• Superb build
• Great small-speaker sound
• Decent connectivity
• No grille
• Only foam stands
• Remote has button battery
$1,299
The Airpulse A100 active speaker system is interesting for many reasons, some of which have no relation to its sound quality (which is — spoiler alert — excellent).
The first of these interesting things is that the Airpulse A100 is sold under seemingly different brand names depending on where you are in the world. The second is that the ownership of the company that manufactures them seems shrouded in mystery. The third is that the Airpulse A100’s designer is none other than Phil Jones, the founder of the famous UK loudspeaker manufacturer Acoustic Energy. The fourth is that the speakers share many design features with the Debut Connex active loudspeakers that were designed for Elac by none other than the probably-more-famous-than-Phil-Jones, speaker designer Andrew Jones, (So far as we are aware, the two are not related, despite them sharing an occupation and a surname.)
And the fifth and final interesting thing is that in some markets the A100 is promoted as a “desktop” speaker for computer use, rather than for use in an actual hi-fi System. So many mysteries to investigate!
WHO IS PHIL JONES?
As Phil Jones was born in the UK in 1954 to a father who was a musician playing in big bands in the 50s and 60s, his first love was always going to be music. Indeed, he started learning bass guitar at a young age and, when he was 15 years old, built his own electric bass guitar including carving the body and neck himself and winding his own pick-ups.
Already interested in electronics (he built his own AM radio too), Jones then became interested in loudspeaker design. Aged only 16, he built his first pair of loudspeakers. “They didn’t sound so great and I realised there was a lot more to speaker design, so I got Wharfedale’s Gilbert Brigg’s book on loudspeakers, and that sent me down the path of my fascination with building speakers,” he says.
After graduating from Cardiff University, Jones went to the Welsh College of Music to learn bass guitar… only to be told that he couldn’t. “They told me that
