AA

Australian Acoustics Speakers

It's not often we here at Eastwood HiFi get a chance to be involved with the development of a loudspeaker so when the opportunity presented itself, we grabbed it. The problem with speaker design is that it is not an exact science, you can have as many anechoic chambers and bits of measuring equipment that money can buy and still end up with a speaker that, in the real world, sounds terrible (no names here but I can think of several with four letters which would qualify).

The listening room is an integral part of the overall sound and a speaker designed to have a perfectly flat frequency response in a controlled environment may (and probably will) sound terrible in a lounge room. As everyone lives in a different acoustic "chamber" any speaker will be a compromise to some extent, this is why the customers of up market HiFi stores are often bitterly disappointed after choosing their new $10,000 speakers in the confines of a "sound lounge" which has been acoustically designed ant treated, then take them home only to discover a $2000 speaker would have suited them better (a bit of a stretch, but you get my point).

We were given the chance to develop a speaker from the ground up with the help of Roger Manning, owner of the Digital Audio Group. Well, that's not actually true, the basic carcass and driver configuration was already in production for another company but we were able to give them a major overhaul by changing the driver design, crossover and improve the looks a little. The speakers in question are built in the same Chinese factory as three or four very, very well known British and Danish brands so we were confident that the quality control was as good as it gets. The initial design was by a British audio engineer from another well known company (not allowed to say) using Acoustical CAD, anechoic chambers and the like then the prototype shipped to us. We then took a set into various rooms including lounge rooms at home and took notes on the performance and what we would like changed. We also used some existing, well regarded speakers, for comparative testing (A/B testing) in the store. The benchmarks were B&W 603's (RRP $1999), KEF iQ7 (RRP $1899) Paradigm Monitor 11 (RRP $2499) and Jamo D570 (RRP $2390).

The requested changes were then sent back to the designer, changes made, new speakers delivered and so on. This went on for months and months with around four sets of prototypes being tried until we were happy with the result. Just to make sure we weren't biased in some way, we asked our local music guru, Clive Robertson, to come in for a listening session and comparison with some other brands, the speakers received the CR seal of approval. That was all we needed to give the go ahead. Roger Manning, owner of the Digital Audio Group, was critical in the overall design and manufacture of the Australian Acoustics and his insight as regards manufacturing techniques, acoustic design etc. allowed him to expedite their final delivery. In fact it only took 6 months from the initial prototype until the production version was available for sale.

I'm not saying the Australian Acoustics speakers are better than all aforementioned models, that would be too pretentious, they were however the aspirational benchmark, they are an improvement on some and certainly not inferior to any when looking at the broad spectrum of music likely to be played. As speakers are a subjective choice, it's up to the individual to decide what sound he or she prefers, the killer here though is the price. As there's no massive infrastructure to support, the speakers retail at $990 a pair which makes them as good a Value-For-Money HiFi loudspeaker as I've ever heard. Brand snobs need not apply!

As most speakers these days end up in some form of surround sound set up, a matching centre speaker was developed in conjunction with the mains as a tonal match (RRP $299), we didn't think development of a surround speaker was relevant as there are way too many variables, the only time you need a perfect tonal match for surrounds is in the reproduction of SACD, DVD-A etc. all of which are sadly fading away.

Quoted Specifications for the main speakers are -

Frequency Response - 38Hz to 20kHz +/- 3dB (can't verify that although they sound smooth)

Sensitivity - 90dB @ 1 Watt/1 Metre

Power Rating - 160 Watts RMS Continuous (Hmm, not sure about that one)

Drive Units - 1 X 1" Teterone Tweeter

2 X 5.25" Mid Range

1 X 8" Woofer

Impedance - 8 Ohms

Size - 1070mm (H) X 160mm (W) X 350mm (D)

Weight - 19kgs per speaker

Warranty - five Years

They are available in all black or with light cherry sides (as shown) with a RRP of $990

The woofer is side firing allowing for the slim profile.

We tested the production units using Yamaha, Marantz, Harman Kardon and Audiolab amplification along with a variety of DVD Players and the renown Audiolab 8000 CD Player. They performed admirably with all the various combinations although, I must admit, I preferred listening to music when augmented by a good subwoofer - for me however, this is true even when using such beasts as the Paradigm Studio 100's so it's not a criticism, just a Stevie preference. There's plenty of bass to be had when used by themselves and for most listeners, the bass response would be more than adequate.

There are very few speakers under $2000 which I could honestly recommend for classical music, the main problems being sound staging and the higher frequencies (violins etc) which can tend to screech. The Australian Acoustics were certainly a match for any of the speakers we tested against although the Paradigm Monitors gave a little more depth and imaging to the sound stage (remember however, they're over $1000 a pair more expensive) so, all-in-all, they received the thumbs up for serious listening. With modern music, Dance etc. we were able to turn up the volume and experience the music as would be delivered in a younger environment (HELP! I'm aging fast), as the staff here are all under 26 and all gave their seal of approval, I can only assume the AA's would be more than adequate for the Jet Set. When I took them home for a listen and compared them to my Paradigm Studio 60's ($3300 pair) running off the Yamaha RX-V2700 ($2500) and a Paradigm UltraCube subwoofer, they were able to acquit themselves without disgrace. Certainly, the Paradigms sounded better (slightly cleaner top end and better overall balance with a wider soundstage) but again, we have to look at the price / performance equation.

The bottom line here is that the Australian Acoustics would be, as of the time of reviewing, as good a pair of loudspeakers I've heard in their price range (under $1300) and I can thoroughly recommend them either as a dedicated stereo pair or as the anchor, along with the matching centre, for a full on surround sound rig.