LOUDSPEAKER
Although Danish company Audiovector was founded in 1979,1 I had very little experience of its loudspeakers, other than at audio shows,2 until I measured the Audiovector R 8 Arreté that Jim Austin reviewed in May 2021.3 Jim nominated the R 8 as his “Editor’s Choice” for 2021, writing that “The gorgeous-looking Audiovector took me by surprise, doing things with imaging that I’ve never heard another loudspeaker do (like hearing a bass note directly behind another bass note).” Jim concluded that the R 8 “is a complicated speaker that sounds simple, sweet, and coherent.”
At $75,000/pair, the R 8 Arreté—second from the top in Audiovector’s R series—is an expensive speaker, so it should offer superb sound quality. I think it was Laurie Fincham of THX, then with KEF, who told me more than 40 years ago that the challenge for an engineer is designing a loudspeaker that offers high performance for a low price. Audiovector’s QR 7, which was formally introduced at the 2022 High End Munich show, costs less than a tenth of the R 8’s price—just $6500/pair.
The QR 7
Audiovector’s founder, Ole Klifoth, is today the company’s R&D manager; his son, Mads Klifoth, now runs the company, as CEO. I was told
