I've heard outstanding moving-coil speakers that can focus images like nobody's business, defining pinpoint, almost holographically defined instruments in width and depth. However, before I auditioned the Dvoraks, I'd yet to hear one that could also convey the height of instruments, musicians, or the recorded ambient environment in proper proportion to the other two planes. By "proper proportion" I'm referring not only to the dimensional aspects of an acoustic image, but also to the intensity or "body" with which it is projected. With the Dvoraks, the listener seems to breathe the same air as the performers; it's as if the space between your chair, the side walls, and the rear boundary of the recording venue were illuminated with a vibrant, real-time presence. Listening just now to Classic Records' awesome new 45rpm re-reissue of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (RCA LSC-2201), I felt as if I'd been shot with a stun gun on my way through the Great Gate of Kiev.
In light of the total experience conveyed by the Dvoraks, the slightly skewed perspective of less-open-sounding but otherwise excellent moving-coil speakers always reminded me that I was listening to a loudspeaker -- no matter how precise, beautiful, and engaging their timbres and tonal balance, or how sharply defined their imaging. Without the usual, more obvious box-speaker distortions induced by the cabinet and air-cavity resonances radiating back through the drivers, the "character" of the Dvorak's sound is dominated by a seamless soundscape populated with the full-bodied imaging. The presentation of the Dvoraks is closer to live experience than that of speakers that can carve perfect sonic outlines within a multilayered soundstage but lack the Audio Artistry's sense of scale and presence. Several electrostatic and magnetic planar models can get image scale largely right, and do so with excellent transparency and clarity. However, I've yet to hear one of these models that also possesses the dynamic contrast, natural timbre, and low-frequency authority of which the Dvoraks are capable.
Another major plus that stems from the Dvorak's diminished room excitation is how "apartment-friendly" this full-range speaker is. You can rock out with +90dB levels at your listening chair, yet the walls vibrate far less than with a full-range box speaker. While standing in the hallway outside the closed door of my apartment, I could just discern that music was playing with Dean Peer's bass-guitar tone poem Ucross (Redstone RR-91012) blasting at high volume!
Characteristics & caveats
Now that I've shared my impressions of the Dvorak's most prominent qualities, it's worth looking at several other distinguishing characteristics and a few areas for possible improvement.
The Dvorak's upper-midrange and treble performance, though slightly shy of the state of the art, is competitive with many of the most respected high-end designs. In the past, I've been particularly sensitive to the hardness typical of some metal-dome designs. Fortunately, the Dvoraks join a growing list of high-quality speakers that prove that modern aluminum and titanium tweeters, when mated to good crossovers and associated components, can fill the bill in fine fashion. I noticed no distracting high-frequency anomalies, and the tweeter sounded relatively smooth and extended -- though, as I implied earlier, I've heard a few very expensive designs with a shade more treble transparency and fine inner focus.
The Dvorak's treble "flavor" leaned more toward "clean and detailed" than "warm and sweet." Treble artifacts arising elsewhere in the recording or playback chain may become apparent. If you have a moving-coil cartridge with a rising top end, for example, or an edgy-sounding CD player, the Dvorak will let you know it, but without the bite or glare heard from tweeters and crossovers of lower quality. With decent source material, I never found the Dvorak's treble fatiguing or harsh in my system. However, like most speakers, it needed a good break-in period; be patient for the first 75 hours or so.
The integration of the Dvorak's 8" drivers with the tweeter and the separate woofers was first-rate -- the excellent overall tonal balance and resolution didn't leave me pining for more. But if you run the main panels without the subwoofers, you can hear increased distortion when playing certain high-intensity, low-frequency material. Hence, my recommendation to use the subs, even with smaller rooms.
With the Dvorak's subwoofers you get both quality and extension, but even the four 12" drivers had limits on how loud they could play the lowest frequencies. In most rooms you'll probably get more than adequate levels of the deepest bass found on most recordings. However, there are a small number of CDs, such as Pomp and Pipes (Reference Recordings RR-58CD) that have an ultra-loud deep-bass transient or two that can bottom-out these woofers. Engaging the gentle rolloff with the "Video" button will allow you to play nearly anything without hitting the woofer stops. If you have a particularly large room or a penchant for maximum-volume video soundtracks, you could spring for Audio Artistry's larger subwoofers, each containing four 12" drivers to give lower-distortion, higher-output bass reproduction.
These comments about the Dvorak's bass performance are made in comparison to other loudspeakers with which I'm familiar. I certainly don't mean to imply that it reproduces this most difficult region of the audible band with complete fidelity, even when optimized. No speaker I know of is free from noticeable low-frequency distortions, and the Dvorak is no exception. But it is capable of providing a more convincing and fulfilling replica of the qualities I hear from real bass instruments in a typical room than any other speaker I know of.
learning curve
Any new enterprise will experience its share of start-up manufacturing glitches, regardless of how skilled the principals are at designing or business planning. Accordingly, I had my eye out for any rough edges in build quality or packaging of the Dvoraks. After a year of putting the speakers through some very tough paces, only three such problems cropped up, all of which have been solved for current production models.
First, the original shipping box left a little to be desired. It was reasonable for across-state ground freight, but by the time the speakers made it from North Carolina to Hawaii they had a few dings on the woofer base, and the outer box was a bit banged-up. Audio Artistry now ships all Dvoraks in a very-heavy-gauge, double-boxed crate with excellent inner shock-absorbing material.
The second problem occurred with the original binding-post plate. It was rather thin, and the insulating washer that prevents the binding post from electrically shorting with the plate was not well seated on my review samples. Consequently, the binding-post nut loosened on one speaker, shorting the amplifier. New, thicker aluminum support plates have been installed, the insulators are seated in a larger hole, and "lock-tight" prevents the nuts from coming loose.
Finally, after some use I began noticing a buzz emanating from one speaker whenever a signal with strong 80Hz content was played. I first thought the driver's voice-coil was rubbing, but when I sent the panel back to Audio Artistry, they discovered that the cloth around this panel was a little too tight around the main baffle: a heavy 80Hz note would excite a resonance in the grillecloth. The problem was fixed by slightly offsetting the cloth from the baffle.
All things considered, I was impressed not only by how few problems I encountered after a full year with a novel speaker from a new company, but also by the prompt, professional manner with which each problem was addressed.