Bookshelf Speakers — Audes Llc. Studio

Within the Credo line of Audes LLC, the Studio is a two-way bookshelf speaker built in Jõhvi, Estonia. The company describes the range as made by hand from cabinets to crossovers. Audes aims it at listeners, performers and producers who need a monitor for a limited space, and calls it a medium-size design. The maker notes that it has recently revised the Studio concept, with upgrades that affect the whole system rather than a single part. Other Credo models include the Blues, Grand Blues, Jazz, Adagio, Sentral and Grand Sentral.

Key specs that matter

Audes makes the 6.5 inch paper cone woofer for low and mid frequencies itself, to its own design. A 1 inch fabric dome tweeter covers the treble, with the crossover set at 2,200 Hz. Audes rates the frequency range at 49 Hz to 20,000 Hz within 2 dB and places the minus 6 dB corner at 41 Hz. Sensitivity is 87 dB measured with 2.83 V at 1 m, into an 8 ohm nominal impedance. Instead of an amplifier range, the power rating is split into a maximum long-term figure of 80 W and a maximum short-term figure of 120 W. The enclosure is 360 mm tall, 270 mm wide and 346 mm deep, and one speaker weighs 14 kg.

Engineering and use context

The matching ST Studio stand is optional and is sold separately. It measures 690 mm high, 277 mm wide and 320 mm deep, so its footprint is close to that of the speaker it carries. Veneer choices follow the rest of the Credo family - mahogany, black ash, cherry and walnut - and exotic surfaces such as burl wood can be ordered in a matte or a piano polish finish. The factory that builds the Studio began life as a branch of the RET works, set up in Jõhvi in 1960 to wind transformers and make cable connectors, wiring bundles and stamped cabinet parts for RET radio equipment. RET itself was nationalised in 1940 and renamed Raadio-Pioneer, and during the following decades it produced the Estonia radio-gramophones. The Audes name arrived in 1992, together with the first 130AC loudspeaker, and transformer production still continues alongside audio products today.

Pairing

The easy load and moderate sensitivity place moderate demands on an amplifier, and the long-term power rating sets the upper limit for continuous drive. Audes offers its own valve amplifiers for a single-brand system.

Alternatives

The Audes System7 from the Reference line is a two-way bookshelf speaker with a 6.5 inch woofer, a 1,800 Hz crossover and a 10 kg cabinet.