Напольная акустика — Audiovector R 8 ARRETÉ

The R 8 Arreté is a large floorstanding model from the Danish company Audiovector, based in Skovlunde. Its drivers use the new Audiovector Carbon Driver, which the company engineered to be lighter and stiffer than its earlier units, with membranes meant to be acoustically dead. The R Series line-up runs through the R 10, R 8, R 6, R 5, R 3 and R 1, with R C, R Sub and wall models alongside.

Key specs that matter

This is a five-way passive design. Crossover points are set at 100 Hz, 250 Hz and 3,000 Hz. The bass section is an isobaric system that combines an 8 inch and a 6.5 inch driver firing downward, the bass/mid drivers are 6.5 inch carbon units, and a 4 inch rear firing midrange driver is added. Treble comes from the R 8 AMT Quasi tweeter. Audiovector gives a frequency response of 22 Hz to 52 kHz, sensitivity of 92.5 dB per watt at 1 m, an impedance of 8 ohms and power handling of 500 W. The cabinet measures 144.2 cm high, 32.7 cm wide and 53.3 cm deep. Standard piano finishes are Italian Walnut Burl, Italian Grey, Black and White, a black cloth grille is included, and custom painted finishes are applied in Denmark on request.

Engineering and use context

The membranes of the Titanium Tech drivers are made from precision woven aramid fibres sandwiched with artificial wood resin. The quasi rear firing R-AMT Integrator tweeter is built to integrate with the compound bass system and the new midrange topology. Internal wiring is cryogenically treated 7-nines pure copper in an asymmetrical layout, and Nanopore material damps the cabinet. The listed Arreté concepts include Low Compression, No Energy Storage, Natural Crystal Structure treatment at -238 degrees C, DFF crossover technology, non-parallel surfaces and internal shock absorbers. The plinth and baffles are machined from aircraft grade alloy, M8 spikes are supplied, and the terminal plate is carbon. Audiovector Freedom, the grounding system, sends chassis currents through a dedicated filter to mains earth, addressing movement induced distortion between drivers.

Pairing

A Freedom Grounding Cable from Audiovector links the speaker to an earthed socket or a grounded mains distributor. The R Series also contains an R C centre model and an R Sub, which can extend a pair of R 8 Arreté into a multichannel system.

Alternatives

The R 5 Arreté is a smaller floorstander in the series, a 3.5-way design rated at 23 Hz to 53 kHz and 90 dB.