I have already talk here of Arte Acustica reviewing the model Janas Lucia that has deserved a Spark in the Dark highlighting.
Now I would like to talk of the model Arte Acustica Classic Line Stand 93 that is a two-way standmount monitor without crossover, loaded in bass reflex with a volume of twenty-five liters.
This model amazes me somehow. Just look at the front baffle and at the unusual distance between midwoofer and tweeter. Asking many questions is the best thing to do instead starting with irrational prejudices.
If you close your eyes, you can easily recognize that the “detachment” between the section of the low and the high frequencies does not exist. The American Thiel has the same designing philosophy and the same technical and acoustical principle.
What makes the difference in the Arte Acustica’s design is the absence of a real crossover that, in the case of the Classic Line Stand 93, is a unique capacitor to apply outside the connectors of the loudspeaker. Moreover, Eng. Giorgio Todde, designer and Arte Acustica’s owner, offers to the buyer two pairs of prestigious capacitors by Jantzen Audio series Superior Z-cap with values from 2,7 and from 5,6 microfarad, that obviously affect the sound outcome.
Is that all? No. It is not. The Stand 93 offer another possibility of acting on the short reflex port. It can be removed leaving the outlet completely free. Also here the sound outcome will be different depending if you keep or not the port.
The Stand 93 are not mini-speakers, since their volume make them quite bulky, although their liters are not enough to be considered as a floorstander speaker.
The lack of the crossover filter has forced the designer to calculate exactly the volume and the insertion of the components inside the cabinet. The components have to respond to technical peculiarities regardless of the intrinsic qualitative value of the component itself. This is why the designer keeps somehow hidden the brand of the mid and the tweeter.
I want to stress the fact that the Arte Acustica Stand 93 have not to be judged for their look but only for the sound outcome. So judge them with your eyes closed. This is not a metaphor.
Giorgio Todde must have think the same thing, because their color, violet wisteria, is not so easy to insert discretely in the home environment.
The cabinet of the Stand 93 speakers is in birch multilayer. The midwoofer is sixteen cm and the tweeter three and a half. The connectors are of top quality. The reflex port is posterior and placed at the height of the midwoofer magnet. Like all Arte Acustica’s products, the internal soundproof material is wool felt of sheep from Sardinia, whose natural features adapt very much to such delicate acoustic function.
The loudspeakers must be carefully run-in and if you do not use them for a long time, they need a brief period of readjustment. That is due by the perfect temporal phase response of the two transducers that is reached only when the elastic suspensions of the cones are properly working. If there is a crossover, it manages the movement of the cones but generates phase distortions constantly. If there is no crossover, we need a perfect and delicate mechanical balance that guarantees, when well designed, the absence of any phase distortion.
I suggest starting a discriminating listening test of the Arte Acustica’s speakers only when, with eyes closed, you notice a perfect amalgam between the frequencies and a homogenous and balanced musical fusion.
The time to listen to the Stand 93 has arrived. They have temporarily replaced the Heresy One, leaving unchanged the tube system, cables included. The very first impression is that the Audio Innovation 500 drives easily the Italian speakers that like very much the EL34 tubes. The sound is fresh and open, the tonal colors are bright and lucid, the mid range is present and dynamic. That is the sound I like. This outcome is what makes the difference. The dynamics is direct and fast, so to give to the sound that presence effect that need those transducers that aim to the euphony instead of the transparency.
The frequency response is wide and, most of all, homogenous in the exposition, only when the right point of run-in and cohesion between the speakers is reached.
A critical point is the research of the perfect listening spot and placing of the Stand 93 in the room. First of all, I suggest using stands of about sixty centimeters of height, stiff and heavy. My Omicrons’ are well performing in this case.
Then, a fight starts because the loudspeakers are very difficult to be placed in the room. After a while and with Giorgio Todde’s help, I got a good result by placing the Stand 93 very far from the back wall and slightly oriented towards the listening spot, as the tweeter was aimed to a point three meters behind the listener’s shoulders.
We get a wide and deep image, with a musical picture, where the performers have defined contour and are punctuated without hesitation in an instrumental scene that is vivid and fresh.
Arte Acustica Classic Line Stand 93 are unconventional speakers, like all Todde’s speakers. Their originality comes from the achievement of a precise sound outcome and not from the intent of surprising with their look. It comes from the technical choice: the absence of the crossover gives an open and direct musicality where the real mid range is the protagonist. The audio enthusiasts will become surprised by detaching the existence of emission ranges never explored before.
More extraordinary will be to find out that, notwithstanding the bright emission, there will be no listening fatigue, a phenomenon usually produced by the phase distortions made by the crossover. In fact, the listening fatigue is generated by the endless and unconscious effort of our brain to recompose the correct temporal phases and rebuild a proper sound image. Having a sound without temporal distortions and precise in remaking the acoustic scene helps a lot to relax and enjoy the music.
In brief, also with some peculiarities like the placing in the room of the Arte Acustica Classic Line Stand 93 speakers, I think they are a very interesting product that could open new horizons and enrich the wealth of experience of the audiophiles.
Official technical specifications
Type: two-way reflex without crossover
Components: 16cm woofer, 3,4cm tweeter, one capacitor
Loading: overdamped port to guarantee extension and correct damping in the room
Volume: 24lt
Frequency response: 40Hz–20kHz
Sensitivity: 93dB 1W1m
Impedance: 8ohm
Official Italian dealer: direct sale, to Arte Acustica website
Official current price in Italy: 1,980.00 EUR
Listening sessions: to book the tests contact +39.333.3250360
Associated equipment: to Roberto "The Rock" Rocchi’s system
