My visit to Arke Audio

I visited Jason (Arke Audio) in the Peak District on Friday 21st October to compare his new Duo stand-mount speakers with my Q Acoustics Concept 300 speakers with the matching stands. My hearing is pretty good for a 56-year-old but I don't have the 'golden ears' of the likes of Oli.



Kit List:

Rega RP10 turntable

Ortofon Cadenza Black MC cartridge

BB3 phono stage with high-end upgraded valves

Topping A90D preamplifier



Power Amplifiers:

DIY Pass F6 power amplifier

Musical Fidelity A3.2CR power amp



Speakers:

Q Acoustics Concept 300 speakers + stands

Arke Duo + stands


Music:

David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees (Side A)

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (Side A)

The Mountain Goats - (2 unknown tracks)

Miles Davis - (1 track - 1950's recording)



Bonus Music:

Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (Side A)



Listening

Round 1: Pass F6 + Q Acoustics Concept 300



Played the David Sylvian tracks pretty well but didn't do well with the busy sections in the Mountain Goats' tracks. Easy load for the F6 (25w/8ohm - 50w/4ohm).



Round 2: Pass F6 + Arke Duo



Played the David Sylvian tracks with greater detail. Much better with the busy sections in the Moutain Goats' tracks. More difficult load for the F6 where the Porcupine Tree tracks struggled for the full range of dynamics.



Round 3: Musical Fidelity A3.2CR + Q Acoustics Concept 300



Once the amplifier had warmed up, this sounded really nice. The extra power and current seemed to add a bit more refinement to the sound which made the busy sections of the Mountain Goats tracks less congested than with the F6.



Round 4: Musical Fidelity A3.2CR + Arke Duos



The best sound so far. The busy sections of the Mountain Goats tracks still sounded like the musicians were falling down the stairs whilst playing but you could easily follow each instrument. Other than an octave or so at the bottom, this wasn't really missing anything. 


Bonus Round: Musical Fidelity A3.2CR + Arke Duos + Sub



Played the sub-30hz notes on Nostalgia really well. Like the Mutec reclocker, what the sub does is subtle and hard to describe but easiest to detect when you take it out of the system when everything seemed to shrink in size and scale. I found myself just listening to the music rather than trying to dissect the elements of the sound I was hearing. The first side of one of my favourite albums, The Colour of Spring, was glorious.



I'd have happily boxed the Duos and sub up and taken them home with me.



Listening Summary:

Speakers of this quality do lots of things really well and nothing badly. The frequency ranges were pretty flat and both speakers went down as low as the physics of small drivers/boxes allows.
I was really impressed with the Duos. They better separated the sound compared to my Concept 300s, particularly in busy sections. They allowed more detail to be audible in the mid-bass/bass but it wasn't forensically delivered. The Q Acoustics are still very good speakers, as they should be for the money, but the Arke Duos were demonstrably better to my ears. YMMV.


Workshop Visit:

I had the opportunity to go down to Jason's workshop and have a nose around. You can see on this forum the care and attention to detail that he puts into his speakers and that is reflected in reality. The mini-Duos he was working on are beautiful.



In our discussions, I asked which would be better, The Duos + sub or the Ektas and Jason was convinced that the better drivers in the Ektas would easily tip the balance in their favour. Damn!!! It looks like I'll be badgering Oli so that I can listen to his Ekta speakers but I also think that I could be perfectly happy with the Duos and sub. Much to ponder.



Thanks to Jason for an enjoyable and illuminating experience.