Aperion University

On a recent tour of Manhattan, Aperion Audio's Win Jeanfreau and Lorraine Janeway took some time to lunch with Stereophile's Stephen Mejias, Robert J. Reina, and me. Reina had just reviewed the $750/pair Aperion Intimus 533-T loudspeakers in the April Stereophile, so we assumed that would be the main topic of conversation. As far as Jeanfreau and Janeway were concerned, however, that was ancient history. They were excited about more recent developments and future plans.

They'd just returned from scouting the Grand Hyatt Hotel, site of the Home Entertainment Show from May 11–13, 2007 and were excited about meeting attendees who had read about them in the magazine for the first time.

They were also proud of having established Aperion University on their website. "We wanted to establish a source of unbiased information about loudspeakers, room placement, and sound technology," said Janeway. "We think that confusion is bad for everybody, retailers and consumers alike, so we wanted to get unbiased information out there."

"What we didn't want to do was have a destination where the answer to every question was 'Aperion Audio,'" said Jeanfreau. "In fact, our goal is just to teach you the facts; product decisions are a different thing altogether."

"Courses" are offered in different categories, such as music, home theater, sound technology, and "power to the buyer," and in degrees of difficulty labeled "bachelors," "masters," and "Ph.D."

Then Jeanfreau turned the tables on us. "What are the best loudspeakers you've ever heard?"

Beg pardon? Aren't you the speaker designer?

"I am, but I'm working on a statement loudspeaker. I have some ideas about what I think a no-holds-barred loudspeaker should encompass. But I'd love to hear some of the speakers that have excited audiophiles. That's the other reason we're so excited by the chance to come to the HE Show. I'll get to hear some good hi-fi systems."

So we "wasted" the afternoon doing what audiophiles do: talking about the goosebump factor.

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