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Apart from the kick drum, the main microphones on a drum kit are set above and the cymbals by necessity then are closest to their pickup membranes. It is therefore quite feasible that Wojtek’s speakers simply show spatial relations associated with recorded distance. This would create the objective size of the instrument as seen by the microphones which have a tendency to downsize more distant objects and enlarge those closer up. The Acuhorns can thus show more than merely changes in sound level as classic boxes do.

By now the matter of space should be clear. Another thing to explain are the dynamics. I really wanted to avoid repeating the word 'speed' but it proved impossible. I just did. I wanted to avoid overusing it as speed by itself is worthless. It must serve something. It can't just exist for its own sake. In this case its effect on the sound cannot be overstated. The name of this three-model series immediately suggests lightning. And it really is true. You cannot hear any speed compression resulting from any broadband or specific restraints. Sounds arise naturally and not even immediately which would still suggest an act of creation.

The Acuhorns seem to reproduce sound beyond or outside the usual mechanical limits of driver suspension and its load. That's obviously just an impression from the contrast with classic dynamic drivers where live sound is always more present and simply as it should be provided there be a good musician, a good instrument and good acoustics. That is also how good magnetostats sound, say mbl's omnidirectional radialstrahler. And that's also how these Acuhorns sound. The third issue is perhaps most difficult to interpret. It's tonal balance. I'd be a fool if I did not notice the problems we encounter with this type of speaker. However I’d demonstrate even more stupidity if that became my upfront reason for disqualifying them. It's a classic either/or situation where we need to make a choice and stick with it. We either get in or out without looking back. Wojtek’s Giovane85 have clearly less bass than his Nero125 and Rosso Superiore175. Here very little happens below 100Hz. The size of the enclosure is the culprit. We wanted a small speaker and so must bear the consequence. This lack of bass is not annoying and completely negligible if we know what we want and devote a moment to proper positioning and/or amplifier selection.

If we know that vocal music is our thing as are small ensembles and even electronic music—but rather the Jean-Michel Jarré type than Nine Inch Nails—the Superleggera Giovane85 will be worth our while. If we listen to a broader musical spectrum and Wagner is our favourite composer, we must look elsewhere. The Acuhorns do not create large images and lack the macrodynamic grunt required for properly rendering a large ensemble. Overdriven they lose definition and fall victim to their own advantages. These are speakers which try to track even the smallest of details, changes in tempo, intonation and color. If we feed them too much heavy-duty information to get processed (after all it’s still an electroacoustic device, they get hung up at a certain level and we end up hearing less than from a classic multi-way speaker because we now compress a large part of the signal.


The sound of this speaker can be modified to some extent by moving it closer to the front wall. I would even say that similar to Audio Note speakers they sound best close to the wall, perhaps even in the room corners. The sound then gets bigger, stronger and more full-bodied. This can also be done in a different way but requires amps with tone controls to equalize the bass. This is something we do not come across often in audiophile decks except for the oldest and the very latest. Examples of the former are most numerous in Japan. Music lovers from this country are used to the strangest of gear combinations and only interested in the end result, not how it is reached. Hence the cult of hornspeakers and widebanders. It's long been recognized that the latter need help from amplifiers and this we find many devices equipped with some sort of compensation circuit to boost bass. It is present for example in my Leben CS-300 XS which I already wrote about whilst discussing headphones where a 3dB boost of the low frequencies often adds the necessary saturation.

So it was with the Acuhorns too. Even with the +5dB boost I heard no distortion and the sound became much larger. But it is not only the oldest solutions which work this trick. I think that the ideal partner for the Acuhorn speakers might be digital amplifiers like the Devialet D-Premier. Its sound fits perfectly with what the Giovane85 needs and gives us the option to equalize bass in the digital domain. Paired they provided a combination which is difficult to think about whilst sober and which after listening will be hard to part with once sober again. [This particular recommendation made no sense on the face of it given Devialet's very low output impedance just like the Soulution amp. I thus double-checked with Wojciech. "In 'straight' mode it was indeed very lightweight but with the optional bass correction engaged it became really nice" he said - Ed.]