I’ve had my eye on those Aretai Contra 100S two-way monitors ($9,000/pr USD) ever since I auditioned them at AXPONA last April and Munich last May. These are distinctive two-way monitors from Latvia that use two 6″ drivers in a single enclosure to reach down to 30 Hz. That almost looks like a compression tweeter in a horn from a distance, but it’s actually a neodymium tweeter mounted within a waveguide. The Aretai Contra 100S monitors sound a lot like those premium and costly bookshelf speakers I tend to champion, with a sound that’s absolutely huge with incredibly precise imaging and soundstaging.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
I tried to arrange a review of the Aretai Contra 100S last year, but Aretai hadn’t established distribution in the US at that point so we couldn’t figure out the logistics. Now we have a solution and I will be reviewing the Aretai Contra 100 after AXPONA. The whole story seems vaguely familiar–last year I traveled along a similar path with the Fink Team Kims–I saw them, I obsessed over them, and my intuition was correct. Let’s see if I’m two for two.
Aretai’s Jānis Irbe also informed me that he’s spent the last few months tweaking and voicing the Aretai Contra 100S’ performance. He told me that the Aretai Contra 100S now has much tighter bass and “more sparkle on top.” I found the Contra to have an incredibly open sound at FLAX 2023, with tremendous low frequency impact despite the fact that they were placed on boxes that were covered with cloth. The imaging was sharp and precise, but the bass really impressed the heck out of me.
The Aretai Contra 100S was showing with CAT amplification, and cables and accessories from an unfamiliar Germany company named Viablue. (They’re celebrating 20 years, so that’s my fault.) This was gorgeous gear, shiny and posh, but I could tell it was adding to the sense of excitement. This might be the first time I’ve encountered an audio product from Latvia, or any of the Baltic states for that matter, but I think Aretai might just put that small country on the high-end audio map. I’ll have much more to say about the Aretai Contra 100S after AXPONA, and I’m excited.
If you would like to hear even more coverage from FLAX 2023, check out our recap report and highlights from our audiophile-oriented show The Occasional Podcast. You can stream the episode direct from the embed below, or from your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.
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