I'm more then sure, that many of you already heard about or heard the AudioSolutions speakers from Lithuania. The company operates for quite some years pointing back to their beginnings in early 2000.
My main inner interest triggers are in 99% percents ignited by the upper echelon and top of the line high-end audio products. On contrary to my modus operandi Gediminas Gaidelis (owner and CEO of AudioSolutions) asked me to start my exploration of the AudioSolutions loudspeakers in another way around. He wanted me to explore the Overture product line in order to understand, the difference between their flagships and more affordable speakers and how much of the AudioSolutions' gestalt comes already with their entry-level loudspeakers.
I've asked Gediminas to select, what would be the most proper speaker to start with and a few weeks later the AudioSolutions Overture O204F speakers had arrived at Mono and Stereo...
THE OVERTURE 0204F
Overture O204F is a 3-way design floor-standing speaker equipped with customized silk dome tweeter, paper cone mid-band driver and two long-throw woofers, that can be also used with bookshelf and center channel speaker sets to form home cinema environment.
Slim, small and light cabinet will fit in any part of the listening room, a variety of finishes including high gloss colors, classic wood, and piano gloss woods will satisfy all tastes. Unique highly braced, CNC-machined, self-locking cabinet gives stand out performance in the bass region and specially shaped front panel with mini horn tweeter loading ensures lowest THD in this price range.
Overture O204F's highly braced, CNC precision milled enclosure, that uses MDF with up to 36mm thickness is a ground stone of the acoustically silent and rigid structure. High-flow bass reflex port with highly rounded flange eliminates airflow noise.
High-grade components were chosen for the crossover and Overture offers bi-wiring/bi-amping binding posts. Mid-bass lightweight paper cone lightweight customised soft dome mini-horn loaded tweeter loaded elevates performance and delivers greater sensitivity in the critical range.
With the Overture product line, AudioSolutions have introduced self-locking cabinet system, that is also used with the recently introduced Vantage anniversary speakers. This technique gives very strong joints between different parts. The fully assembled enclosure is much more tough and rigid compared to similar sized and priced speakers.
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THE INSIGHTS
Overture speaker line is the AudioSolutions' entry line range, that was inspired by its predecessor - the Euphony. From the initial idea, Overture line was designed to be a cost-effective speakers with a classic design. Much attention was placed to provide the same captivating audio quality as a top of the line AudioSolutions speakers. Gediminas Gaidelis also described the Overture line as the best way to enter and discover the AudioSolutions world of High-End sound reproduction.
Overture name was not chosen lightly. Gediminas Gaidelis wanted to introduce something more substantial, than just a mere entry line speakers. It needed to be both delicate and majestic. All that has resulted in an Overture speaker series, that delivers a grand portion of AudioSolutions's top tiers despite being the entry level and a first step into the high-end audio world of AudioSolutions.
In the usual dealings, the top of the line models creates a blueprint for any lower line models. With Overture line AudioSolutions started the other way around. The overture was set to give the "tone" for the upper series from the very beginning.
"Downgrade from something better is quite simple to achieve, meanwhile having high-class product from the very beginning and pushing limits in more expensive products it is something that needs a lot of efforts and knowledge." - Gediminas Gaidelis
The development of the Overture took almost a year for the cabinet construction only. Speakers chassis combined with some clever engineering and backed up with the years of experience in making the loudspeakers resulted in much more faster production and shorter assembly time, that translates to the much lower final price. The shorter production time has allowed AudioSolutions to implement more expensive materials and technologies, that are usually associated with the higher priced speakers.
No usual sound-damaging grilles are used in Overture. Gediminas Gaidelis's engineering heart is not softened by the grilles and he has a very strong opinion about them.
"However, grilles is a must for cheaper speakers. We couldn't design usual grilles that wouldn't interfere with sound reproduction. Usually, it was not cloth as we thought at first - it was the frame. Even a thin-braced frame was creating a lot of reflections. We decided to raise our expenses for better sound reproduction. We designed double removable front baffle." - Gediminas Gaidelis
One set of the speaker includes four front baffles. One pair is covered with transparent acoustically cloth and the other pair is painted in the matching speaker color. All four panels are identical in shape and have similar performance characteristics.
Implementation of the waveguide with the soft or hard domes almost comes as mandatory these days. This raises sensitivity and creates controlled radiation pattern. While this is beneficial, AudioSolutions had decided to go a bit further...
"Since by default we think that customer will have at least little acoustically treated room we do not control radiation, but we unload tweeter in its critical region. As You may notice usually speakers in lower price region plays nice when driven up to 90dB-95db. Troubles starting when they are driven really hard I mean like 100dB (trust me it is VERY loud don't dream about 120dB in a home)." - Gediminas Gaidelis
Usual soft dome tweeters starting to distort because of soft materials and act more like waving sea than piston driver. It can get even worse when the whole assembly of coil and suspension starts to make radial movements at some specific frequencies because the suspension is too soft (better sensitivity for data sheet). All this translates into screamingly/noisy and unpleasant tone. AudioSolutions Mini-Horn is working in quite a narrow band around tweeter's resonance frequency, where most of the distortions described above appear. The result is unloaded drive system in the specific area and lowered distortions. Overture Mini-Horn lowers distortions by 8dB in that region.
A second no go for the Gediminas Gaidelis's engineer mindset was the use of standard PCB boards, where thin copper layers come as standard. That why a pin-to-pin assembly was used (similar as point to point with tube amps).
But this was changed recently when Gediminas had found a good supplier, that could provide three times more dense copper signal paths compared to the traditional PCBs. At the end, measurement had shown no difference between pin-to-pin construction and PCB mounted and this is now a preferred solution.
The audiosolutions team has pushed from the very beginning to finalize a working prototype, that would include all the high-end criteria associated with the expensive models. This might be the very reason, that many people, that have listened to either Overture or Vantage, discovered the same sonic DNA spread across all of the AudioSolutions' models.
THE MUSIC
The technical side was covered quite extendedly, so its time to enter into the musical realms. Overture O204F went through the prolonged listening sessions with quite a few different amplifiers and speakers' cable. Sometimes, the speaker undervaluation points towards the particular music genre, yet with AudioSolutions Overture speakers, there was no specific genre preferring. They've handled the music in equal equilibrium.
Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat
Gediminas Gaidelis loves to present the AudioSolutions speakers' ability to deliver a grand but focused bass rendition. There is no better record to test the "submarine" depths then Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat. First few notes of the albums' title track will let the speaker to "make it" or "brake/fake it".
Overture O204F mighty bass is consequential to the sum of all the design choices. First and foremost O204F (luckily) won't turn into wobbling sonic momentum, that is too often associated with the similarly priced speakers. The bass expands with the full energy impact and carries over the rawness needed to employ the lower frequency energy into the room. This was positively evident in both smaller sized room and a bigger listening space.
As with all the speakers, you'll need to find the right spot in order to let speakers "breath", but once properly positioned, Overture O204F will lock and load.
When Morph The Cat's music expands with all the instruments in place, O204F allowed the even distribution of complete sonic range, that let instruments to appear with believable three-dimensional rendering. This particular track can bring many speakers to its knees with its demanding energy transfer, yet Overture O204F have kept the sonic projection firm and focus!
Nancy Brick - Nancy Brick
Nancy Brick belongs to one of my favorite Nordic duos. Mysterious music, sensually packed into the sonic scenery, that penetrates deeply into the subconsciousness.
There is an immersive purity in these compositions. In their simplicity, they can instantly reveal any non-balanced nature at the very end of the audio chain, namely the loudspeakers.
The Mountain's ghostly atmosphere expands with the subtle pinpointing of the notes, that call for a highly potent mirroring of the acoustic cues.
The AudioSolutions Overture O204F braced and thick MDF enclosures were certainly "guilty" of delivering the powerful spatial cues. Micro and macro details are too easily masked within the intreated resonance frequency of the speakers' enclosure, yet Overture O204F delivery of micro decays and delays formed a sensual interaction, that pulled me into more than just one track aural evaluation with my beloved Nancy Brick. That alone is worthy of the praise...
Music For Viola and Cello - Herbert Downes and Jacqueline Du Pre is by no means an easy reference evaluating album for any speakers. It's challenging. This iconic, classical gem, that reaches a crazy pricing on the vinyl is extraordinary and both sonic and musical marvel.
I've especially love to pull this remarkable album out to challenge any speaker ability to deliver the sheer density of tone and how well it deciphers the potency of music's message.
Overture O204F tone, timbre, and color were on forte, without stepping into the overblown realms. At the O204F given price range, this is something to be proud about...
CONCLUSION
With Overture line Gediminas Gaidelis wanted to embrace all the qualities of AudioSolutions upper speaker's range at more affordable pricing while keeping the recognized sound quality and design. And he succeeded...
AudioSolutions Overture O204F speakers are stylish contemporary take on the "classical" loudspeaker design, but with enough attributes to stand out from the crowd.
The hardest thing for any high-end audio speaker manufacturer is founding its own recognizable signature design. After years of exploration, Gediminas Gaidelis managed to develop his own design language, that is recognizable and different enough to draw the attention.
I really liked the Overture self-locked and exchangeable front panel system, that allows quick change of aesthetics from more classical to the modern as well as the quality of fit and finish. Even some of the long-standing speaker's brands struggle with quality at the more affordable level, but Gediminas managed to expertly deliver a visually captivating design with the instantly recognizable carpentry quality.
From packaging, manual and up to the speakers, everything screams out "quality". I like and love when manufacturers do their homework properly. Its still baffles me, how some, even crazy priced exotic products are being presented. Rather then "we want to please and thank you for your purchase" the very opposite "we simply want your money" applies. Sad, true and unforgiven.
AudioSolutions Overture O204F offers a stylish and musical package, that is not shy in delivering the balanced sound. These are the "honest" speakers, voiced right and with a healthy dosage of bottom end. The lower end impact will keep bass fans more than just happy. O204F also reveals the potent Overture musical universe to the music lovers in demand of powerful and musically involving sound.
Gediminas Gaidelis pushes himself further by each year, to implement better materials, make speakers better looking and most importantly to deliver better sound.
For the chameleon musical like nature and the level of dedication, that goes into the creation of the AudioSolutions Overture O204F speakers I'm happily giving out the Mono and Stereo Highly Recommended Award.
Well deserved Gediminas Gaidelis! Keep the flow on!
Matej Isak
PRICE
2.580,00 EUR + VAT
TECHNICAL
Dimensions (HxWxD) : 1128mm x 232mm x 399mm
Weight : 30 kg each
Shipping weight : 33 kg each
Sensitivity : 89,5 dB @ 2.83V 1m
Nominal power handling : 140 W rms
Maximum unclipped power handling : 280 W;
Impedance : nominal 4,0 ohms; minimal 3,4 ohms @ 170Hz;
Crossover frequency : 700 Hz; 2300 Hz
Frequency response (in-room environment) : 37-26000 Hz
Drivers : 2,5 cm silk dome tweeter, 15 cm paper cone mid, two 15 cm paper cone mid-bass drivers
CONTACT
AudioSolutions
Gediminas Gaidelis
Kovo11-osios 47-92
LT-27122 Grigiskes
LITHUANIA
Tel: +37066226342