AXPONA 2025

I’d heard Lithuania’s Silent Pound speakers paired with New Zealand’s Perreaux amplification at several audio shows in Warsaw. This year at AXPONA, the two companies brought that same transcontinental partnership to Illinois. It was my first encounter with Silent Pound’s flagship Challenger II floorstanders ($32,500–$36,150/pair, depending on finish), and they didn’t disappoint. The system also included Perreaux’s 300iX integrated amplifier ($9995), fronted by an Aurender A15 server/streamer/DAC ($8400). Cabling from Life Audio and Titan Audio, plus a Solid Tech Radius Solo 3 rack, completed the setup.

As I wrote in my last Warsaw report, Silent Pound is a young speaker company that claims its speakers control all lateral reflections. Their goal is constant directivity throughout the range. The Challenger II employs a compact horn surrounded by dual 6" midrange drivers. Also sporting dual 12" woofers in dipole configuration, the speaker offers 88 dB sensitivity, 4 ohms impedance, and a frequency response of 30 Hz–18 kHz (±2.5 dB). Amplifiers of 100–400 Wpc are a good match—that includes the Perreaux solid-state integrated, which incorporates a DAC and MM/MC phono stage and outputs 300 Wpc into 8 ohms.

The Challenger II includes a gradient low-frequency module that’s intended to focus bass energy toward the listener and reduce lateral radiation to walls and ceiling. The company claims up to three times less low-frequency radiation and three times less room resonance. Constant directivity across the entire frequency spectrum is achieved by fusing multiple design concepts, including dipole, cardioid, and horn configurations. The crossover is a “highly specialized asymmetric design that integrates both acoustic and electrical slopes.” Silent Pound asserts that the design “ensures seamless integration across the entire frequency range and maintains precise control over the sound’s directivity.”

On Joe Dassin’s “Blue Country,” bass was solid and controlled, and highs really nice—no easy task in a challenging hotel room these manufacturers had never encountered. Jeff Fox of Notable Audio Products in Virginia is temporarily handling distribution until a full-time distributor seizes the opportunity to spread the word about these companies’ achievements. ::contentReference