RMAF 2009

When I walked into the room of Chicago-based Acoustic Technology LLC, I thought I was listening to speakers that only had tweeters, because the only visible drive-unity was a single 3" unit. Yet the sound, a recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Schererazade, was definitely full-range,and the soundstaging, as you might expect from such a small radiating diameter and a narrow cabinet baffle, was well-delineated.

The 3" unit, which has a titanium cone, was being used in the Acoustic Technology Classic-Series loudspeaker ($2450/pair) to cover the entire audio band. Yes, the speaker was running out of headroom at climaxes with a lot of bass energy—maximum amplifier power is specified as 30Wpc—but there was a refreshing transparency to the overall presentation. System was an Ayon CD2 CD player, Pass Labs X-1 preamp, and a PS Audio power amp.