Airpulse A100 Active Speaker System
£625/$799
Following on From
Airpulse’s A200 and A300 active speaker systems, the A100 system consists of smaller cabs designed to sit on bookshelves, though the punch that they pack is no less ferocious. But in truth they’ll knock you off your feet before a single note has been blasted out – they look absolutely incredible.
Looks to kill
Available in red or black and taking their cue from Airpulse’s flagship 7001 nearfield monitor speakers that were created by audio designer and bassist, Phil Jones (see pjbworld.com), the A100s boast exquisite piano lacquer cabinets that beckon you close with their sheen and then seductively whisper in your ear, imploring you to touch them all over. No grilles are supplied, but even if they were you’d never need them because the speakers are simply beautiful unshielded.
Inside each cabinet are a horn-loaded ribbon tweeter and a five-inch aluminium cone, low-distortion midwoofer. The tweeter inherits the same mechanism as the 7001. The thin aluminium ribbon diaphragm offers high sensitivity, a noticeable transient response at an extended
frequency range and well-defined resolution. The meticulously formulated horn shape is optimised for high frequencies and directs them at the listener for full crisp, threedimensional sound wherever you’re standing in the room. The mid-woofer consists of a hard anodized aluminium alloy cone suspended in a heavy, ultra rigid cast magnesium alloy frame and a 35mm voice coil, which is much larger than that found in similarly-sized speakers. This is because larger voice coils have less power compression because they run at a cooler operating temperature, resulting in a more realistic dynamic representation of the music that you’re playing. And whereas most speakers use round copper wire in the voice coil, the A100s utilise a single layer edgewound copper clad aluminium ribbon that helps keep distortion to a minimum.
Hi-res audio
The A100 speakers support multiple inputs, including Bluetooth, Analog RCA, Digital Coaxial, Optical and USB, and also have a port to connect a favoured subwoofer. The frequency response ranges from 52Hz to 40KHZ and they also boast full Hi-res audio certification thanks to a digital system built on a multi-core, XMOS XU216 signal processor and a 16-core audio processor that eats audio with a high sample rate for breakfast.
The sound that these speakers produce is absolutely breathtaking, even if you go down the wireless route. The Bluetooth receiver is built on Qualcomm’s Bluetooth V4.1 chipset, which supports aptx decoder and offers a far better audio playback quality than a standard SBC codec.
The high price reflects the quality components and build quality for sure, but if you’re looking to invest in a premium speaker set that produces crystal-clear audio at high volume without distortion then the A100s will truly astound you.