Audiovector R6 Arreté review
R6 Arreté, Audiovector’s more affordable version of their flagship models R11 and R8 is as fantastic as we had hoped. Tested at $27.886.
If you ask Geir which speaker he would buy himself, of all the ones he has tested, the Audiovector SR6 Avantgarde Arreté V2.0 would be high on the list. However, he would probably ultimately choose the newer and smaller R3 Arreté, which is more affordable at half the price and also has a better-balanced bass and an even more cohesive sound. It just isn’t as powerful or deep in the bass as its now-discontinued larger sibling.
Of course, if you have a very large room to fill with sound or if you are looking for a gigantic wall of sound that requires something bigger than the R3 Arreté, you need more powerful equipment. That’s why Audiovector has once again brought out the measuring tape, calculator, Ohm’s law, and Maxwell’s equations to create even more magic than ever with the 6-model.
But there is a significant difference between the new R6 Arreté and the old SR6 Avantgarde Arreté. Where the SR6 was an upscale version of the cheaper SR3, the R6 should be seen as a downsized version of the flagships R8 and R11. Both with the Arreté name, mind you. This is an important detail, meaning even more resources have been invested to perfect them down to the smallest detail. This also makes the R6 Arreté considerably more expensive than its already costly predecessors. $27.886 takes some time to save up…
“We use our SEC and LCC technology here as well, but also our Freedom concept, which we introduced in the R8 and which is also available for the smaller R3 and R1 Arreté,” says Ole Klifoth, Audiovector’s founder.
HIGH DENSITY CABINET
The successor to the SR6 is the fifth generation in the series, and while the cabinet’s shape resembles the outgoing model, the design of the new HDF cabinet has been further improved.
“After the R3 and R8, we thought we had enough new knowledge to improve the 6-series as well, and it’s obvious that the R6 series has come a bit further technically, but also sound-wise, we hope at least.”
The cabinets are manufactured in China, but the speakers are assembled at Audiovector in Denmark, with drivers made to Audiovector’s specifications, supplied by ScanSpeak and Elac.
The narrow front baffle and curved sides with the slanted bottom plate cause less diffraction and better dampen standing waves – Audiovector therefore does not need to use a lot of damping material inside. A few (Nano Pore) mats inside are enough.
Audiovector calls it LCC (Low Compression Concept), where the idea is that minimal internal damping material should prevent even the joy of music from being dampened.
“The idea with LCC is to ensure there are no limitations preventing the sound from reaching the listener. Together with our Soundstage Enhancement Concept, we try to open up the soundstage, which we believe gets more depth and also creates low, or rather no compression in the treble.”
SPECIAL RIBBON TWEETER
The ribbon tweeter, or Air Motion Transformer, has a very thin membrane with a large surface area, but is folded like an accordion. All to get a larger effective surface with a smaller footprint. In the R6 Arreté, the tweeter is specially adapted for the speaker and modified compared to the AMT tweeter in the R3 Arreté and R6 Avantgarde. It has an open pole piece on the back and sits in an isolated chamber that is open to the back to eliminate compression, and it extends up to 52 kHz.
The two woofers with carbon fiber membranes on the front are divided into different areas of the frequency range, with the upper one functioning as a midrange between 350 and 3,000 Hz, while the lower one covers between 100 and 350 Hz.
Below 100 Hz? There are two bass drivers you can’t see. In what is also called an isobaric construction, two dedicated subwoofers are mounted inside, facing downward, playing vertically through an opening in the bottom plate.
But that’s not all. On the back, in a separate chamber, there is a 7.5 cm midrange driver visible through the slots in the middle of the vertical HDF reinforcement on the back. This driver is also in the R8 Arreté and provides a larger soundstage with more depth.
Which was clearly audible when we had the opportunity to compare it with the R6 Signature and Avantgarde, which otherwise have the same basic construction, but not the same drivers and not the rear-facing midrange driver.
FREEDOM
They also don’t have the Arreté model’s grounding concept Freedom, which grounds the midrange and bass drivers with a separate cable to dampen feedback that can lead to distortion. This also requires a special crossover unique to Arreté, mounted on a carbon fiber plate with damping in between.
Audiovector claims that Freedom reduces as much as 50% of the distortion.
The components in the crossover are cryogenically treated down to –238 degrees, which Audiovector claims gives greater detail in the soundstage. The resistance loss in the crossover is said to be reduced by 50%, and in the White Paper on the R6, Audiovector states that this also improves transient response.
Lossless dynamics, zero compression, and high efficiency are some of the keywords here. The R6 Arreté is also quite efficient, with 91.5 dB sensitivity measured at 2.83 V (1 W) and 1 meter.
FANTASTIC FROM THE FIRST MOMENT
It’s not often, especially with high-end speakers, that they sound fantastic right from the first moment they are set up, with a distance to the back wall based on pure intuition and connected to an arbitrary amplifier. But that’s exactly what happens.
Of course, it can’t be entirely arbitrary, our trusty giant McIntosh MA7000, with a Hegel HD30 responsible for the digital conversion. But it’s not at all a given that this amplifier will be a good match for a pair of speakers designed to bring out the utmost in speed and resolution across the entire tonal range. When it comes to tonal balance, the MA7000 is on the warmer side and a bit mild in the top range. And there are definitely amplifiers with faster transient response. But wow, what a pleasant and rosy sound!
The R6 Arreté brings out the quality in the “Big Mac.” Rarely has it shone with a larger, more convincing soundstage in our 30-square-meter listening room.
And the bass! The combination of the speakers’ lightning-fast bass drivers and the amplifier’s voluminous playing style makes the rhythms in Billie Eilish’s “I Didn’t Change My Number” hit you in the stomach as you sit on the sofa waiting for the next bass drum beat. While Billie’s soft voice, right next to the microphone, is presented “larger than life,” filling the room.
YOU BEAUTIFUL EARTH
So what happens when we connect the Freedom cable that grounds the speakers?
From the R3 Arreté test, we remember that the soundstage became more pinpointed in the center and that instruments towards the sides were more clearly placed. And that’s exactly what happens here too. It’s not dramatically violent, and at first, we wondered if it was the placebo effect at play. But then it became increasingly clear that there is something here. As a sporadic user of reading glasses with low strength, I can compare it to walking around without glasses for a long time, thinking everything is fine, and then suddenly putting on the glasses and feeling how everything falls into place. But here we’re talking about “glasses for the ears.”
DEVIALET TO THE RESCUE
Although the MA7000 amplifier gave a real “aha” experience, it is not the one we would unreservedly recommend for the R6 Arreté. We would give that role to a completely different amplifier.
For while the McIntosh paints with a slightly broad brush, with more than a touch of red, the Devialet Expert 250 Pro brings out the precision tool.
Connected to the network and with Roon on MacBook Pro as the sound source, the Devialet amplifier removes all small debris from the soundstage, which grows in all directions. The bass becomes super-defined with lightning-fast start and stop, and it also goes deeper.
The downside, if you can call it that, is that McIntosh’s romantic color palette has been replaced by a completely neutral one. It does not in any way sugarcoat the truth. The amplifier distinguishes much better between a snare drum and a piccolo snare and a violin from a viola. The speakers allow themselves to be directed with a firm hand, and they grow so enormously with the task that you have to hear it to believe it.
And if you wonder what makes a Bösendorfer grand piano different from other grand pianos, it’s the extra bass strings below the normal pitch range. Even when they are not played, they help to give a richer, fuller sound to the rest of the piano, which the amplifier together with the Audiovector speakers ruthlessly hammers into the listener’s stomach. Like in Tori Amos’ “Mohammad My Friend.”
FIX THE POWER
When we received the speakers for testing, the importer had sent along a power filter of the Isotek EVO3 Sigmas type. We had already had a few inexplicable, pleasant experiences with the affordable Corvus filter, which for $803 gives cleaner power for up to nine components.
In Corvus, all contacts go through the same filter, but in Sigmas, each of the six outlets is separately filtered to minimize mutual interference.
A pair of Audiovector R6 Arreté already provides incredible resolution and soundstage, and we wondered how much more we could extract from the same speakers with cleaner power.
A lot, it turns out. Although I would like to add that we are not talking about day and night differences here. We’re not talking about the kind of quantum leap you get when you connect a better amplifier or simply reposition the speakers a little.
But when we had the opportunity to spend more time with the power filter, we had to admit that the soundstage improved noticeably, and so did the placement of instruments within the soundstage. Again, we are talking about glasses for the ears. For once you have experienced the improvement, you don’t want to be without it. At least if you are addicted to experiencing music with optimal reproduction.
CLEANER SOUND
Although there are still better speakers to be had, the Audiovector R6 Arreté will probably be the ultimate high-end speakers for most people. Without costing several times more.
The improvements compared to the SR6 are significant, the treble is even cleaner and more resolved, the soundstage has grown even larger and deeper, and the bass is so tight and potent that the speakers almost have to be nailed down to the floor. For the sake of your neighbors, we recommend that you place the speakers on a stable foundation and avoid too powerful amplifiers if you live in an apartment.
The speaker’s transparency, especially in the middle register, allows you to get closer to the original recording. Both voice and instruments come out with more clarity and fidelity than what we are used to. Especially compared to the SR6 Avantgarde Arreté.
More strikingly, even when you increase the volume significantly, you don’t feel the need to lower it when your favorite album comes on. On the contrary, the R6 Arreté feels so comfortable to listen to that you can sit through entire albums without feeling listening fatigue.
The degree of detail, almost complete freedom from distortion, lightning-fast transients, and the overall level of the speakers make them exceptionally engaging to listen to.
Specs
Type: 4.5-way floor-standing speakers with bass reflex
Bass: 8×6.5-inch isobaric
Mid-bass: 6.5-inch carbon fiber
Midrange (rear): 3-inch paper
Tweeter: R AMT Arreté
Sensitivity: 91.5 dB
Impedance: 8 ohms
Frequency Range: 35–36,000 Hz (–3 dB)
Dimensions: 123.4 x 27.8 x 43.1 cm
Colors: White piano lacquer, Italian walnut, African rosewood, black piano lacquer
Website: audiovector.com
Verdict:
Audiovector’s new R6 Arreté simply nails everything! And with freedom, the speakers are absolutely world-class!
Audiovector R 6 Arreté Assembly
Assembly video of the Audiovector R 6 Arreté in Crayon Piano. The R 6 Arreté is dynamic, delicate, emotionally revealing and ...
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