greater accuracy due to better damping compared to popular transducers. The design is partially copied from the Reference product line, with particular attention to further reduction of resonances.

At Carlton Audio Visual we have a long history of supporting Australian made Hifi so we jumped at the chance to add another promising Australian made speaker to our inventory.

And these are an impressive little speaker. The goal was a large ‘full-range’ sound, with accuracy and detail. Also high on the ‘to-do’ list was an ability to perform well in difficult acoustic spaces and create a very easy to listen to sound in these acoustically ‘normal’ rooms.

They use an Isobaric design which means it has a compound driver array with a big passive radiator on the back for incredible bass extension. The unusual design allows the bookshelf speaker to reach low frequencies that should only be possible with $15K Floorstanding speakers. The low frequency extension from these compact thirty somethung centimetre boxes has the listener instore immediately looking for the hidden subwoofer. You have to look at a seriously fiscal Dynaudio Confidence or Sonus faber Homage to get that kind of low frequency reproduction from a speaker of this size from imported product ... those are $20K plus designs ....!

No we are not saying that these are better than those loudspeakers ... but this unique isobaric design does some things extraordinarily well.

They offer an open slightly diffuse midrange that portrays a very wide soundstage. It does not have the explicit midrange presence of so many tweaked and bright imported designs but also lacs that fatigue factor that is endemic to those designs.

Soundstage on these is also impressive. Very wide and capable of filling a large space without the necessity of a critical listening position .. you dont need to have your head centimetrically placed to hear all the music. .

Bear in mind though, these little speakers are $4999 which is a neat price for the tricks these speakers execute. Of course if you triple your budget you can get a better speaker but these will put smiles on many faces for under $5k.

"Soundstage Australia review on the Dellichord FR6 by Edgar Kramer

Official Dellichord website

The brand new passive soundbar by Krix is here. Combining the highest quality sound with the neat look of a Soundbar.

Specialty Krix designed tweeters complete with Wave Guide for extra control and performance. Coupled with paper cone bass drivers, this unit gives you the very best of Krix Home Theatre sound quality.

This is a passive Soundbar that doesn't have an amplifier on board. Krix have deliberately chosen this design because of the sound advantages in a passive design. The amplifiers on board traditional Soundbars are greatly compromised because they need to fit into these small Soundbar chassis. They are generally D-class amps with a thin uninspiring sound.

Keeping the amp separate is the answer to a no-compromise Soundbar.

Available in three standard sizes to fit under 75", 85" & 100" TV screens but also customisable to be made in any size ($5495 for custom size).

The Kantu 14 loudspeakers are elegant, world-class instruments designed and built in Australia to give you maximum enjoyment when you listen to your music or watch home movies. 

Probably the most tonally correct speaker we have in our range. Dr Rod Crawford who designs these is meticulous with his speaker design. He's been a top speaker designer with leading 'big brand' manufacturers for years and has brought his passion and experience to his own boutique brand of speaker made here in Australia.

The Kantu 14 only differs from the 12 in that the mid range 3" ceramic coated driver has been replaced by a 4" ceramic coated driver. These ceramic coated drivers merge the best of the detail of a metal dome tweeter and a softer ceramic coating for warmth and delicacy.

In Rod's own words the 14 is very similar to the 12 and the change was necessitated by manufacturer changes. The midrange is ever so slightly bigger sounding but the tonality and all other metrics remain the same.

Rod listens to and adjusts every crossover to make sure it's perfectly accurate and to make sure your speakers are as good if not better than the last set.

Because they're made and designed in Australia, they are exceptional value as well.

A truly remarkable speaker. Must be listened to!

They are also available as a upgraded "Be" model with even better speaker drivers and cross-over for $6990

REL's completely rebuilt S series Subwoofer. With a 10" active driver and a 12" passive driver. The 10" driver has been redesigned and can handle the added power of the new amplifiers.

The REL engineers were worried that the added pressure of all the extra power from the amplifiers would deform the cone under load. They've added extra carbon fibre behind the cone to stabilise the structure and to dampen it reducing distortions.

Because of these new drivers and amplifier modules, this little guy is actually capable of producing lower frequencies than its predecessor, the S/3 SHO and outperforms the S/5 SHO in terms of dynamics, volume and intensity!

It also has this cool feature of daisy chaining subwoofers together so you can stack as many as you'd like on top of themselves...ultimate subwoofer upgrade capabilities!!

Click here to watch one of the designers talking about his creation.