Bandwidth vs. cone surface. There's a distinction between how low a speaker extends and how much cone surface it applies to pushing air. Dynamic headphones with the equivalent of a single 2" tweeter can make 25Hz within the tiny confines of their ear cushions and our nearly hardwired ears. But their 25Hz certainly won't register the same as the 25Hz of a 4-way floorstander's 12" + 10" ported woofers looking at us in a classic stereo triangle. It's basic big/small woofer physics. It's also a function of line-of-sight shockwave impact. The earlier shown Zu's front-firing hard-hung 10.3" widebander must create a rather higher degree of physical attack crunch than the Clairaudient's 3-incher augmented left, right and back by just reflective power. Meanwhile the latter's lower moving mass should be advantageous in the upper ranges where less becomes more. For insight into the presence and lower-treble regions, we'd expect v5 to out-rez the DWX whilst Zu will outbox Audience on sheer 40-150Hz pugilism. Hello compromises inherent in the many decisions a speaker designer must make. Where most linear frequency response and impedance go, complex filter networks could be the golden ticket. For best time fidelity, no or at best 1st-order filters plus sloping/stepped baffles might be. Parallel or series filters? What order? Soft or hard cones 'n' domes? Exotic tweeters? Sealed, ported or open baffle? Point or line source? Hybrid? Heavily damped or without any filler? Heroic or thin-wall cabinets? The list is long, buyer choice endless. Thinking punters enter today's gig expecting the latest 1+1 to prioritize time fidelity and all audiophile aspects which derive from it. They see an ideal nearfield speaker which can position far closer to the listener than multi-ways whose physical driver spread requires more distance to cohere. They don't expect ultimate loudness, bandwidth, shove, density or club bass but clarity, speed and a perfect Houdini for superlative imaging. Compact sizing is another specialty appeal. Finally, the rebellious few on my 2.1 path should really wonder whether v5 might just be all a premium subwoofer wants and needs to live with happily ever after. Do you now see why this assignment really was way up my street? [Older terminals above. v5's choice are ultra low-mass binding posts by Klei.]

My desktop speakers are EnigmAcoustics rear-ported  6" 2-ways. My current DAC is iFi's iDSD Pro Signature clock-slaved like the Singxer SU-2 bridge to a LHY Audio OCK-2 10MHz master clock.

My final pre-date thoughts gauged the US-made $3.5K/pr sticker. My discontinued PRC-made desktop monitors wanted $13.7K/pr when new. My current very much available South Korean minis demand €2K/pr. One of my favourite monitors in the downstairs main system had been Raidho's TD1.2 at €20.4K/pr. Relative to bandwidth and getting knee-capped by sub, those Danes had already been colossal overkill. If the Clairaudient lived up to its hear-everything billing against reasonable expectations, I'd view its ask rather attractive though there's no denying that a $3.4K/pr Vandersteen 1Ci+ is far more of an all'rounder and better value. But value differs radically from buyer to buyer. My sentiments are mere window dressing to contextualize my subsequent comments. For many punters, American manufacture becomes an important factor in the overall value assessment. This could well override the fact that my lilac litlins from Seoul are a lot cheaper. Finally, owners of prior 1+1 versions can get current from $500 to $1'575 depending on how many generations must be bridged. Here are my samples breaking in at John's. End of foreplay?

Just about. Let's reiterate that unlike filterless widebanders which direct-couple our amplifier outputs to their voice coils via speaker cables, v5 inserts a 40Hz hi-pass, ~450Hz baffle-step correction and 1-5kHz notch for response shaping in triplicate. That last filter in fact sits right in a typical 2-way's 1-3kHz crossover window. It simply differs by not stitching together two drivers. By paying Caesar—embracing reality—the latest 1+1 shrugs off a certain puritanical idealism for better linearity, dynamic expression and lower thermal/stroke distortion. Common sense predicts that the v4 ⇒ v5 transition should have made the most significant sonic leap of all the step changes. Of course not having heard them, this is just informed guesswork on my part. But it could serve as credible reminder. Stubborn belief in 'the best xover is no xover' can be misguided. After all, filter-less is how the 1+1 started off way back when only to add ever more corrective parts into its signal path whilst it progressively improved. v5 in fact embeds five passive parts—a mix of Audience caps, precision resistors and impregnated coils—which break down into two for the high pass and three for the combined baffle-step/notch filter aka voicing circuit. To me it's honest engineering winning over magical thinking. This is currently expanding into a subwoofer stand whose 2 x 7" prototype showed in the break-in video one paragraph up. In a transatlantic phone chat with John and his engineer, I mentioned my sterling experience with cardioid aka Ripole subs. Both men proved all ears. I'm not suggesting that this specialized 'folded open baffle' execution will feature in the eventual product. I'm only sharing that Audience is aware of this concept now and might explore whether it could serve their project brief.

How small is small? A CD is 4.7" across. v5's passive radiators are 4", the widebanders 3". You do the math.

Back on the two filters, it takes guts to relinquish an entrenched position like classic single-driver dogma. We've previously seen it with Rethm, Voxativ and our sound|kaos Vox 3a. Even Cube previewed a 1½-way with sidefiring woofer at the 2023 Warsaw show. Our niche-within-a-niche widebander sector has changed with the times to remain relevant and competitive, be it with super tweeters, upper-bass couplers, woofers, triple whizzers or filters. Once we hit 'play' from our listening seat, propaganda disappears. Now we either love or dislike the result. Why doesn't really factor. That only rears its head when we attempt to justify our reaction as though with hifi, any of us really needed more than our experience to know what to us sounds right and what doesn't. Also, I'd have no clue what about the v5's performance in my system would be due to which particular design decision. The only ones to know are the Audience engineers who compared all variables to lock in the final mix of mechanical and electrical measures. Now we're ready to listen.

DMAX Super Cube from Russia using a solid-oak sealed cabinet and external class D amplifier with proprietary DSP for an active widebander example.

Simply open the 42 x 41 x32cm 9.3kg shipping carton. Mine took four days from California's Carlsbad to Ireland's Dublin. There it languished. FedEx's online terminal gave no reason. I contacted Audience customer service manager Joe Flatt. Perhaps a call to their shipping agent could ask whether the Irish needed more data to import the loaners or bill the import duties? I also called from my end. Once I got past soulless AI to a live person in a Mumbai call centre, I learnt that Dublin Revenue had already contacted Audience for a revised commercial invoice; and had proper instructions to bill VAT to the Audience FedEx account. Two weeks past original dispatch, a FedEx email asked me for proof of purchase. Even with Audience's revised invoice, they still worked off the original $50 value which customs duly disputed. Is it because of the endless jokes that Americans think the Irish idiots?

A Cork restaurant is so sure that its massive chef is the strongest man around, they have a standing €1'000 offer. Chef will squeeze a lemon into a glass then hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who can squeeze one more drop of juice will walk off with the money. Many have tried. None could do it. One day a scrawny little chap with thick glasses and a shiny polyester suit says in a tiny squeak, "I'd like to try". After the laughter dies down, chef grabs a lemon and squeezes away. Then he hands the wrinkled remains of rind to the little fella. Laughter turns to silence as the man clenches his fist around the lemon and one by one 6 drops fall into the glass. As the crowd cheers, chef pays out the prize money then asks, "what do you do for a living?" The chap adjusts his glasses and says, "I work for Sheamus McCormick as his national tax adviser."

On this late 2023 Silbatone video, we appreciate v5's monstrous soundstaging when set up in free space despite the usual YouTube compression algorithm. Then there's Illinois retailer Glenn Poor's take. For more micro speakers aiming far higher than casual laptop mates, there's Fischer & Fischer's aptly-named slate-clad 4" 2-way Klein; Jern's cast-iron 11S; and the Kiso Acoustics HB-1 in resonant tone wood. In their company v5 is the only one whose main driver goes smaller than 4 inches; and doesn't add a tweeter or classic crossover. Audience's passive mini speaker really is rather unique. For more tell of the tape, a seller's photo from Canuck Audiomart shows size against Wilson's TuneTot. It's stating the obvious that the red speaker is twice as large and on coin about four times bigger. His and hers perhaps? I knew which one I'd want; if customs and Audience could sort their dispute to clear and deliver my loaners rather than destroy or return them to sender. Exactly a month after they left San Marcos, v5 finally cleared customs as a temporary importation at distributor cost and were set for delivery the next day. That duly got postponed again until after the weekend. End of the tunnel and all that?