Public response to the Astute Launch

Visitor comments were overwhelmingly positive.

To ensure authenticity, people wrote down their impressions and signed their name to them. The press also responded very favourably but we'll leave their comments for the reviews.

Visitor comments

“One of the stand out rooms of the show. Unassuming to behold but natural musicality” K Fiske

“Wonderful sound, natural acoustics, lovely imaging, could easily live with this speaker system, Absolutely gorgeous.” Paul Farrett

“Listen to the speakers, went to another dimension, I could listen all day long. The Autobahn track blew me away – Fantastic!” Harry

“I loved the sound of these speakers. Very lively and spacious. It sounds great wherever you are in the room. It's even better than Omni-directional sound. Lastly a great speaker set up for anyone.” MG Kunkler

This comment is interesting, from someone who walked all round our 5m x 11m room – the secret of great sound wherever you listen, is in the extraordinary dynamics of the Astutes, which don't “dull off” quickly as sound bounces around the room. This is such a giveaway that one visitor remarked “You can normally tell a great sound well before you even get into the room”.

“Great dem, never heard Yello sound so clear. Impartial advice. New speakers look and sound terrific.” Rob Steer

“Amazing sound from the Astute speakers – totally enveloped me in sound, balanced, warm” Bill Vanderkris

“Totally beautiful and quirky design – I'm in love with these speakers” Lou Rossati

“Truly one of the finest systems I have heard anywhere” Colin

Colin is a highly experience audiophile who requested that we played a very testing, live recording that he'd made of a band member playing bass guitar. He told us that most systems just reduced everything to a blur.

“Very clean / Special. Great design” Leigh Hoad

“One of the most natural and musical sounds of the show. Could listen for hours” Philip Ridehalgh

Please also bear in mind that we were not using high end amps costing over £40,000 as some exhibitors were, but rather a £2,200 integrated amp with a £700 phono stage along with £3 mains distribution extension socket leads. Much of this was deliberate to show that a breakthrough speaker design makes all the difference.

Interestingly the styling of these speakers was commented on very favourably by non Hi Fi enthusiasts. Wives especially really loved the looks.

A note about Hi-Fi Shows:

Ambient noise from other rooms muddies the sound – Low bass notes in particular, carry long distances and interact with sound waves in rooms far down the corridor. Although the ear cannot hear the bass notes directly because they are at a relatively low volume, they still cause havoc through inter-modular distortion.

Room Acoustics can be dire – Partition walls, false ceilings, and a long list of other problems that reduce dynamics, and cause room resonances.

The mains supply is drained and corrupted- Hotel wiring gets nearly overloaded by huge Hi Fi amplifiers and all manner of other devices that not suck the life out of power supplies but inject severe noise etc.

Against this backdrop it is hard to “wow” most listeners, who, not surprisingly go home reckoning that their budget system sounds better. To achieve good feedback a system at a show has to be outstanding to say the least.

This is the last we shall say on the Astutes for a while and leave you with why they were launched.

The perfect speakers will

• Sound fantastic and give sound quality that enables you to re-live a live concert with real dynamics and low bass.

• Look great in any setting.

• Position anywhere in the room - especially out of the reach of young children if you have them.

• Be heard equally well wherever you are in your room ( no “hot spot” where you have to sit to hear properly)

• Be space efficient..

• Not be visually overbearing.

• Sound good at low volumes and also go loud without distortion

For all these attributes to be present in speakers is rare to almost non-existent for technical reasons that are complex to understand. At Origin Live we believe the Astute Loudspeakers offer the answer and are, as one show visitor put it “ the most perfect speakers I have ever heard”. This is why the Astutes were born. It is not easy to convey why these speakers really break the mould without getting highly technical – for this reason we invite you to hear them for yourself – its very easy to understand the breakthroughs once you hear them compared to conventional speakers!

If you want an audition, please contact us and we'll see what can be done.