Tag Archives: sound reproduction

The Audience Bellare Loudspeaker Is Extraordinary

October 10, 2025 The Silo Leave a comment

San Marcos, California, October, 2025 – In one of the most significant product introductions in the company’s history, Audience will debut its extraordinary Bellare loudspeaker at two US events: T.H.E. Show New York and Capital Audiofest 2025. As stunning in appearance as it is to listen to, the new Bellare full-range speaker incorporates a number of proprietary technologies including the company’s full-range driver approach to deliver a never-before-achievable level of musical realism.

The Bellare (Italian/Latin for “beautiful”) will be featured at T.H.E. Show New York 2025 at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights/Meadowlands, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey (October 24 – 26, 2025), and at Capital Audiofest at the Hilton Hotel Rockville, Rockville, Maryland (November 14 – 16, 2025). It will be demonstrated as part of a complete high-end system including an all-new Audience equipment rack, and Audience cables and power conditioners (see complete equipment list at the end of this press release).

No need for the usual crossover requirement

At the heart of Bellare’s extraordinary performance is its use of multiple identical 3-inch wideband high-resolution drivers that cover the entire frequency spectrum from 120 Hz through the midrange and treble – eliminating the need for a crossover or different types of drivers for the midrange and high frequencies. This results in remarkable sonic coherence, tonal purity, and imaging, with excellent dispersion. There are no phase anomalies, discontinuities in frequency range, or disruptive changes in radiation pattern.

Bass Is Handled Separately

The bass below 120 Hz is handled by Bellare’s built-in 300-watt active bass module with DSP that offers remote control of its volume, and automatic room correction. The inclusion of this built-in bass unit enables Bellare to be used with even lower-powered amplifiers such as Class A or single-ended tube amplifiers, since they are only driving the midrange and high frequencies.

The result is a loudspeaker that offers a seamless, natural musical presentation with remarkable spaciousness, presence, dynamic impact and tonal truthfulness. The Bellare achieves a level of sonic realism undreamed of until now. It is one of the finest loudspeakers ever produced by Audience – or anyone.

The Audience Bellare loudspeaker will be available in March 2026 at a suggested US retail price of $36,000 per pair/ $50,374 CAD (at today’s conversion rate).

Key Audience Bellare Loudspeaker Features:

Identical 3-inch drivers provide seamless performance above 120 Hz
Crossover-less design (above 120 Hz) preserves coherence, phase integrity, tonal purity and an ideal radiation pattern
Built-in 300-watt bass module powers the woofer and mid-woofer
DSP offers remote control of its volume, and active room correction
Frequency response: -3 dB at 28 Hz and 22 kHz
105 dB continuous output without driver compression
Smooth impedance with minimal phase shift for effortless amplifier control
88 dB sensitivity. Very easy to drive thanks to its well-behaved impedance curve and integrated bass augmentation system
Nominal impedance of 9.5 ohms and does not drop below 8.5 ohms
Exceptionally smooth phase response

List of Components to be Used in T.H.E. Show New York and Capital Audiofest Demonstration Systems:

Audience ClairAudient Bellare Loudspeakers
Audience equipment rack (price TBA)
Atma-Sphere MP-1 vacuum tube balanced line stage ($7,850 usd/ $10,985 cad)
Atma-Sphere Class D monoblock amplifiers ($6,100/pair usd/ $8,535 cad)
Exemplar Audio eXpression DUAL ES9028PRO DAC with outboard power supply ($5,500 usd/ $7,696 cad)
SONY UBPX – 1100ES disc player ($700 usd/ $979 cad)
Audience Adept Response aR6-T4 6-outlet reference power conditioner ($6,900 usd/ $9,655 cad) with optional FrontRow Reserve HP powerChord ($7,600 usd/ $10,634 cad)
Audience Forte V8 8-outlet power strip w/Forte F3 power cord ($980 usd/ $1,371 cad)
Full loom of Audience frontRow Reserve interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords.

Audience
800-565-4390 (US and Canada)

About Audience

Audience was formed in November 1997 by John McDonald and the late Richard Smith, as a design and production company focused on building the best possible audio and video equipment. To pass the Audience test, each product must truly make a significant contribution to the reproduction of audio and/or video. Audience offers loudspeakers, electronics, cables, power conditioners, high-resolution capacitors and the Auric Illuminator optical disk resolution enhancement.

Audience’s commitment is to develop the very best products possible, and the company is committed to unexcelled customer service and product support. All Audience cables have an unconditional lifetime warranty and power conditioners have a ten-year warranty. For more information visit www.audience-av.com.

Reviews

This Transport Reveals Hidden Sonic Details In Compact Discs And SACD

September 27, 2025 The Silo Leave a comment

CDs played through the PMG Signature SACD Transport come closer than ever to high-resolution PCM and DSD, uncovering new layers of dimensionality, soundstage, depth, and musicality previously unobtainable in other optical readers or server-based audio systems.

What is a Transport?

Like its predecessor (the PerfectWave SACD Transport) the PMG Signature opens the long-restricted DSD layer of SACD to PS Audio DACs. The PMG will deliver the raw DSD layer of copyright-protected SACD directly into your PS Audio DAC through I²S. This means that you’ll uncover the wealth of audio’s finest digital medium, DSD, and hear exactly what the mastering engineers who created these discs have enjoyed all along. Hear what you’ve been missing with the PMG Signature SACD Transport.

PMG Signature SACD Transport

Locked inside your CD and SACD collection is a treasure trove of music you’ve never truly heard. How do we know? Because PMG, like you, know every note of our reference discs—and we were stunned when we heard them through the new PMG Signature SACD Transport. This isn’t just another player. It’s the finest optical disc transport we’ve built in 43 years, and for the first time in our history, our founder has signed his name to it.

The PMG Signature SACD Transport is an engineering triumph, designed to extract every nuance and detail from your CDs and SACDs with unmatched precision. With galvanically isolated outputs and ultra-low jitter design, it breathes new life into your CD collection when paired with any DAC. And when connected via I²S, it unlocks the raw DSD layer of your SACDs—delivering what was once hidden to external DACs. This is not nostalgia. This is revelation. The PMG Signature SACD Transport is the ultimate disc playback system—worthy of the name, and the legacy.

For the Silo, Paul McGowan.

Reviews

New Flagship Turntable From Audio-Technica Delivers

September 30, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

STOW, OH, September 30, 2024 — Our friends at Audio-Technica are pleased to announce the introduction and availability of its AT-LP8X Semi-Automatic Direct Drive Turntable.

The AT-LP8X is Audio-Technica’s new flagship turntable and its first-ever semi-automatic model.

It is designed to deliver exceptional vinyl record playback, with features including a VM95 Series cartridge (included), adjustable VTA (vertical tracking angle), a newly-designed motor, and additional refinements.

In addition to delivering outstanding sound from 33-1/3, 45 and 78-RPM records, the Audio-Technica AT-LP8X offers the convenience of semi-automatic operation, where the tonearm raises itself off the record and the motor stops at the end of a side. The AT-LP8X comes with a pre-mounted high-performance AT-VM95E Dual Magnet phono cartridge with an elliptical stylus, for superior resolution, stereo imaging, and tracking. The cartridge is pre-mounted on Audio-Technica’s new AT-L10 removeable headshell (also available separately) for easy installation. The AT-VM95E is compatible with any VM95 Series replacement stylus.

Adjustable Vertical Tracking Angle VTA

The J-shaped aluminum tonearm is inspired by classic Audio-Technica designs and has adjustable VTA, enabling it to be optimized for virtually any phono cartridge. In addition, the AT-LP8X provides adjustments for anti-skating and tracking force, and comes with a sub-counterweight that enables the use of cartridges with a weight range from 14 to 23.5 grams.

The AT-LP8X incorporates a new low-torque direct drive DC motor, with a speed sensor system that ensures accurate speed stability. It features a 1-inch-thick (25 mm) rubber-damped, anti-resonance, die-cast aluminum platter and a rubber mat, the most substantial platter ever offered on an Audio-Technica turntable, for reduced resonance and more accurate and uncolored vinyl playback. It also features a new internal switching power supply that is optimized for audio use, ensuring minimum noise in the signal chain. The AT-LP8X comes with a detachable RCA cable, removeable hinged dust cover, and 45-RPM adapter.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP8X Semi-Automatic Direct Drive Turntable is now available, at a suggested U.S. retail price of $999 / CAD $1,348. For the Silo, Frank Doris.

Audio-Technica was founded in 1962 with the mission of producing high-quality audio for everyone. As we have grown to design critically acclaimed headphones, turntables and microphones, we have retained the belief that great audio should not be enjoyed only by the select few, but accessible to all. Building upon our analog heritage, we work to expand the limits of audio technology, pursuing an ever-changing purity of sound that creates connections and enriches lives.

— For further information regarding product availability and pricing in Europe, contact Tanya Williams ([email protected]) please mention The Silo when contacting.