by Paul Elliott
I have known about Raven Audio and their tube amps for a number of years when I met Dave Thompson and friends at an earlier Capital Audiofest. I was really impressed with the sound and look of his amps finding it hard to believe they were made in America and at the price point that was quite affordable.
I have watched the product line grow each year and surprised each year with all the new models. This year he pulled the proverbial rabbit out of his hat to debut a line of speakers. The fit and finish were incredible. The piano black finish was a deep, black hole.
The designer is a recording engineer that specialized in recording in acoustical settings. He knows how reproduced music is supposed to sound like and worked his magic into these speakers.
What stands out is the ring radiator tweeter. To reduce room interaction they use a high-frequency waveguide to minimize the effect of these critical frequencies. The tweeter is set back a little to help time alignment and the surround in shape of a waveguide is set into the front baffle. The result is spectacular. This tweeter does not call attention to itself. The tonal balance is right on to my ears, even if the stage suffered a bit because they had the speakers up against the wall.
They are three speaker offerings. The Performance towers go for $3,995/pair and the Reference stand mounts for $7,995/pair. The Reference line uses higher grade drivers and components and is +/- 2db from 45hz-28khz.
The Corvus Tower System which is a combination of the Corvus Reference Monitor and the Corvus Bass Module for $12,995.
Note that these are show prices — I do not know how long these speakers are available at this price.
Speakers: $3,995.00, $7,995.00, $12,995.00…
Affordable? Right… perhaps in your universe.
It would have been nice had notice been rendered to Raven’s new Soniquil line of cables which are both truly affordable and of exceptional quality…