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Airpulse A100 Review (Powered Speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 3.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 149 39.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 205 53.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 12 3.2%

  • Total voters
    380

MarkWinston

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I can definitely get better with separates for 900 bucks. This speaker is not terrible but I expect more from a speaker with dsp. Ok for an all in one solution.
 

restorer-john

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BTW, is that really the ancient "DIN" 5-pin socket? (L speaker out)? I thought they were "extinct" in Hi-Fi for decades.

It's a 180 degree 5 pin. The Europeans and the English loved them. Truly horrible connector. But very cheap.
 

MarkWinston

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Please go ahead and show us how you can get better with separates.

Polk R200 (650 usd now) OR Polk R100 (100 bucks cheaper) OR Diamond 12.2 (450 usd) OR Diamond 12.1 (300 usd) + DA-9 (189 usd now) + Modi 3 (90 usd now). Done. Its not hard to beat such performance at 900 bucks, its only hard to beat at 500 bucks (s2000mkii/s3000pro) category.
 

abdo123

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DA-9 (189 usd now)

250$ not 190$

Modi 3 (90 usd now).

100$ USD (not sure if it's with or without tax)

Diamond 12.1 (300 usd)

450$ on Amazon, Within budget.
OR Diamond 12.2 (450 usd)

600$, outside budget.
OR Polk R100 (100 bucks cheaper)

650$, outside budget.
Polk R200 (650 usd now)

750$, outside of budget.


So all in all, you win, you got a higher scoring speaker for less money (Wharfdale Diamond 12.1) . Just make sure that you ditch Audiophile math for real math in your next attempt.
 

MarkWinston

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250$ not 190$



100$ USD (not sure if it's with or without tax)



450$ on Amazon, Within budget.


600$, outside budget.


650$, outside budget.


750$, outside of budget.


So all in all, you win, you got a higher scoring speaker for less money (Wharfdale Diamond 12.1) . Just make sure that you ditch Audiophile math for real math in your next attempt.

Its a good thing Im not from the states so my prices are the prices that I stated. I just got the R200 a couple of weeks back for 592 bucks after currency conversion and its still within the 900 dollar budget. That type of FR and directivity are easy to beat for that type of money, and those scores dont really mean a thing to me.

Also, 600 for the 12.2? Thats not normal. It retails for 500 and one can easily get it for cheaper. Airpulses are overpriced for what they can do, the better VFM are Edifier and Swans.
 
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abdo123

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Its a good thing Im not from the states so my prices are the prices that I stated. I just got the R200 a couple of weeks back for 592 bucks after currency conversion and its still within the 900 dollar budget. That type of FR and directivity are easy to beat for that type of money, and those scores dont really mean a thing to me.

Also, 600 for the 12.2? Thats not normal. It retails for 500 and ine can easily get for cheaper. Airpulses are overpriced for what the can do, the better VFM are Edifier and Swans.

I got all my prices off amazon. and it was Wharfdale that was selling it for 600.

 

Grooved

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I got all my prices off amazon. and it was Wharfdale that was selling it for 600.

I don't know if it always depends on location, sometimes it's on stocks remaining... but in this case, switching fro example from Amazon.com to Amazon.de shows the same pair of Diamond 12.2 sold new by Wharfdale store for €379, so $440
In this case, European customers are happier. And it's the opposite for some other products
 

Count Arthur

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It's a 180 degree 5 pin. The Europeans and the English loved them. Truly horrible connector. But very cheap.
Naim Audio springs to mind:

iu


I don't think I've ever heard any of their stuff, but they were quite popular in the UK. I was always put off by the odd connectors which made them difficult to mix and match with other brands; probably why they did it.
 

restorer-john

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Naim Audio springs to mind:

iu


I don't think I've ever heard any of their stuff, but they were quite popular in the UK. I was always put off by the odd connectors which made them difficult to mix and match with other brands; probably why they did it.

Yes, so true.

The various DIN connectors used to be easily available and very cheap. But, there were 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 pin. 180 degree, 270 degree etc. Wiggly, poor connections and just horrible to solder, with the plastic substrate guaranteed to melt, even with skilled soldering.

Even Quad used them on their gear until sanity prevailed and they adopted the RCA.
 

thewas

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Yes, so true.

The various DIN connectors used to be easily available and very cheap. But, there were 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 pin. 180 degree, 270 degree etc. Wiggly, poor connections and just horrible to solder, with the plastic substrate guaranteed to melt, even with skilled soldering.

Even Quad used them on their gear until sanity prevailed and they adopted the RCA.
My "favourite" overpriced poor electronics brand Naim still uses them today :p:facepalm:

nac202_rear.png

Source: https://www.naimaudio.com/product/nac-202
 

Tks

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No cover on the optical port, double headless panther!

Just kidding. Though that distortion is pretty bad. And it has resonances that possibly attribute to that modulation you spoke about?
 

Helicopter

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Thanks Amir.

Fine, but little pricey for what you get. If the the manufacturer sees this, inspector 51 is going to be relieved at not having missed any obvious problems with the sample. ;)
 

peniku8

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If only the distortion wasn't so high...
BTW, is that really the ancient "DIN" 5-pin socket? (L speaker out)? I thought they were "extinct" in Hi-Fi for decades.
Interesting to see the "MIDI" connector being used as speaker connector here. As far as Hi-Fi goes I've only ever seen it as audio input on my Yamaha CR-600 from the 70s. I'd personally go with phoenix connectors instead.
 

ROOSKIE

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I would say Kanto's YU6 are better for significantly less money. Or I'm missing something?
Yes, you are missing your personal listening test.

Just did a blind test my GF last eve. Polk T50 with and without PEQ applied.
She is fairly experienced and a music junkie.
The un EQ'd verson took the cake for her prefering it on almost evey track.
I have to admit, EQ'd the T50 had smoother responce but also the life was just sucked out of it and what was left was a frumpy portrayal of hifi. I really could not decide between Eq'd or not even though the difference was clear, neither version really had the sound I want.(I was not blind, only she was)
She said it often sounded as if playing music through paper (when eq'd) and that piano in particular sounded muffled. (She is a pianist)

Anyway point is you must listen. After the T50 I played the JBL 4309. This speaker had the same Harman score as the Polk T50 yet it was better in eveyway, everyway bar basically none, and had me begging the night to give me more time to play tracks. More to come with the testing I am doing.

Also here are some quotes from a blind test of 4 people conducted by the Wirecutter.
Tests were conducted by Brent Butterworth who uses Revel towers as his reference speaker and generally follows Harman and Toole when discussing objectivity in audio.

"The Kanto YU4 offers a cool design, a phono input, and a reasonable price, but only one of our panelists really liked its sound. A larger version, the Kanto YU6, won over two of our listeners, but the others weren’t impressed."

"When we auditioned the Edifier AirPulse A100 for our previous round of tests, it sounded a little better than the Edifier S1000DB (the predecessor of our new powered pick, the S1000MKII), with somewhat clearer treble. But it’s more than twice as costly—and the performance improvements don’t merit that big of a price increase."
 
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ROOSKIE

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Also, 600 for the 12.2? Thats not normal. It retails for 500 and ine can easily get for cheaper. Airpulses are overpriced for what the can do, the better VFM are Edifier and Swans.
Nearly all the speaker companies have recently raised price by 10-15% in the USA.
Wharfedale just did their increase here.
Inflation, plus likely just time for a market reset.
I know shipping/cargo costs have skyrocketed.
 
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