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Igor is to blame J … because I didn’t know Aurousal at first, then one day he called me and, knowing my weakness for fullrange loudspeakers, he said, ‘Take a look at these babies’.

Also thanks to the helpfulness of Kevin from Aurousal, concerning these gems.

I like the concept of fullrange loudspeakers - coherence, detail and timing, helped by the absence of any crossovers, that just can’t be obtained with multi-way systems, at least for me. Also I fell in love with this ‘cool’ design immediately.

The A1 is the first product from Aurousal and is the result of 25 years design experience of a group, which includes musicians, with the aim of achieving a loudspeaker that conveys the ‘real emotion’.

Moreover Aurousal’s aim was not to be esoteric or pretentious, but to use proven concepts in a serious and pragmatic approach, and one in which I thoroughly agree with!

And now to our beauties:

As you can see they look really impressive, also I have the black lacquer version — wonderful finish! The cabinet is very sturdy and has a transversal reinforcement inside that is perhaps visible in photo. For the size they could have been tempted to omit this, but shows the attention to quality and detail of every aspect. The driver is a custom version of a Jordan design and has a familiar Jordan appearance. The magnet assembly is huge and shielded, the cone metallic and surround rubber.

Ok but how do they sound?

I must say they took time to really shine, as I was expecting so much from the promise of the design. At first it felt like there was something missing as, straight from the box the sound was totally different from what I expected from a fullrange driver (beautiful midrange with roll off on treble and bass). No, in this case it was really the opposite — what I heard was a well extended sound, especially in the bass region, with the middle range a bit less emphasised. I was amazed here, considering the speaker size, as if it had been designed this way to specifically impress.

But I proved rather impatient in wanting everything at once. These should not be judged before 60/70 - hours of break-in as, only after this, do they start to express themselves and their true virtues.

I assure you, what they can do is magic:

The good extension present at first listening (and not easy for loudspeakers of this type) increases slightly more and is complemented by everything else which I wished for:

A liquidity, a finesse, a coherence that would be impossible to ask for from a standard design. Extremely well defined detail and spaciality and (this for me is very important) even at low listening volumes. At the lowest volumes the A1 still conveys every aspect of the recording.

Good dynamics for a speaker of this size. A wide and really deep soundstage with well separated parts, and fast transients. Instruments are so defined that you can distinguish the individual musicians.

But all these things together only give you an idea of how these babies let you enjoy the music. Forget the usual boring specifications concerning frequency response or critical audiophile techno-talk — all is told by the fact you find yourself beating your foot on the floor and moving your hands trying to mimic the drummer as the A1’s transport you to right in front of the stage, in a beautifully realistic and seemingly effortless manner. Without mentioning the beautiful midrange, extended bass or the usual audiophile terms, it is enough to say they really do bring you the music.

And now the boring bits:

Matching:

I have tried my 845 monotriodo (15w), but they are not really enough power. Speakers are 90db. The sound fine, but subdued, so I tried the more popular Gainclone (other little gem) — about 50 solid-state watts. This let our two babies literally fly.

I positioned the A1’s at 70cm height, with 2m between them and up to 80cm from the wall. Using this setup they seem to literally disappear, leaving a wide and incredibly deep soundstage.

Conclusions.

Good looking, good-sounding, involving. Shortcomings? Obviously they have some — a bit less transparent than my Lowthers PM2A and, at high listening levels and particularly intense musical programs, they are a bit less coherent and transparent - this is simply a normal limitation with a 10cm driver, miracles are just not possible.