An Ascension Day, the High End trade fair starts in Munich for four sonorous days, and the relevant crowds of visitors are already looking forward to new equipment from the hi-fi elite with the charm of the unreasonable. This year, however, the organizers also want to set a different tone: high-end, according to their message, is not only for the budgets of oligarchs. It can also be down-to-earth and, if necessary, even affordable. To this end, in the next few days they will start a campaign called “Sounds Clever”, and all manufacturers who want to share this slogan are called upon to put together complete, playable and equally sophisticated complete systems at a package price of less than 5000 euros.
One of the first providers is In-Akustik, which combines devices from the Scandinavian brands Primare and Audiovector into a music ensemble of the reasonable class. The performance will be provided by the Primare I15 streaming amplifier and a pair of Audiovector QR3 loudspeakers, connected with the low-capacitance LS-104 Micro Air cable from In-Akustik for a total price of 3960 euros.
Let’s start with the electronic module: the no-frills flat design, available in black and silver, shows only the bare essentials on its solid, 6-millimetre-thick aluminum front. Four tiny buttons switch the device on, select the sound source and adjust the volume, a delicate OLED display guides you through the most important settings and shows what’s going on in fine green letters. The back presents a large selection of interfaces. A pair of RCA jacks serve as analog output. A second cinch pair accepts analogue input signals.
Clean reproduction and attention to detail
Everything else works digitally: three optical inputs in Toslink, a fourth in jack form, two coaxial sockets and two USB interfaces maintain contacts with all suitable sound sources. A network connection can be in contact with the router via a cable, the connection works wirelessly via WLAN. Matching antennas are included in the scope of delivery, also for Bluetooth transmission. There are stable screw terminals for connecting the loudspeakers. Inside the Primare, the delicate design already gives it away, efficient switching amplifiers provide the necessary power; The data sheets indicate around 100 watts per channel. The Google Home app helps when connecting to the WLAN. Another app from Primare is used for source selection, fine adjustment and contacting streaming services. Pretty much anything that can be found on the internet can play.
The loudspeakers in the set adorn the listening room with their delicate, slim design. There is a choice of surfaces in black, white and walnut veneer. They distribute the music in two and a half ways: Two woofers work in parallel up to a frequency of 400 Hertz. At this rung of the scale, the lower example gets out, the upper one continues to play up to about 3000 hearts. From there, the tweeter comes into play – an Air Motion Transformer that causes the air to vibrate with a wafer-thin foil membrane folded into an accordion. Audiovector also has the membrane vaporized with gold, so the eye can enjoy it too. The speaker’s bass reflex port is on the underside; an air gap above the base plate releases the sound.
In the listening test, the Scandinavian team impressed with a remarkably clear, clean reproduction and attention to detail. Listening to voices and solo instruments with this system was a real treat. Powerful bass roar is not the core competence of these fine spirits, but you don’t expect that from them at all. So: mission accomplished, the reason package can call itself high end.