Figaro line is the next step of Rhapsody range. Meaning that quality is at least the same for parts, labor and sound quality. In 6 years of development we can offer much more efficient production and much better sound quality due to our specific Self-Locking cabinet technique, mini-horn for tweeter and other unique features used in all our speakers which some is taken from our flagship Vantage anniversary. The result – Figaro. We are offering new Figaro line with very low prices compared to competition around for given cabinet and its finish quality, not to mention sound quality. I know that this is hard to believe for readers, and they might think that this is actually another cheap repetitive promotion, but this is true - we sell better product for smaller money, I guess this is natural for company which is more efficient in business and wants to compete even harder.
We at AudioSolutions feel that despite veneer is a good looking quality finish it is already old-school and is not compatible with nowadays modern living room interiors. That’s why we gradually changed our production range to more modern looking speakers. By the way I personally think this is one of the causes why stereo sets popularity is dropping. Young sophisticated people have beautiful modern homes and they simply don't want classical looking wooden boxes.
So, Figaro was born to replace Rhapsody series as Overture was born to change Euphony series speakers after 6 successful years of recognition and awards. Figaro maintains the same style accents as Overture or Vantage series and gracefully slides in to overall AudioSolutions production portfolio.
The all new Figaro and its features.
The first Figaro presentation to public was held in Germany during North Germany HiFi days. As all AudioSolutions products Figaro made unforgettable first impression.
This is several impressions of first public presentation. I would like to say that there is nothing to add more, but frankly there is a lot. With new custom Sb Acoustics drivers which equips ER (extra rigid) cones we achieved what we strived for a long time in this price range. A performer which can easily be put next to twice expensive highend speakers and beat a crap out of it. Such fast transient response and sound clarity can be found only in a way more expensive speakers.
To fight tweeter sharpness at higher volumes (typical soft dome problems) we introduced mini-horn which is used in all our speaker systems and on top of that waveguide which helps to shape sound-front a little bit. We also chose a bit smaller tweeter than usual to have faster response in very top end. While bigger tweeters is performing good in two way systems where greater power handling is needed (sacrificing decent amount of reaction time thus clarity in top end), here Figaro is designed to be three way speakers and we can benefit from smaller tweeter with much lighter membrane which directly translates to faster response and lower distortion.
Let us talk about crossover types – all Figaro except bookshelf and center is three ways. Why three? Well there is two main opinions where one states that two way is better because speaker is closer to point source and there is only one crossover point meaning more homogeneous sound, another opinion is that three ways is better because engineer can pick crossover points not to meet critical area where human ear during centuries of evolution became most sensitive (800-2000Hz). I myself was for two ways at first, because design is much simpler yet cheaper, however now almost all our products shares three ways (even bookshelf Vantage) because not having crossover point in critical to ear area really does the job. All products which were designed following this fashion received best impressions usually like “highly detailed and clear midrange”. I am not saying that two ways is much worse, we have some bookshelf designs with two ways but we are forced to use more complicated drivers and raise crossover point as high as possible to step away from critical crossover area.
Very big leap forward – improved “stealth grille” we use on Overture series. Let’s start with common grill concept. It is additional panel ON TOP of speaker front baffle. No need to say here that listener is forced to change front baffle geometry and introduce early reflections which in sum changes overall speaker sound concept. The main concept of grilles is wrong starting from a scratch. That’s why people are forced to remove grilles when they are listening to speakers. Our protective grills shares a unique technical decision where one speaker have two different FRONT BAFFLES (one with protective cloth other without) which shares the same geometry. When scientists are talking about reflections, standing waves, scattering etc. the key variable here is geometry. It is geometry to blame for all effects of poorly designed grilles. By applying typical grills on top of front baffle you change speaker geometry and what is most audible is first reflections from plastic grill mesh or from MDF edges which is usually 1cm thick as minimum. Our “stealth grilles” has the same geometry and listener is changing front baffles instead of adding additional baffle to the front baffle. Cloth itself rarely interacts with sound waves because wave lengths even at high frequencies are much longer than thickness of cloth fiber. Needless to say that our unique grill decision is not audible nor is it measurable. At shows we play one speaker with grill and one without. No one told about sound difference ever!
Personally for me most important aspect – we introduce as much as 17 different finishes allowing even most picky taste find their color. Among all popular high gloss Xiralic finishes people can find such unique finishes like 3D textured high gloss finishes, or three different colors of linen in high gloss. Such new never seen and used finishes allows for people or interior designers to make speakers and accent of living room or part of interior decoration rather than trying to make speakers as much invisible as possible. Our goal is that young people who owns or designs with help of professionals their homes could choose such finish which in future will be pleasant to look and interact with overall living room design.
WBT connecting posts is standard now in Audio Solutions, nothing more to say here ☺ If one needs high quality terminals – it is just WBT, because most other are rebranded Chinese mockups.
All people who participated in unofficial auditions prior launch of Figaro officially was a shocked how we managed to use a lot of much more expensive decisions than in previous ranges, and improve sound quality when selling price is actually way smaller than it should be for such quality speaker. Some might think that cheaper equals worse, but I personally believe that even not trained people can tell difference between bad sounding speakers and good sounding speakers and it is time to give people opportunity to purchase high-end speaker with variety of finishes at affordable price, so in most cases here, lower price will act like stimulator to choose AudioSolutions.