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Tonally that statement didn’t match 100%. In the bass the Audiograde veered into the lean and the midband leaned more into the present/light than juicy/fat/sonorous direction. Meanwhile the treble felt perfectly flat. This voicing requires some care. I started at 1.5m from the front wall and with a lighter brighter speaker cable. That didn’t sound balanced. In with a different cable, out with one half of the wall distance (oy). The low bass still didn’t knock me over and the overall presentation remained more fleet-footed than massive. But the overall balance was clearly improved.

A side effect of the highly focused and contoured but not really voluminous fully extended bassment were good macrodynamics. Alas 'good' relative to such serious expenditures is no real strength. If you envision blow-drying your hair with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpinks or your latest electro-punk playlist at club levels, there are better options. This simply isn’t what the Ardora has been groomed for. Should you pursue microdynamic finesse instead, your cup is full however. Rarely has a speaker convinced me more on vocals. If you fancy richly nuanced well-recorded piano, you’ll too shake your head in awe over what this wavy heavy reveals. Getting down with Bach’s cello suites really is no bad idea either. I spun Mirrow with the Charles Llyod Quartet whilst typing this and the immediacy of the sax’s presence in my four walls was – well, fabulous. Wow!
active drive module
Very expensive, unusually swish and abnormally heavy - that’s the Audiograde Ardora on paper. But in the seat the extravaganza continues. Extreme tonal purity coupled to peak resolving powers and accurate soundstaging create a sonic spectacle of rare transparency and intelligibility. The Ardora shows up everything; or rather, adds or subtracts nothing. The lack of even subliminal distortions or distractions surprised again and again even after extensive listening. Each album revealed details which must have been hidden beneath acoustic fog before. Fascinating as our favorite pointy-eared Vulcan would say. This Audiograde speaker is the result of an extremist concept on how to reduce resonances and vibrations. As such it’s a real piece of the loudspeaker art. And it’s true that this type of coin can buy more bass punch and extension if needed. Of course the same voicing becomes a problem solver too. Many mid-size rooms mandate close front-wall placement which for most speakers in this league is far from optimal to result in bloated upper bass. With the Ardora meanwhile the same setup can become advantageous. Driven by powerful amplification ideally of the sonorous sort, one lives the acoustic dream without having to deal with room dividers.

Psych profile for the Audiograde Ardora…
• offers phenomenal resolution which tracks even the most embedded nuance and tiniest sound variation with ease. Acts very overtly pure and low in distortion. Put blunt, one hears that one hears nothing (of the enclosure). The monolithically cast body becomes acoustically invisible and creates decidedly less of a visual obstacle than many a flagship in this price class.
• the virtual stage starts at the base line and occupies standard dimensions – neither compact nor cinemascope panorama if not on the recording. Exceptionally good are the great insight into the depth dimension and highly focused three-dimensional sounds. The subjective impression is one of polishing off all remnants of confusion.
• tonally lighter and leaner, with slimmer bass and a midband that’s more present than full. The treble is dead neutral. The lower bands are very quick, contoured and—as the speaker in general—highly nuanced.
• macrodynamics are fine but not exceptional for this coin. Microdynamics are very good.
• transient fidelity is very sharp, with tones exploding from virtually nothing and floating in space without feeling hyper-detailed, pixilated or artificial. Truly top shelf.

Facts.
 • Concept: 3.5-way bass-reflex floorstander
• Dimensions & weight: 108 x 25 x 45cm HxWxD, 125kg/ea.
• Finish: by request
• Warranty: 5 years for drivers, 15 years for enclosure
• Other: single or biwire by request, bass-reflex tuning to order (within limits), can be retroactively converted to full active drive (add €16’000)
• Website
redaktion @ fairaudio.de