Audiovector Trapeze Reimagined review

Audiovector’s Trapeze Reimagined speakers have been 45 years in the making. They take their name and general configuration from the company’s first commercially successful model but are very much a modern design capable of worrying the best of their high-end rivals. 

In the flesh, these are squat floorstanders that are shorter (87.5cm), wider (43.5cm ) and less deep (42cm) than most price alternatives. Even after some time in their company, we still find that their angled appearance looks a little odd, but also feel their shape makes them less obtrusive in a domestic setting than most of the conventional competition. 

Build quality

Those sharply angular cabinets are made of high-density fibreboard and are available in four standard finishes: Nordic Oak, Italian Walnut, Black Ash and White Silk. You can also get them painted in a wide range of custom colours if you absolutely need to match the speakers exactly to your decor. Build and finish on our early samples are up to the standards expected at this elevated level; the cabinet feels rigid with nice, crisp edges. The wood veneer on our walnut sample feels suitably luxurious. 

We are impressed by the attention to detail here, from the neatly designed bolts that hold the drive units in place to the classy speaker terminal panel on the back. These are expensive speakers, and feel it too.

Design

The Trapeze Ri (Ri is the official way Audiovector shortens Reimagined) are a three-way design with an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter, 13cm paper cone midrange and a combination of a forward-facing 30cm bass driver with an internal 20cm unit working in an isobaric configuration. All four drivers are newly developed units and link together with a relatively simple but high-quality crossover. The top half of the front baffle is covered with acoustic foam. Not only does this add some more visual interest to the Trapeze’s design but it is intended to reduce diffraction effects caused by the enclosure’s edges.

Audiovector has long favoured AMT tweeters to cover the high frequencies citing lower mass and distortion than conventional dome designs. Such a tweeter is claimed to have good dispersion characteristics too.

The question of what to do with a tweeter's rearward output has long occupied loudspeaker designers; Bower & Wilkins absorbs that sound with a damped tapered tube while KEF uses its Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT) to do the same job. Audiovector has taken a different route by allowing that sound to escape into the room. Look around the back of the Trapeze’s angled cabinet and you will find what looks like two ports. The one at the top is the outlet for the AMT tweeter’s rearward sound, while the lower one is the reflex port for the internal 20cm compound bass driver.

The Trapeze Ri uses treated paper cones for the midrange and dual bass drivers. The big news here is the use of corrugated surrounds on the two front baffle-mounted units. This type of surround is claimed to improve speed and dynamics.

These speakers can only be single-wired as Audiovector has decided against offering bi-wire capability on the grounds of keeping things simple. There is a connection for grounding next to the speaker terminals. This is connected to the earth terminal on the mains via an optional dedicated cable that Audiovector can provide. This Freedom Grounding cable isn’t cheap at £625 / $770 / AU$1150 for a 5m set. While unusual, this feature isn’t unique to Audiovector, with Tannoy and Fyne Audio also offering such an earthing option in their more premium speakers. It usually works well.

That proves the case here. While relatively subtle, we notice increases in dynamic expression, clarity and refinement. Provided your system is transparent enough, this is something we would use.

You will also find a rotary dial with three settings on the terminal plate. This provides a degree of adjustment to match the Trapeze Ri to your amplifier’s damping factor. Switching between the three settings changes the character of the speakers slightly, making them sound a little more rounded and richer to more direct and punchy, depending on the option chosen. 

While there are general recommendations for valve and transistor amplifiers, which prove convincing in our experience, it is actively encouraged to try the various options to see if they suit your system and taste better. There is no harm in doing so.

The new Trapeze have a claimed sensitivity of 88dB/W/m and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms (with a minimum of 6.5 ohms at 20kHz). That kind of electrical load shouldn’t be an issue for any good quality price comparable amplifier.

These floorstanders prove relatively unfussy about positioning. Audiovector recommends around 70cm out from the back wall as a good starting point, but in use the speakers seem easy-going enough to be placed a little closer if you have to. It all depends on the size and construction of your listening space, of course. In our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room, the recommended distance works well, giving a good balance between bass weight, tonality and stereo imaging. 

Sound

While the inspiration for these speakers comes from a 45-year-old design there is little about the performance that seems anything less than cutting-edge at this level. We listen to the speakers with our reference system of Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer, Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart MC and Burmester 088/911MkIII amplifier, and there is much to like.

The link to the past may lead you to expect the overt warmth and slight softness many older products exhibit, but there is none of that here. These floorstanders are even-handed and hard-hitting, exhibiting a terrific amount of agility.

For starters, their sound is impressively clean and precise. The Trapeze Ri manage to reveal plenty of detail and it is organised in a cohesive and musical way. They sound fast and punchy when we listen to Massive Attack’s Angel, with the song’s deep bass notes delivered with generous doses of texture, punch and power. The speaker’s isobaric bass loading system helps them to dig impressively deep yet maintain a deeply pleasing level of grip and agility. Turn the volume up and these speakers take it all in their stride, sounding composed and unstressed at the kind of levels that are more akin to a club than a domestic environment.

These are qualities that a well-designed combination of generously sized cabinet and bass driver has that just can’t be equalled by smaller alternatives in our experience, no matter how elaborate the solution. 

At this end of the market, the priority is typically placed on sounding refined and sophisticated, leaving visceral qualities such as rhythmic drive and attack often taking a back seat. That’s certainly not the case here, as the Trapeze’s delivery is direct and full of energy. Could they be more cultured-sounding? Certainly, but we wouldn’t want to trade any of the excitement or drama that they communicate so easily for those gains.

We wonder how the Audiovector would cope with larger-scale classical works and so play Mahler’s 8th Symphony. The Trapeze shine with music such as this. Their muscularity lends a rare sense of authority to the recording, and there is plenty to admire in the way these floorstanders deliver the music’s wide-ranging dynamics with such heft and conviction. 

Tonally, the Trapeze are even enough without quite sounding wholly neutral. However, that deliberate sonic flavouring only serves to give the speakers an engaging and friendly character.

As is typical for speakers with large enclosures, stereo imaging isn’t quite as out-of-the-box as it is with the best smaller alternatives. While the soundstage could certainly be more expansive, particularly in the depth aspect, the Trapeze still manage to deliver a well-focused sound between the two channels. 

Verdict

There is always a danger with retro-inspired speakers that the sound quality takes a back seat to the nostalgia value. That isn’t the case here. The Trapeze Ri may resemble their famed ancestors but in every other respect are thoroughly modern speakers that, at their considerable best, deliver a wonderfully spellbinding sound.

These Audiovector seem to be an unusual blend of four parts high-end speaker and one part PA system. They can do finesse and sophistication but give them a piece of dance music or rock and they will do a very fine impression of being the ultimate party speakers. Our time with them has been a real pleasure.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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