Country of Origin
This review first appeared in October 2025 on fairaudio.de. By request of the manufacturer and permission of the author, it is hereby syndicated from the German original to reach a broader English audience. Ed.
Reviewer: Stefan Gawlick
Analog sources: Turntable: Transrotor Apollon Tonearm: SME V, SME 3012, Linn Ittok Cartridge: Ortofon Venice, Denon DL 103, Van den Hul Frog
Digital sources: D/A converters: Crane Song Avocet, Merging Anubis, Merging Hapi; CD player: Mark Levinson 390S
Integrated amplifier: Musical Fidelity A1, Accuphase E-213, Rega Elicit
Preamplifiers: Line-level: Crane Song Avocet Phono: ifi iPhono, Trigon Advance
Power amplifiers: Abacus 60-120D Dolifet, Abacus Ampollo Dolifet
Speakers: Sky Audio Verdade 2.2, Spendor LS 3/5A, Spendor S3/5SE, Wharfdale Super Linton
Cables: Speaker cables: Vovox Excelsus drive, Vovox Textura; Interconnect cables: Vovox Sonorus Protect, Audioquest Sky, Cardas Clear Sky; Power cables: TCI Emerald Constrictor, Ensemble, Phonosophie Power Cord; Power strip: TCI Emerald Constrictor, Phonosophie, Ensemble Power Link Silver
Rack: Phonosophy Classic Rack
Listening room: 28m², acoustically treated according to ARD standard; plus 35m2 slightly treated
Review component retail: €10'900/pr as reviewed
Reviewer intro: When I build a table, it stands before me – tangible, visible, usable. A solid piece of reality. Music on the other hand is ephemeral. Therein lies my dilemma. How I long to have it as present and tangible as the things that emerge from my hands in the workshop. But: music cannot be captured. Perhaps that's why I have tried to circle it from all sides since my youth – as though I could seize it. It started with a guitar, later came the piano, then the drums which I eventually even studied. During my school years I built loudspeakers and failed miserably at recording my youth orchestra. But that didn't discourage me. Rather, it spurred me on to pursue formal training. I wanted to understand why it wasn't working. I wanted to capture the music; or at least get closer to it. After my studies I played in orchestras in England and Germany. I worked less frequent as a sound engineer. The allure of the stage was too strong. Ever since my first clumsy attempts at building loudspeakers, I've listened to music with an enthusiasm that never waned. And so one thing led to another. At some point I played a little less, spent more time behind the mixing console and founded my label Perfect Noise which still exists today. In the early 2000s, I complained to an editorial team about a product review that contained a lot of information about music but in my opinion, little of any real value. The editor-in-chief at the time, probably a bit annoyed, challenged me to do better myself. I should send him a review, he would edit it and then I would see how difficult that was. I wrote. I sent. And I still write; to this day. Stefan Gawlick
A shining example? In the 1970s but especially 1980s, the world of classical music was swept up by a new phenomenon and ultimately turned upside down. It set out to find new paths to the core of the musical message by consistently questioning previous approaches and initially doing almost everything different. This is historically informed performance practice and its upshot, the period ensemble. Without wanting to start a discussion about the musical value thereof, one cannot help but note that this new way of thinking also brought about some insights for the more conservative classical scene. Some of it even applies to the loudspeakers from the young Riga outfit Aretai [the city's coat of arms above – Ed.] which is distributed in Germany by MRV Audio otherwise known for representing Electrocompaniet. Many of the Latvians' approaches are atypical to trigger reservations by those who hadn't yet heard today's Contra 100S: "strange horn; too small for proper bass; two different drivers in a sealed chamber don't work; at €10.9K/pr too expensive". All of it came at me whilst I explained what I was working on. Here I'd like to thank all of my quick critics because they handed me a bullet-point list I can now address.
To be frank, I was somewhat less than thrilled when I saw first pix. Yes, the horn was strange and the speaker quite small for its ask. How was I supposed to find the right words to describe such discrepancy between size and price? Alas, as soon as I removed the speakers from their sturdy PeliCases which can be purchased as accessories, the world already spun right again. Everything about the Aretai Contra 100S—and I mean absolutely everything—exuded quality, class and sophistication. The finish was simply perfect, the panel gaps a dream come true for any premium automotive manufacturer and anyone who ever worked with wood knows how difficult it is to achieve such consistently uniform chamfers and curves in such a fibrous material. Also nice to not see was a single screw. The drivers obviously bolt from the inside as does the horn. There's no visible screw head at the terminals either. Aretai are proud to have found a way to assemble the entire speaker through the bottom opening where the only visible screws locate. Does this offer any sonic advantages? Hardly. However, we're dealing with a luxury item. A little extra effort is justified. After all, a car drives no better if the doors shut with a satisfying thud instead of a tinny clunk. But the owner is happier and that's the whole point.
Aretai source their three drivers for the Contra 100S from SB Acoustics in Indonesia. Janis Irbe, founder and owner, determined after numerous trials and measurements of competing options that these units offered the best balance of bandwidth, relatively "soft" dispersion pattern, low distortion and still pleasing efficiency. He was particularly impressed with the tweeter. "This ring radiator has the added advantage of a fixed central tip. The typical disadvantage of soft-dome diaphragms is that their apex inverts phase at high SPL due to back pressure which causes dynamically varying response dips in the upper band." This dimpled tweeter on the other hand radiates the high frequencies from the ring around its central tip to not exhibit these problems. Furthermore, its larger overall diameter allows for a lower crossover point, resulting in a smoother transition of the dispersion angle across the range.
To Janis this transition from midrange to tweeter is particularly important and one of the reasons for his striking flat horn. Around the 4'000Hz crossover hinge, it adds 3-5dB of acoustic gain to require less dome excursion hence induce less distortion. The aim of this concept is not to lower the filter frequency. Even at 3-4kHz, Janis and crossovers are still a bit at odds. According to him, the best approach is to avoid any filter in the sensitive presence region then connect the tweeter such that it requires barely any electrical compensation. His two 6” cones operate back to back in the same sealed chamber. During R&D, the lower midrange turned muddy when the rear-aiming woofer played too high. Hence it enters at 150Hz to make this a classic if 'rotated' 2½-way. I can already tell you that the midrange clarity of this solution is nothing short of mesmerizing. About the invisible crossover, we must again refer to published statements. A total of 17 parts was needed to achieve the desired linearity, extend the lower cut-off frequency and prevent an over-pronounced upper bass response. 1st and 2nd-order slopes control the transition from mid/woofer to tweeter.
In addition, several components "keep it in check" just prior to the upper transition to curtail cone breakup. Since this involves some unique solutions, Janis didn't divulge more and was glad that I couldn't open his cabinet to spy.
