Audiovector R3 Avantgarde Arreté Loudspeakers; Goldnote Giglio Turntable, Ph10 Phono Preamplifier, PSU10 Power Supply, and Four-Shelf Rack; Alluxity Pre 2 Preamp with Streaming DAC, Mono One monoblock amplifiers; Synergistic Research PowerCell

Should you ground your loudspeakers? With most speakers it's a moot point, since there's no practical way to ground the internal metal parts. A few companies—Tannoy comes to mind—have in the past sold speakers with a grounding pin, claiming reduction of distortion and RF interference.

Audiovector, of Denmark, has returned to the practice grounding their loudspeakers, providing a grounding pin on their Avantgarde Arreté–series loudspeakers, which can be wired to earth ground via a special grounding terminal on the carbon-fiber panel. (The cable costs extra.) The big Arretés were in the room—the $80,000 CAD R8—but the room was small and the much smaller R3 ($14,000 CAD) was making most of the music.

The Arreté is described by its manufacturer as a 2.5-way; it sports an AMT tweeter, two 6.5" mid-woofers, and a down-firing—well, something. Port? Passive radiator? I'm not sure. The claimed sensitivity is 90.5dB, and the claimed frequency range is 23Hz–53kHz.

Another interesting thing about the Arreté speakers: They're quite lightweight; I haven't found an official weight, but I would estimate that the R3 Arreté, which is about one meter tall, weighed about 50lb. Audiovector CEO Mads Kliforth, the son of founder and designer Ole Kliforth, told me that this was by design. Presumably the goal is to reduce energy storage.

Driving the Audiovector speakers were a pair of Alluxity Mono One amplifiers, which sell for $26,000 CAD/pair. Preamplification was an Alluxity Pre 2 with a built-in streaming DAC ($14,500 CAD). The Alluxity components are a sort of rust/bronze/orange color; together with the matte-black Unison Research Unico CD Primo CD player ($2590 CAD) and the red Goldnote PH10 phono preamplifier ($2055) and PSU10 power supply ($1500), these components made for a colorful system for the eye as well as the ear.

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