Munich 2023

Estelon's New Aura Loudspeaker

Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 24, 2023

Estelon's new entry-level Aura loudspeaker ($19,900/pair) is as notable for its sound and unique design as for its departure from premium pricing. Every driver in the Aura, from the Scanspeak 1" soft-dome tweeter to its two 5" SB Acoustics mid-woofers and 10" Faital woofer, is new.

Allied with the excellent Moon 860A v2 monoblocks that I've reviewed; Moon 740P preamp; Moon 820S external power supply; dCS's superb Rossini CD/SACD transport, which JA1 reviewed; dCS Rossini Apex DAC with Rossini Master Clock, all of which I've reviewed; and Crystal and Siltech cabling, the Estelon Aura sounded quite fine with a strong midrange.

Why I did not take note of the music I was listening to during my visit is anyone's guess. Perhaps I couldn't find it on my music identifier app. That was certainly the case with some of the German pop and traditional music tracks I encountered during the show.

COMMENTS
blang11's picture
Submitted by blang11 on May 24, 2023 - 12:26pm

With the black grill, this looks a lot like a Sony Playstation 5. Cool looking speaker without the grill.

HappywhereIam's picture
Submitted by HappywhereIam on May 24, 2023 - 3:23pm

How is $19,900 for a pair of loudspeakers a "departure from premium pricing?" Yes, yes, I know that there are increasing numbers of audio components that go for well more than six figures. But in the world that most of us live in, $20K for an entire system is premium pricing, never mind for an individual component.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on May 24, 2023 - 11:05pm

Yes, $20,000 for a sound system is unaffordable for many audiophiles. And yes, "premium pricing" was a half-assed euphemism for the company's usual high pricing.

Thanks for calling me out. I stand corrected.

jason

jgossman's picture
Submitted by jgossman on May 25, 2023 - 6:26am

I wouldn't take offense. It's a comment at the entire Hi-End hi-fi, and society at large. The Uber wealthy live in a world so disconnected from the merely wealthy and upper middle class, much less the working class (who also scrimp and save to touch the hi-end, be it audio, cars, homes, etc.) that they don't even comprehend that 20k is a lot of money. For anything. Muchless a set of speakers filled with, frankly nothing special components. With no disrespect to ScanSpeak, I don't see a Revelator anywhere in sight. The incredulity isn't a quality issue, it's a math issue. Many of us have built nice speakers and know exactly what that stuff cost.

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