Arcam, Audio Technica, Creek, Chord Company, Eichmann, Dynavector, Epos, Focal / JM Labs, Grado headphones, Harbeth,
Isoblue (and special branch), Kudos Audio, Lyngdorf, Lyra, Michell Engineering, Naim Audio, Neat Acoustics, Nordost, Origin Live, Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, Partington, Primare, Rega, Roksan, Sim2, Graham Slee, Shahinian, Something Solid, Stands Unique, Stax Earspeakers, Sumiko, Trichord, Wireworld, Wyrewizard
Let's hear from the designer:
"The ARC represents the very essence of our design philosophy. A refined reduction of the Citation 13 which I (Richard) designed in 1970 at Harman-Kardon, it is the synthesis of 30 years of investigation into loudspeaker geometry. Cost-effective, compact, elegant, flexible, ideally suited for reproduction of natural instruments and voices.
Its vertical, angular, indirect presentation produces such a sense of effortless space, as to make most conventional speakers sound like mistakes. (Which they are, anyway, so there!) Seriously, though, the ARC is so convincing in its re-creation of the real event, one concentrates on the music and forgets the means. A wide variety of room placement choices are possible, as the shape lends to partial blocking behind furniture or plants.
The bass response is ample and clear down to 30 Hz, and organ pedals in particular will surprise you with the lack of Doppler interference. Bass drum explosions from a speaker of this size will truly astound you. And yet, a solo harpsichord will produce no weight of tone beyond its own.
We are most proud of this speaker, which was chosen for a design and engineering award at the 1984 C.E.S.
Specifications
Rear-mounted passive radiator design with 8-in polypropylene curvilinear cone woofer with 1 ½” high-temperature patented D.D. voice coil and 28-oz ceramic magnet; 38-mm titanium ultra-light exposed dome midrange, and 1-in titanium-neodymium super-tweeter. 3.0 amp quick blow fuse; filters at 6 dB woofer, 18 dB midrange, 18 dB tweeter. Dual binding posts."
Power handling: 250 W max
Frequency Response: -3dB/28-18,000 Hz
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms.
Sensitivity: 87 dB
Dimensions: 14 ¼” x 27 ½” x 9 ¾”
Finish: Oak, Walnut, Cherry, or Black
Weight: 33 lbs.
Warning : they are smaller than you think!
The pictures on Shahinian's web-site, shot from a low angle give the impression of fairly substantial speakers with a bit of attitude. They might make a big and dramatic sound, but they they are bordering on tiny as the inset picture below right shows.
Somehow Shahinian's own enthusiastic description still fails to communicate just how resolutely musical and infectious these little blighters are. Shorter and potentially even more discrete than the Compass, they are a wee bit more demanding of amplification but share the ability to make listening utterly addictive and judgement of them near futile.
Of course they can do all the impressive hi-fi stuff and sound stunningly realistic. If you try hard to analyse, the mid-band, the treble quality the bass extension and overall coherence deserve special praise. They are quick and agile, they do dynamics and scale and image in a very realistic way. Not ethereal and vague, as you might expect. Sure enough, they are not completely immune to the bass resonance of our listening room but they are less affected by it than many ported designs. And a few sealed ones, come to that.
The best bit is that you simply want to listen to music through them.
If you are looking for a serious £4160 loudspeaker, then these should be on the list.
Signals hi-fi for grown-ups. suppliers and installers of music hi-fi audio stereo system, systems and a/v av products to all areas of Suffolk,North Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 01473 655171
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