StereoNET: Hulgich Audio Astor Loudspeaker Review

JUNE 2017

HULGICH AUDIO

ASTOR

F L O O R S TA N D I N G L OU D S P E A K E R

REVIEW / HULGICH AUDIO / ASTOR FLOOR STANDING LOUDSPEAKER

HULGICH AUDIO

ASTOR

F L O O R S TA N D I N G L OU D S P E A K E R From $11,500 RRP

Amidst the whirlwind that was the inaugural

readership, and they continue to do so today

Melbourne International HiFi Show in 2016, I

– SGR Audio, Curious Cables, Lenehan

was approached by a confident yet humble

Audio, KARRI Acoustic, just to name a few.

fellow in one of the crowded hallways of the show to take a listen to his speakers.

But this story actually starts some weeks earlier when I’d exchanged emails with Nicholas Hulgich, who would politely introduce me to his new loudspeaker brand out of Adelaide, South Australia.

With this reach comes great responsibility as the owner of the organisation, but even more so as a reviewer.

My point? Don’t dismiss Australia’s brands simply because they haven’t won ‘Loudspeaker of the Year’ in overseas publications such as What Hi-Fi or

Now to be fair, I receive no less than a half

Stereophile. The real-world cost involved in

dozen of these emails monthly.

even being considered for these awards is

I wouldn’t say I was dismissive. In fact, I’m known for being a supporter and advocate of

prohibitive for those of us fortunate enough to enjoy life on this beautiful remote island.

Australian manufacturers. You do have to cut

Nicholas’ timing for Hulgich Audio didn’t quite

through the fat though and look for a point of

line up with the 2016 Melbourne show for their

difference or a unique offering however.

debut. However I was promised their flagship

The way I see it, we’re in the business of promoting HiFi and collectively progressing as an industry. But sadly, in the past many of

speaker, the Astor, would be delivered to me for an obligation free listen and consideration of a review later the same year.

our local manufacturers have had to ship their

And with the knowledge that Nicholas was

products overseas at great expense hoping

busy preparing and refining what could be

for some exposure by way of exhibition or

considered his ‘first-born’, they did indeed

magazine reviews.

arrive as promised, complete in elaborate

Over the last decade, many of Australia’s boutique brands have built their business almost exclusively on StereoNET’s own

plywood protective coffins that themselves were quite impressive.

“many of Australia’s boutique brands have built their business almost exclusively on StereoNET’s own readership”

La Historia Nicholas’ own story starts in 1965, born in

After reaching out to Stockholm, Sweden

Buenos Aires, Argentina. Like many of us,

based Göran Niréus of AudioExcite

Nicholas was raised into an appreciation of

Loudspeaker Design, a collaboration was

music by his parents and grandparents all

formed and the Hulgich Audio dream was

avid Jazz and Tango lovers.

underway. Göran is an accomplished speaker

Nicholas joyfully recalls, “The regular presence of their melodies and rhythms in our home made me appreciate the role of music in communicating emotion and moving people.”

After gaining his degree in Industrial Design at the University of Buenos Aires, Nick emigrated in 2005 and says he “found his place in the world”, landing in Adelaide, South Australia.

Nick recalls it was around seven years ago that he decided to pursue his long-held dream of combining that expertise in industrial design with his passion for music. By his own admission, it would be a long journey to build a loudspeaker that would satisfy his ultra-high expectations.

designer with over 30 years’ experience and is a published author on the topic of loudspeaker design.

Of interest, in his spare time Göran takes great pleasure in extensively measuring and designing new crossovers and modifications for commercially available HiFi speakers; the results and plans he publishes on his own website for all with only a voluntary donation requested in return.

With Nicholas heading up the aesthetic design, Göran handling the component selection, crossover design, and technical aspects, the team then measure, listen, and refine before Nick and local craftsmen handbuild the end product.

The Inspiration Each of the Hulgich Audio range takes its inspiration from a historic moment or person in time. In the case of the Astor, it’s been designed in honour of master Argentinian composer and musician Astor Piazzola.

“His opus, comprising more than 1000 works, a characteristic career and an undoubtedly Argentinian flavour, continues to influence the best musicians in the world of all generations. A career characterized by his aesthetic power and his unique style, almost in a league of its own. It is all about the “language” he created, which is unique and can be identified as his and only his. With heterogeneous and rebellious elements (Jazz, classical music, experiments in sound) he produced a unique music under the drastic pulse of his Tango”.

– piazzola.org

“its imposing but not overwhelming stance is as beautiful to witness as the finish and construction”

The Astor Flagship Astor is a 3-way floor standing

Prior to the delivery, Nick

doesn’t boldly scream, “Wilson

loudspeaker that weighs a

revealed a late change from

Audio speakers are here!”.

whopping 75kg each. Standing

transmission line bass to the

1.17m tall, its imposing but

front ported design. Aside from

not overwhelming stance is as

sounding better overall, he also

beautiful to witness as the finish

said it allowed more control for

and construction.

tuning and by shortening the port

It’s available with a choice of real timber veneers in Oak, Walnut, Jarrah or Teak for the flanks, and a piano white or black option for

to be optimised at 27Hz, he says a boost of 2.5dB has allowed an even smoother blend with the midwoofer.

the front panel; suffice to say that

The frequency range is advertised

with this choice, the Astor will

as 25Hz to 20kHz (+/- 3dB), with

compliment virtually any décor.

a sensitivity of 86dB/1m and 4

Depending on options, Astor

Ohm impedance.

sells locally for $11,500 through to $12,900 /pair.

Nicholas says the cabinet is constructed from heavily braced 25mm MDF with a 44m MDF front panel. The head unit comprising the 1” soft dome tweeter and 6.5” Nomex cone midwoofer is modular, and slots ever-so-neatly into recesses in the top face of the base unit.

The base unit features a 10” hard paper cone woofer and a single front facing port. I’m a fan of front ports as they seem more forgiving of room placement, and in my experience this also seems to result in better timing and blending of the bass frequencies.

Perched atop solid aluminium outriggers the whole assembly is rock solid.

Around back, there’s a bi-wire speaker connector plate, and a pair of connections for the supplied jumper cables between the base and head unit.

The devil is in the detail as they say, and from the Hulgich Audio etching on the speaker connector plate through to the Hulgich Audio badge around front, there’s no denying that Astor is a work of art and finished to an impeccable standard.

Across a variety of amplifiers on hand, my main-stay is a pair of AVM Audio Ovation MA8.2 Mono

The internal wiring is silver

amplifiers. Rated at 600w into

plated copper while the

8Ohms, designer Udo Besser

crossover components are of

will tell you that they “do not build

the highly regarded Mundorf and

any sonic signature on top of

Jantzen variety.

the music”. They are completely

Many an enthusiast has walked through StereoNET’s HQ in

neutral, to which I would wholeheartedly agree.

recent months and with a cursory

The Astor has a nominal

glance, the first comment is of

impedance of 4Ohms, which the

Wilson Audio, at least in style. I

MA8.2 amplifiers will respond to

do see the resemblance but in

with a huge 1100 watts on tap.

my opinion and speaking strictly

I suspect Nick’s power handling

aesthetically, the Astor integrates

rating of just 200 watts is ultra-

with a room’s décor just that bit

conservative.

more. I’m yet to see a room that

The Sound It occurred to me as I sat down

As it turned out Nick had nothing

Engineer Ken Caillat, apparently

to start listening that everything

to fear.

complained at the time of the

to this point, the months of emails, not to mention Nick years of development, all hinged on what happens next. You see, no one in the world has reviewed these speakers. In fact, few outside Nick’s own circle had even heard them.

As the system sprung to life and I cued one of my Roon playlists, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of nervousness. Perhaps I was channelling Nick’s own anxiety over what my thoughts might be, or even subconsciously I was mulling over how I might approach the dreaded phone call to explain that I just don’t like them?

Some weeks would pass playing the Astors before I’d sit down for a critical listen once more.

Experience has taught me that not only speaker drivers, but also the crossover components need more than the magical 100-hour mark to sound their best.

In the meantime, my dedicated room also serves for home theatre duties for the whole family.

Several movies were played during this time which I always find a good test for loudspeakers.

The limitations of a loudspeaker are simply just not realised when exclusively playing traditional ‘audiophile’ tracks; something to

But as Xavier Rudd’s reggae-

keep in mind when auditioning

inspired ‘Nanna’ and the title

loudspeakers at retail outlets or

track kicked in, a sense of calm

shows.

came over me.

The Astor’s 10” bass driver is

The Bansuri starts with soft and

highly capable and digs deep

delicate tones from the side-

when called upon and what

blown flute, joined by tribal chants

became apparent as I delved

before Rudd adds his story-

deeper in to my playlists was

telling. The build-up was not only

the sheer power handling of this

inspiring, but hauntingly surreal.

3-way speaker.

As the bassline joined the mix

Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Daddy’ is

and the track exposes its full self,

a track I’m more than familiar with

Rudd proclaims “I believe in you”.

but when played back through

While Rudd’s story is not even remotely related to speaker design, could there have been a more fitting first audition track?

the Astor loudspeakers I just couldn’t help myself. Reaching for the remote I had to smile as I increased the wick. Drums with real impact, scale, and the

Melodically beautiful, Rudd

rawness of the recording that

and his accompanying backing

must be heard to be appreciated.

vocalists were placed with pinpoint accuracy and as the tempo increases at the 4:10 mark, it’s becomes clear to me that I’m listening to something quite special.

And while I wasn’t there in 1976 in a six-by-nine-meter room of the “windowless wooden building” to witness the recording of Rumours, I’m not sure I even care.

room’s “lack of ambience” and while I would agree that this is in fact reflected on the recording, the tones that come through in this recording along with the speed and impact when played through the Astors are as raw and authentic as I’ve ever heard this track.

The unmistakable sound and melody of Jeff Beck playing ‘People Get Ready’ transported me to B.B. King’s Blues Club in New York, no lyrics required.

You can literally hear the body and the unique signature of each drum. Like the opening credits of a House episode taking a journey through the human body’s organs, veins, and arteries, you get a glimpse of the music from the inside. The music speaks for itself and the Astors are as invisible as they are musical.

The uplifting Neshama Carleback’s ‘Hu Elokenu’ will have you forgetting all the troubles in the world as soon as the opening piano plays.

The protégé of her late father and Jewish singer-songwriter, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, her full name “Esther Neshama Tehora Shlucha” translates to “a pure soul that descended to this world”. The Astor loudspeaker is faithful to the stunning vocals and the pureness of this track.

From Daft Punk to Pink Floyd, Beatles to Brahms, there is synergy, coherency, an enveloping engagement that is as musical as it is detailed and portrayed with finesse.

“there is synergy, coherency, an enveloping engagement that is as musical as it is detailed and portrayed with finesse�

Comparatively Speaking Australia’s Lenehan Audio comes to mind.

There are tonal similarities between the two brands and that’s really no surprise, since they share similar drivers. They’re both laid back, always in control and quite obviously stunningly linear in response. That’s also interesting as despite both being Australian brands, they were technically designed on opposing sides of the world.

They both err on the side of musical, rather than clinical. And when you consider Mike Lenehan’s loudspeakers have been refined for over two decades and to well within an inch of their life, that’s high praise for Hulgich Audio.

What Lenehan Audio’s ML2 Reference speaker offers over the Astor is that last one-percent of detail and shine, but the Astor makes up for that with its higher output capability and more bottom end.

A Final Word Listening to music, provided you’re not just

The HiFi world is full of large format speakers

going through the motions while performing

costing upwards of substantially more than

some other activity, is an emotionally engaging

a first-home deposit. What Nicholas Hulgich

experience. If you’re connecting with the

has created with the Astor is a 3-Way

music and being swallowed up in all its glory it

floorstanding speaker that makes a visual

transports you to another place. It’s no wonder

statement as much as it is highly capable,

Jimi Hendrix called music his “religion”.

sonically. But, it’s offered at a price many can

As an audiophile, we tend to get caught up looking and listening for faults and being

afford, or can at least aspire to own in the near future.

critical rather than appreciating the music

Joining the ranks of VAF, Lenehan,

itself. I made very few notes in this review as

Whatmough, Osborn, SGR Audio and many

I really enjoyed the Hulgich Audio Astor for all

more, Australia now has another loudspeaker

its capabilities and its very few flaws.

manufacturer we can be proud of.

Priced at around $12,000 for a pair depending on the finish, what resonates with me is that it’s a realistic investment for a serious music lover or enthusiast.

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

SPECIFICATIONS

Source

Loudspeaker type

Woofer

/ / Analog – TechDAS Air Force III Turntable, Kuzma 4Point,

// 3-Way front ported

// 10” hard paper cone made of Norex natural fibres. Chassis

TriangleArt Zeus MC Cartridge, RCM Sensor2 Phono Preamplifier Source / / Digital – Wandboard / Roon OS, Synology NAS, Meitner DAC2X Amplifiers / / AVM Audio Ovation PA8 Preamplifier, AVM Audio Ovation MA8.2 Mono Amplifiers Cables / / Tellurium Q Silver Diamond Speaker Cables, Tellurium Q Silver Diamond XLR Cables, Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB Cable

Frequency range // 25-20000 Hz Power rating // 200 W Sensitivity // 86 dB / 1 m / 2.83V Impedance // 4 ohm Drivers Tweeter // 1” very light, low mass soft dome diaphragm with high internal damping.

made of cast aluminium for optimum strength and low compression.

Crossover points // 320 and 2200Hz Internal wiring // Silver plated copper Cabinet // Heavily braced 25 mm MDF cabinet, with 44 mm MDF front panel.

Dimensions // 33 x 117.5 x 50 cm (WxHxD).

Net weight 75 Kg each

Midwoofer // 6 1/2” driver with very high stiffness to mass ratio cone made of Nomex hard paper. Chassis made of cast aluminium for optimum strength and low compression.

WORDS/IMAGES: Marc Rushton