Saturday Isak Strand from Ljudtema made a visit to Musik Magazinet in Bergen. And so did we.

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Musik Magazinet is one of Bergen's most traditional hi-fi shops. They are the oldest music hall in Norway, and moved from Pascal-corner of Neptune, a handful of decades ago to the venerable building at Losjen near the theater. They sell both musical and hi-fi. They also arrange Hi-f events with invited suppliers or manufacturers in focus from time to time. Saturday the 11th January was one such event, and it was Isac Beach from Ljudtema which showcased Audiovector`s great commitment.

Audiovector`s Discreet is a brand new concept from the Danish traditional speaker manufacturer with Ole Klifoth in the lead. It is a concept that involves special variants of the bulk of Audiovector`s portfolio of speakers, over 30 in number.

There are two main ingredients in the concept Discreet - streaming and digital active partition. Of these, in my opinion, the latter is the most important and interesting.

If we start with the active partition, this consists in that the speaker is supplied with a digital signal. This is then sent to the digital active crossovers that also has built-in DSPs that allows the signal can get customized treatment tailored to the dedicated item being sent and custom cabinetry. It is also possible to give each power-amp custom damping factor. After the digital crossover signal goes on to a digital output levels. PowerDAC is a term Isak uses this digital integrated solution.

In addition to electronics that are built in, the system consists of a Hub about the size of a typical network router. Here is a very compact power supply to both speakers, as well as some digital and analog input. The signals from the analog input is AD converted before they proceed to the active speakers. There is also a receiver for Bluetooth aptX, which makes a minimalist solution with an iPhone with Spotify or Wimp Hifi as the source, and stream wirelessly to Discreet.

Isak played songs with Diana Krall and Muddy Waters (no, not together) via Spotify, and it sounded brilliant on the demo plant where it was Si3 Avantgarde Arete Discreet costing 95.000, that stood for the performance. He also claims a bit bemused that it is slightly more to gain from Wimp Hifi, despite aptX has a bandwidth limit to 320kbps. My mind is that this is likely to be a result of aptX is a more efficient codec than MP3?

Whatever there is of course more to be gained by using lossless streaming sources, which Isak would particularly recommend the use of the more costly setups. A Wi-fi streamer can be connected digitally to the hub, like all other digital sources.

It seems almost spooky that the only connection to the speakers are a set of two-pin cables that are confusingly reminiscent of a set of speaker cables it is also sleek battle. Especially considering that these too will supply the electronics with power from the grid.

We mentioned so far that there are over 30 different models ready for Discreet. They have an affordable price tag starting as low as 14.000, NOK on the least expensive, on a Discreetvariant of Ki 1 Super. It is also a force with the concept that it is possible to upgrade to Discreet later. You can start with a passive system, and upgrade to Discreete when the need and lust apears.

Isak also underlines that it is the smallest models / stand speakers that have most improvement to be gained from active partition. This ties and matches my own experiences with active crossovers in speakers.

It is very tempting to throw a glance at Linn's launch of Exakt in autumn, to look for similarities and differences. We created a thorough review of Linn's concept shortly after the 40th anniversary of Linn. And the similarities between concepts are striking in that both adopt digital active crossovers. In addition to Meredian, these manufacturers are currently quite alone in this, and the reason may be that it is a bit challenging exercise that requires high expertise in both speaker technology and electronics into an integrated overall solution.

Linn has worked with both streaming and active crossovers for a long time, although digital crossovers is a new field also for Linn. They have also undergone some further ifeathures n their implementation, in that they have options for room correction. They also have opportunities for their own streaming solutions in high-res with lossless transmission.

In return Audiovector a very compact solution that many may envy them. With entry picetag of 14,000 NOK, it is also present on the opposite end of the scale compared to where Linn started the Exact route, although Linn also eventually are going to work their way down the hierarchy with its Exakt solution.

Audiovector`s concept Discreet is an impressive initiative. It's hard not to think that they have done most things appropriate here, and they have done so with an impressive range from day 1.

Read more about Discreet in Audiovector .

Price list for Audiovector, including Discreet.

Norwegian distributor is Ljudtema .