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