Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined Hi-Fi Speaker Review

Verdict

Audiovector may have gone back to its roots with the Trapeze reimagined, but this is so much more than a pleasant stroll down Memory Lane…

Introduction

Revisiting former glories. Doing the greatest hits. However you want to frame it, the hi-fi industry has been looking back in an attempt to move forward for quite a while now – and Audiovector is the latest company to delve into its back catalogue in order to create a brand new product.

The Trapeze was the very first Audiovector loudspeaker, launched back in 1979 – so is this new version really ‘Reimagined’ or is it just an exercise in nostalgia?

Design

• Completely singular shape
• Choice of four finishes
• Impressive standard of build and finish

In a world of homogenous loudspeaker design, the Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined are no less striking and individual where the look is concerned than I imagine the original model was getting on for 50 years ago. Individualistic doesn’t really begin to cover it.

As the photos confirm, the Trapeze Ri (which is Audiovector’s preferred way of describing this model, and is mercifully much easier to type at the same time) are not two identical speakers. Each mirrors the other in terms of the angle at which they present their drivers, and as such there’s a definite ‘left’ and ‘right’ -channel speaker in each pair.

And quite apart from the pronounced angularity of each cabinet, they’re also on the stubby side where floorstanding speakers are concerned. At 875 x 435 x 420mm (HWD) they’re atypical in every direction – but in any of the available finishes (black ash, white silk, Italian walnut or Nordic oak) the Trapeze Ri create a striking impression.

And the standard of build and finish is well up to the standard the asking price demands, too – the real wood veneer is flawless, the numerous edges and angles are crisp, and the silver trim at the bottom of the cabinet is good-looking too. Even the speaker terminal plate on the back and the screws holding the driver surrounds in place seem upmarket.

Specification

• 3-way design with isobaric bass system
• 23Hz – 53kHz frequency response
• 3800mm² Air Motion Transformer tweeter

The Audiovector Trapeze Ri is a three-way design – from the top down, each speaker features a 3800mm² Air Motion Transformer (AMT) to deal with high frequencies, a 130mm treated paper cone midrange driver and a 300mm treated paper cone bass driver. There’s also a 200mm treated paper cone bass driver inside the cabinet that’s configured to create an isobaric set-up with its visible partner.

Each of the visible circular drivers features a corrugated surround in an effort, according to Audiovector, to liberate maximum speed and dynamics. The AMT tweeter unit, meanwhile, has long been an Audiovector preoccupation – the company is convinced of its expansive dispersion characteristics and also favours it for its low distortion and even lower mass. The fact that it delivers a little visual drama doesn’t do any harm, either.

At the rear of each cabinet there is a single pair of speaker-cable binding posts. There’s also a three-position switch on the same plate, which offers some adjustment to help match the speakers to the damping factor of the amplifier that’s driving them.

And the plate also features a post for a grounding cable that connects to the earth terminal of the mains supply – Audiovector suggests that grounding the speakers this way can minimise the distortion the physical movement of the drivers can induce. When the Trapeze Ri first launched, Audiovector very boldly wanted £625 for its Freedom Grounding cable – happily, it has seen the error of having cost options available on a £15500 pair of loudspeakers and now the cable is part of the package.

There are also two circular vents on the rear of the cabinet. The higher-up of the two allows the backward sound of the AMT to contribute to the overall sound, the other is a reflex port for the internal bass driver.

Audiovector says this entire arrangement results in a loudspeaker of 8 ohms nominal impedance and sensitivity of 88dB/W/m. Which should present no kind of electrical challenge to any amplifier deemed appropriate to drive speakers as expensive and high-achieving as these.

Sound Quality

• Forceful, poised and informative sound
• Remarkable midrange clarity
• Could conceivably sound more expansive

With just one meaningful exception, the way the Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined perform is thoroughly and uncomplicatedly impressive. It doesn’t matter the sort of music you like to listen to, these speakers get to the heart of it in the most direct and unequivocal manner.

At the top of the frequency range, that ATM arrangement serves up treble sounds with absolute positivity. There’s ample bite and shine to the top end here, but even if you play at considerable volume (and be assured the Audiovector are more than happy to play at considerable volume) it never tips into hardness or brightness.

There’s substance to the treble as well as brilliance, in addition to an absolute stack of detail both broad and fine. The dynamic variations in a top end-centric recording like Laurie Anderson’s Let X=X / It Tango are expressed to the full, with dynamism to spare and impeccably judged tonality.

The midrange is equally informative, equally convincing and equally direct in its presentation. The clarity and openness the Trapeze Ri give to a copy of Arooj Aftab’s Last Night is almost startling, and the rapidity and responsiveness of that midrange driver aren’t far behind. Tonality is approaching ideal inasmuch as it’s entirely uncoloured and naturalistic, and the second-stage dynamics apparently in her close-mic’d vocal and given beautifully judged emphasis.

And it probably won’t come as all that much of a surprise, given the thorough nature of the low-frequency arrangement here, to learn that the Audiovector are capable of absolutely implacable bass power. They demonstrate considerable extension, hit implacably hard, and are as fast and controlled at the bottom end as the very best of their price-comparable rivals. Rhythmic expression is never in doubt, speed and momentum are prodigious, and there’s very gratifying variation in the bass presence available here – the Trapeze Ri are extraordinarily insightful as well as iron-fisted. Clean, forceful and precise, the low-frequency activity these speakers generate is thrillingly complete.

Despite the number of drivers deployed here, integration and frequency response is smooth and convincing – the crossover points are basically imperceptible. This has the knock-on effect of making timing, the unity and togetherness of the presentation, something approaching impeccable – the singularity of the overall presentation has to be heard to be believed. And the tonal balance the speakers strike is similarly confident and convincing – the lack of colouration the Audiovector impose means the Trapeze Ri don’t seem to have any meaningful input in this respect.

Elsewhere, The Trapeze Ri are just as confident and just as impressive. Their management of tempos is remarkable – no matter the requirement of the material, the Audiovector deal with it coherently and they have the ability to just swing when material demands it. The lop-sided dub of King Tubby, some Quincy Jones’ Bossa Nova, the four-four boom-bap of Amon Tobin – it’s all the same to these speakers. And the amount of dynamic headroom they demonstrate is remarkable, the distance they’re able to put between quiet and loud is staggering.

And the soundstage they can create is persuasive too. Even complex material is laid out carefully, with proper attention paid to spaces just as to elements of a recording – and every participant gets more than enough elbow-room in which to express themselves.

The Audiovector aren’t the most expansive loudspeakers this sort of money can buy, though – at no point does the sound ever really escape the outer edges of the speaker cabinets, and consequently they can sound marginally small-scale where some rivals sound big and immersive. But as for other shortcomings… no, I’ve got nothing.

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