AXPONA 2023

If you're like me and the topic turns to active speakers, you'll probably think of affordable products. Maybe the mighty $649 Vanatoo Transparent One Encore comes to mind, or the sub-$1000 powerhouse that is a pair of SVS Prime Pro wireless speakers. The KEF LS50W is a strong contender even at $2800, and if your budget allows, you might consider Buchardt A5s ($3900/pair).

Beyond that, my sense is that most red-meat audiophiles are going to spring for multiple separate components, despite there being something vaguely masochistic about that often prolonged ordeal of trial, error, and complexity.

Me, I love simplicity as much as I love amazing sound, which is why I really cottoned to the $14,950 powered Dutch & Dutch 8cs I wrote about a few days ago. Then I heard that for elevated luxury and sophistication, you can also check out a pair of active Grimm LS1be speakers that'll set you back a cool $44k, or almost three times what the D&Ds cost. So I had a listen.

I knew nothing of Grimm Audio, which made for a double surprise. Number one: more Dutchmen. They seemed thick on the ground at AXPONA. Number two: the Grimm LS1be system was blew-me-away excellent. I heard exemplary coherence and speed, eye-watering musicality, and a solid balance between clean taut bass (20Hz) and precise, expansive treble. The hotel room where founder/creative director Eelco Grimm and his small crew had set up shop was unremarkable, having undergone only modest acoustic treatments (I think I counted four smallish panels). And yet the space seemed to approach the level of a tricked-out concert hall. Frequency anomalies? Distortion? Hash? Try as I might, I couldn't hear any.

Grimm's LS1 speaker is a three-way system if you count the integrated, upwards-firing Digital Motional Feedback SB1 subwoofer that is claimed to have 30dB less distortion than its predecessor. The tweeter in the LS1be has been upgraded to a beryllium-diaphragm SEAS model. As before, inside the cabinetry there are six NCore amplifiers developed by engineering wizard and Grimm co-founder Bruno Putzeys, who is now a principal at Purifi. Of course, the Grimm speakers have hi-rez ADC/DACs onboard as well, plus a digital signal processor. All you need is a source.

Is $44,000 a crazy amount of money to spend on a pair of powered speakers? It's all in the ear of the beholder, but based on admittedly just 15 minutes of listening, I'd take Grimm's tweaked-out statement of excellence over virtually any system I heard at AXPONA that costs up to six figures.