The Audel Sound
Contents
As reported, we tested the Audel in two systems and two rooms. This is because it is a fairly compact speaker and it is quickly apparent that this monitor lets you hear exactly what is going on. A switch from the Pass Labs X150.8 to the Hypex Nilai in the reference system already proved to make quite a difference. In a positive sense even! In short: we started experimenting.
Mix and match
The reason we started mixing and matching is the tightness and punch in the low frequency range. We always have a few ‘torture’ tracks to see how a speaker matches and presents the music. Think Angel by Massive Attack, but the album Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle is another good one. Or certain tracks by Portishead and Fink.
In the big listening room, we hear that it doesn’t really match well. That could be the size of the room, the match with the power amp or even the cables. After some mixing and matching, we can conclude that the Hypex Nilai plays better and that the Van den Hul Nova – although an insane combination – matches better than the Driade.
However, when we move things to the smaller room and switch to a complete Hypex DIY system with the Volumio Motivo as the source, we hear that it just clicks. This really plays very well. Even with the Driade Flow Reference speaker cables and Yeti Silverlink V2 interlinks between the pre-amp and power amp. Things can get crazy in our hi-fi world. A 6000 Euro system that wins from a 60,000 Euro system. Nuts, but true! So don’t be guided by price tags: it’s all about the match.
From this we can conclude that the acoustics and size of the listening room do not work well with these speakers. Although we hear the same signature and characteristics there too: it’s purely the bass where it doesn’t work well.
Flow and scale!
Time for some more music than just torture tracks to test the bass. We put on Beth Gibbons’ insanely addictive album: Lives Outgrown. We hear that the Audel manages to deliver this with very much fluidity, air and refinement. The image is large and very nicely placed in a 3D space. We do recommend that you play with some serious toe-in. You really need to get our of your comfort zone here in order to get a sharp focus. This is certainly not at the expense of scale…. no worries.
Going to some rhythmic work by Massive Attack, Air and Royksopp, for example, we hear that this is a wonderfully fast speaker. Especially in the midrange it is very open, clear, layered and rhythmic. Impressive.
It’s pretty hard to place this Audel within the world of speakers. It’s just a quirky little speaker with a remarkable character. It is not at all trying to be like other speakers. If we had to compare it, we’d come in the direction of the Stenheim Alumine 2. That was another wonderfully loose speaker with a nice stereo image. This Audel does the same.
Complete enough
We should also, definitely mention that the sound palette is complete enough for the bulk of music. Of course, you are not going to be able to reproduce the lower regions of a church organ. Below 50 Hz, there just isn’t much happening. But from about 50 Hz on, this compact monitor will come along just fine, if you place it a little smartly. Free in space is not going to work; that’s just due to the laws of nature. Place them smartly and you will be rewarded with a fine sound balance with plenty of warmth.
Overall picture
For those who need a compact description of a device, we will try to describe this speaker in one sentence.
The Audel U-Basik 5/8 is a speaker with a remarkably large stereo image, a loose reproduction as well as a remarkably complete sound palette that provides enough warmth and depth for most music.
