Intro
Contents
Audel is an Italian speaker manufacturer. Now you could probably have guessed that yourself from a look at the opening photo; the design breathes Italy. But what about the musical reproduction of this Audel U-Basik 5/8? Is it as stylish as its appearance?
So Audel is an Italian loudspeaker brand. It was founded in 2008 by Walter Carzan who, by the way, is also the lead engineer. The speakers are handmade in Casteldaccia in Sicily.
Now we always ask the question: what distinguishes this product from others. Usually we get the answer: this one performs better; it sounds better. A close second is: we deliver the highest quality (or musicality) at a competitive price. The problem with these answers is: every manufacturer thinks so. So it is not distinctive.
With Audel, we immediately see two things: the appearance is quite different AND fortunately they also apply some unique techniques. Audel tries – as your author sees it – not to make a product that everyone is going to like. Optically that is. Or what suits his or her musical taste, because it is also different in terms of sound. More about that later.
Audel U-Basik 5/8
We received the – subjectively – beautiful U-Basik 5/8 from More Music. Our version is the Signature version with a kind of pattern on the front. Without question, it looks playful. Although we have to be honest: the question is whether it is worth the extra price (2890 for the standard and 3190 for the Signature). After all, the regular version also looks very nice.
By the way, there are other finishes: a kind of colored block pattern, Signature Dark Walnut, Signature ebony and also plain Walnut.
To place the Audel U-Basik 5/8 neatly and in style, special tripods are available. The tripods cost 990 Euro per pair. It must be said: it looks very nice and the mounting is clever with a “spike” that secures the Audel to the tripod. This prevents a lot of misery for people with small children or pets who sometimes want to bump into something.
Ribs
The cabinet of this Audel U-Basik 5/8 consists of layers of birch plywood. In total, the cabinet is 3cm thick. These layers are nicely visible from the side. The layers are also visible in the bass reflex port at the front.
Now Carzan has chosen this construction not only from an optical perspective. The layers also make the cabinet very rigid. A win/win, in other words. It doesn’t stop here, however. Internally, ribs have also been added to make the cabinet even stiffer. Each rib has a different thickness, which cancels out resonances.
In the front we see a 29mm soft dome and a 5-inch woofer. Together, this produces a response from 47 Hz to 25 KHz. The crossover is at 2500 Hz. The efficiency is 88.5 dB, which is average for a bookshelf.
