Listening to D’Virgilio, Morse, & Jennings’ Troika album, it feels a lot like the initial release from Crosby, Stills, and Nash many years ago. Hi fi was a lot simpler then, with fewer choices. 40 years ago, I was listening to a different speaker called the 1+1 – the Acoustat 1+1. Even though this was an electrostatic speaker instead of a cone speaker, one core principle stands out.
These are both full range speakers. That cohesiveness that is my hot button. It remains as an anchor in the way I interpret recorded music. I realize everyone likes something different, and I enjoy a big, towering, powerful REL six-pack as much as anyone. However, there is something incredibly special about what happens to music when there is no crossover network (no matter how expertly designed) in between you and the music.
No, you can’t play TOOL at 105 dB through these little speakers. Nor can you do it with my Acoustat 1+1s. Still got a pair, so I’m not relying on memory. But much like the 1+1s, the original Quad 57s, or even a perfect pair of LS3/5As, what the Audience 1+1 does, you can’t get anywhere else. In the context of a desktop system, you can play TOOL awfully loud.
However, I didn’t use these speakers in a desktop system for any length of time – no disrespect to Audience’s John McDonald. I just don’t do desktop audio. Besides, everyone has commented on this aspect of the 1+1s desktop performance anyway. With the other critics universally heaping praise on these speakers outstanding desktop performance, there’s nothing to add.
Audience mentions allowing about 150 hours for break-in, yet they sound excellent right out of the box, cold from the UPS truck. They do have a little more authority in the LF region and seem smoother throughout the midrange. As a single driver speaker, there is no crossover per se, but Audience does insert a small “voicing circuit” into the signal path, with Auricap XO+M capacitors to adjust the midrange response slightly. For those not familiar with Audience, in addition to their speakers, cables, and power conditioners, they produce a line of premium capacitors that are used as standard equipment in many of your favorite audio components.
Deceptively simple
These diminutive enclosures look like they’d take precious little to build, even with their semi-triangular shape. Or as so many people used to say at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, “I could build one of those.” I know I can’t, and unless you’re a master woodworker, you can’t either, because there are no parallel surfaces in these tiny boxes. I do know enough about wood to know that’s really damn difficult to execute, and I’m gonna guess this probably makes the 1+1 cabinets take about ten times longer to cut and glue than a standard box.
And that’s only the beginning. Just run your hands along the cabinet. All edges are flawless, and the final finish equally enticing. The small front and rear grilles are held on magnetically, so should you enjoy listening with them removed, they look fantastic. Perhaps the only thing to be aware of is their relatively small size and weight may not be the best idea on stands in a small child or large dog environment.
In the living room
My house has a 13 x 18-foot living room with 8 1/5 (at their peak) sloping ceilings, and this environment is a great fit with the 1+1s. Initially on a pair of 24-inch stands, I prefer taller stands to get the maximum size sound field from these speakers. A few feet out in the room and about 24-inches from the wall, toed in about 10 degrees makes for the best balance of bass extension and transition from bass to midrange here. Audience suggests at 28-inch stand as optimum.
The 1+1s are powered by the recently reviewed Octave V80SE integrated amplifier, using my Naim CD5Si disk player as a source. Of course, all Audience cables are used in this reference system.
In a lively-ish room like mine, these speakers really come to life, with a much bigger sound than many mini-monitors auditioned here. Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay starts an all-day long CTI and Blue Note jazz montage, showing off how dynamic these small speakers are with the right material. Whether listening to Hubbard’s sax or Herbie Hancock’s piano, the natural rendition occurring without having to travel through crossover components is fantastic. Even Ron Carter’s bass is delivered with enough fundamental strength, you might not feel you need a subwoofer.
However if you do, these speakers roll off gently at about 40Hz, which makes integration easy, and the chance of overdriving the main speakers less likely, should you decide to run them full range with a REL sub or something similar. The REL Classic 98 was still here after a review, and before it was shipped to staffer Sean Zloch, it was made part of the system with excellent result.
The compact SVS Micro 3000 also works incredibly well with the 1+1s and has a minute form factor. Where the REL uses a single, downward firing driver, the SVS has a pair of side firing 8-inch woofers with nearly 800 watts on tap. Depending on your environment, you should have an easy time finding something you like to match.
As a side note, placing these speakers in our back bedroom that is only 11 x 13 feet, with a big comfy chair and a more nearfield listening position, a sub was not that important. This is the room that is usually called into service for the smallest speakers.
Moving to the big room
Out in the middle of my 24 x 36-foot room, powered by several different tube and solid-state amplifiers, these small speakers deliver a big sound. With a single Audience A3S2-16 driver on the front and rear panels, with a larger passive driver on each side, these speakers easily go down as deep or deeper than a small pair of Harbeths, or even a pair of Magnepan SMGs, possibly lower.
Using the dCS Lina stack as a linestage, driving a pair of Pass Labs XA60.8 class-a power amplifiers made for a combination that fooled a few visitiors on first blush, thinking something much larger was playing. While these speakers make an incredible showing in this room, it is a lot of volume. A pair of REL T/9x subs bring up the bottom end nicely here, and blends seamlessly. At less than crazy volume levels, I could easily give up my Quad 57s. Though slightly less transparent than the legendary ESLs, the massive gain in dynamics, ability to play louder, and zero worry about blowing them up is more than enough to say “heck yeah” to that swap. Another speaker I’ll happily give up for the 1+1s? Any LS3/5a. I love LS3/5a’s, but like the Quads, these speakers provide all the virtues with none of the drawbacks.
No crossover from woofer to tweeter also means nothing is off limits in terms of amplifier choices with the 1+1s. Trying everything from a 300B SET all the way up to the enormous Pass Labs XS300s is a great choice. With a sensitivity rating of 87dB/1-watt, as long as you have a solid 15-50 watts per channel at your disposal, you’ll be fine. These speakers are so resolving, they will reveal the true character of whatever electronics you place in front of them.
Further Listening
Initial listening sessions were heavily biased towards jazz, but regardless of material chosen, the 1+1s hold their poise and never cease to amaze. Because nothing is getting lost in a crossover network, they are incredibly revealing with low level musical passages. The decay of acoustic instruments, the piano in particular, will surprise you through the 1+1s – they are so natural.
Should you be a music lover who’s taste leans towards female vocals (and you know who you are) you’ll be in absolute heaven with the 1+1s. Leaning on my favorites from Ella Fitzgerald and Aimee Mann, the sheer texture and tonality that these speakers deliver, might have you rethink your system priorities. That top to bottom coherence is tough to argue with!
The 1+1s also excel at decoding and unraveling densely packed music. After hours of listening, I ended up returning to vocals, but this time going back to the original Crosby, Stills and Nash with their debut album. Speakers not capable of the resolution that the 1+1s possess, don’t give these legendary musicians enough space or distinction, yet the Audience speakers hit a home run every time.
Finally, as a major bonus, the 1+1s have zero fatigue factor. If you enjoy listening for hours on end, you’ll always want to listen to one more album side. I suspect that if you are as captivated as I am by these speakers, you’ll have a tough time stepping away from the listening chair.
A hit on all levels
Not having heard the past versions of the Audience 1+1v.5 speakers, I can’t speak to how much better this version is. I do know that the Audience driver has been in a constant state of evolution, and Audience makes great products.
There are so few genuinely unique things in audio, especially when it comes to loudspeakers. The Audience 1+1 is at the top of my list in that department. Whether you’re looking for a small but high-performance speaker, are captivated by panels but lack the room, or the standard British monitors leave you wanting more, the 1+1s are a score.
Even if this is not a speaker that you are in the market for, should you be spending any time near an Audience dealer or a hifi show, this is a speaker that you should experience. Just as car enthusiasts have must-drive vehicles on their list, I feel the same way about the 1+1. This is a must experience speaker.
You never know – you might just take a pair home too! I certainly did.
I am purchasing the 1+1 v.5s for permanent use as a high-performance small speaker reference. We always try to match incoming review components with like products and place them in a room where they might be ideally situated. The tiny Audience speakers excel in this application. -Jeff Dorgay
The Audience ClairAudient 1+1 V5
$3,900/pair
