A&L Audio Station

Acoustic Energy Loudspeakers, Cirencester, UK

Acoustic Energy was founded in London, England in 1987 with the creation of the now-legendary AE1 loudspeaker. The AE1 redefined what was possible from a compact enclosure by setting new audio performance standards for dynamics, power and clarity previously unheard of outside larger, high-end speakers. These design principals have remained enshrined in the company ethos to this day…

All Acoustic Energy loudspeakers are subject to our rigorous design-process and carry the same DNA that’s run through each product range for over 35 years. At prototype stage new designs are voiced through an exhaustive listening process, with electroacoustic measurement used to verify each step. They’re then benchmarked against our historical references mirroring the dynamics, transparency, tonal accuracy and above all musical involvement necessary to warrant the Acoustic Energy marque.

From inception Acoustic Energy has garnered hundreds of awards and accolades from the world’s Hi-Fi press. These and many other endorsements with critical acclaim from journalists around the globe help secure our proud, pedigree status as one of the most highly regarded brands in the audio industry today.

British owned and run, the company has been based in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds, England since 1995. As music lovers, its directors combine over 100 years-experience and knowledge in the audio industry with a passion for creativity, performance, quality and customer loyalty as core brand values.

Once becoming an Acoustic Energy owner, you’re beginning an audio journey that’ll provide decades of listening pleasure, whether new to our brand or upgrading. You’re also buying into an exclusive club with the assurance of British design and engineering at its very best, backed by an industry-leading warranty support programme, all created… for the love of music.

About us

Graham Audio is a family-owned British company based in Newton Abbot, a small market town in Devon, south-west England. We are passionate about high-quality audio and believe that the classic BBC loudspeaker designs offer levels of neutrality, transparency and realism that are hard to find elsewhere today. Using modern components and production techniques we have been able to maximise the performance while remaining true to the original designs.

We might be small, but we are proud to work with some of the best talent in the industry, including Derek Hughes and Volt Loudspeakers. Our loudspeaker systems are available throughout the world from carefully selected outlets who have full demonstration facilites, and will support you through the selection and setting up process.

All loudspeakers are hand-assembled on site. One person is responsible for every step of production, which includes testing and auditioning. A second person double-checks the completed product, repeating the testing as a matter of course and saving the results for future reference. As part of the test procedure, all completed loudspeakers are compared to our master reference samples to ensure complete consistency.

Company History

The company was founded by Paul Graham, who has spent more than 20 years working in all areas of professional audio, including the recording and broadcast industries, and in live sound and performance. Of all the different approaches, Paul has always favoured the "BBC sound" for both professional and personal applications, but feared that many of the classic designs would be lost forever as one by one the surviving examples gradually failed after many decades of operation. A couple of chance meetings and some long conversations later, it was decided that the only way to preserve this legacy was to seek BBC approval to build them himself.

Happily, our debut loudspeaker - the BBC LS5/9 - was warmly received by reviewers and owners alike, and the BBC LS5/8 and BBC LS3/5 have been equally successful. In addition, our range of bespoke loudspeakers includes a high power, high quality passive monitor primarily intended for live sound (the SYSTEM3D) - and from that research programme the floor-standing VOTU was born. The Chartwell LS6 sits between the LS3/5 and LS5/9, and gives nothing away to those models in terms of dynamics and musical insight. And the LS5/5 sees the introduction - for what we believe is the first ever - of slot loading to the domestic hifi market. This feature was widely used by the BBC to improve the off-axis response of large drive units, which results in a smoother power response that makes it easier to accomodate large speakers in typical domestic environments.

Verity Audio has been pursuing the design and manufacturing of exclusive high-end audio products since 1995. Having built a solid reputation for its legendary loudspeakers, the company added amplifiers, preamplifiers, digital audio converters, and processors to its product line in 2017, a choice inspired by the introduction of the Verity Audio’s exquisite Monsalvat System. For over 25 years, Verity’s small team of passionate artisans and engineers has strived to bring music lovers a pure, truthful musical experience in the comfort of their own homes. Our research is geared towards creating products that reproduce live music’s liveliness and fluidity without causing listening fatigue.

Over the years, Verity Audio has received over a dozen major awards from Hi-Fi & Records, Image HiFi, The Absolute Sound Editor’s Choice Awards, the Stereophile Recommended Component “Class A” listings, and Tone Audio’s Loudspeaker of the Year awards. Our products run the gamut of top-of-the-line equipment, ranging from entry-level high-quality loudspeakers to our flagship and pinnacle of our endeavors, the Monsalvat system of loudspeakers and electronics. We take pride in that even our most modest products are known for their utmost quality. From unassuming looks stem great power that makes Verity products the gray eminence of their field.

Owners of Verity Audio loudspeakers are discriminating listeners who look for transparent musicality and a pure, refined, and organic design that will never go out of fashion. Verity’s combination of beauty and performance has proven irresistible to an entire generation of audio connoisseurs.

Design Philosophy

Verity Audio’s product design process always follows the same fundamental steps. We begin by setting our goal, then identify the best solutions, run tests, implement corrective measures and start all over again. This extensive back-and-forth only stops once we reach our ultimate objectives. For us to choose a technology, it must both be measurable and result in audible benefits. Our solutions often buck short-term trends as we favor quality benchmarks and long-term user satisfaction above all. Our choices are always backed by extensive studies, trials, and documented tests.

Besides Verity’s research & development activities, our facilities are centered around an impressive listening room where all our products go through extensive listening sessions before being released on the market. Our products needn’t only meet our strict criteria, but also achieve unanimous approval from our panel of listeners.

The following criteria are core to Verity’s product design philosophy. Should those values speak to you, then Verity Audio products are what you’re looking for.

At VooDoo Cable, it’s about the music – first and foremost. Bach, Beethoven, Coltrane and Hendrix all pass through our cables. And that’s a responsibility we take very seriously. Our job is to design and build cable that provides our customers with the highest level of audible performance from their high-end audio system. The basic technology of building audio cable has been around for more than 100 years. But the understanding of how conductive and dielectric materials and magnetic fields affect audio signals and AC power is really just entering adolescence. Experienced audio engineers and a growing number of audiophiles now realize the importance of how and why signals and AC move through various conductive alloys and how dielectric materials affect those signals and AC power. The challenge now is to conduct unruly signal and power electrons to each component in an orderly and efficient manner with the utmost coherent linearity at the lowest level of line noise possible.

VooDoo Cable is not made from bulk wire that has been extruded, spooled and printed by a cable fabricator somewhere in Asia. VooDoo Cable is handcrafted to the customer’s specified length and termination from raw materials at our factory in Oakland, California.We used the highest purity conductive alloys, copper and silver, plus our own proprietary Cryo-Alloy™ metallurgy to achieve the unique sonic performance of VooDoo Cable.

All of the conductor wire, shielding and connectors used to build VooDoo Cable are cryogenically treated in our computer-calibrated Cold Fusion™ cryogenic process. The Cold Fusion™ utilizes both deep-immersion in liquid nitrogen and vapor immersion processes. Then the conductors are custom wound in our shop to specified length with precision craftsmanship and state-of-the-art materials. Each cable is a meticulous assembly of high-purity copper and silver conductor wire, silver-plated copper braid shielding, ISO-grade Teflon®, and other high coefficient velocity-matched dielectric insulation materials. Our cables are terminated with the highest quality connectors. Due to the overwhelming benefits of Cold Fusion, our proprietary cryogenic treatment, our cables require minimal break-in time.

The Cold Fusion™ cryogenic process was developed specifically for the treatment of the conductive wire, shielding, connectors, and other components used in the manufacture of all VooDoo Cable products. All of the conductive wire, shielding and connectors used to build our products are cryogenically treated in our computer-calibrated liquid nitrogen cryogenic process at -315 degrees Fahrenheit (-192 C) to re-align and fuse the molecular structure of the conductive metals and alloys.

At the molecular level, electrons that make up any electrical pulse jump from one conductive molecule to the next. The more direct the transient path of the signal or current pulse, the less electrical noise will corrupt the signal or current. Cryogenic treatment tightens and aligns the molecular structure of conductive alloys and metals at the molecular level. The result of this metallurgical transformation is significantly lower line resistance in the signal path for significantly less harmonic distortion. The overwhelming benefits of our proprietary cryogenic treatment process for audio cable are dramatically increased harmonic resolution, greater detail and transparency in the soundstage, and more accurate dynamic response throughout the audible range. For video cable, the benefits are significantly less noise in the video signal path for a brighter, sharper picture, and more accurate color rendering, deeper blacks, and quieter scan resolution.

After several years of debate and doubt from skeptics, cryogenic technology is now widely accepted and used in the manufacture of high-end audio and video products. VooDoo Cable has used cryogenic technology in the manufacture of our products since 1999.

A different story

The year was 1984. Back then, speakers had to be gigantic and technically complicated. SA introduced its first loudspeaker here, and the press wrote in amazement: "This loudspeaker sets new standards". It wasn't a speaker like any other, because it was a compact speaker with big sound. A speaker created in fascination with the music - not just the technology. A speaker that showed a new way.

"An experience cannot be measured or calculated. That's why speakers can't be developed solely on technical specifications. That is why System Audio A/S was founded in 1984" Ole Witthøft, Founder and Head of Development

A company with soul

It was Ole Witthøft who founded System Audio A/S in 1984. He had long been looking for some really good speakers, and as a musician he knew what music should sound like. Ole explains, "There were no speakers that could reproduce music in a lively way. Most of them sounded boring and unnatural. When the sound is so bad that you can't hear the details or sense the mood, you may never realise how exciting music can be. I wondered why speakers were competing for the best technical data when it's the sound that matters." So he decided to build his own speakers. Within a few years, the demand for Ole Witthøft's loudspeakers grew, and in 1984 System Audio A/S was a reality. Today, Ole Witthøft is leading the development work, and is constantly working to ensure that SA continues to show new ways.

One of the first speakers from System Audio was the System 2

The difference can be heard by anyone

SA speakers are sold almost all over the world. Our customers are people who love great sound for music and movies, but also record companies, TV stations and musicians of all ages. Ole Witthøft explains, "Our speakers are not just for experts, because all people have the ability to appreciate good sound. Our job is to make the difference so that everyone can hear it."

SA is used in private homes, studios, theatres, TV stations, film studios, etc. Pictured is SA2K from 2000

A company with opinions

We don't want to add to the confusion that speakers are just about technology. For SA, it's obvious that quality should be in the sound and the speakers' ability to be a natural piece of furniture in the living room.

A confusing industry

When you meet the audio industry, most will tell you that your system must be made in the Far East, the plastic speakers come almost free, and the price of such a system is equivalent to the price of a good pair of shoes. Others will tell you to listen to the music on your computer because it's "good enough". Some will tell you that speakers are about design because you can't hear the difference anyway. You'll be advised to read hi-fi magazines where "journalists" elevate their personal ideas to truth. They will tell you that sound is a very complicated matter and to understand the subject you need to read a hi-fi magazine. Some will tell you that speakers cost a year's salary and require you to rebuild your living room or house. Almost everyone will tell you that you should take an interest in engineering, because that's where the real difference in speakers lies. SA does not approve of any of these attitudes. We are a company that does not have its roots in the audio industry. We don't want to add to the confusion. Rather, we want to contribute to understanding.

Sound is a universal language

We know that all people have the ability to appreciate good sound. It's a human trait. Young children enjoy music before they can read and write! You only need to listen to an orchestra for a few seconds to judge whether the musicians want to play today or whether the spirit is lacking. Music follows us throughout life, amplifying and emphasising moods, and helping to hold memories. Music is understood and used by all peoples and can express opinions and feelings where words alone cannot. And if you've ever tried to watch a film without sound, you'll know that sound is at least half of the film experience.

Design is a universal language

It's wrong to think that design is just a way of packaging a product. It's not that simple. We think of design as the ability of a product to work in the real world. When we find that the acoustics in most living rooms are among the biggest obstacles to achieving good sound, it's the design in our speakers that makes them less affected by room acoustics. It may be electro-acoustic design, but it's still design. If we didn't care about electro-acoustic design, we'd just expect you to change your living room when you bought speakers. Design is thinking about how the product works best. And SA sees it as a task that incorporates the technical disciplines at the same time as form and colour. That makes our idea of design universal, because you can't argue about whether a speaker should work in a room's acoustics, because it should. Or whether the speaker should work with an amplifier, because it should. Nor can you argue whether a speaker sounds better when placed prominently in the living room, as a central piece of furniture, because it does. The task here is to make the speaker beautiful enough to deserve a place among the other furniture. In other words, you can't not design a product, because you have to have some idea. But you can make it difficult for the product to work in the real world. And that's bad design. Design is a language. It is not spoken by those who have nothing at heart.

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