Gorgeous finish! That’s what I screamed inside my head when I first saw the standmount Apertura Forté speakers ($9999/pr) in the Innuos / Asona Ltd room. The Forté’s have a high 93db sensitivity thanks in part to the neodymium magnet circuit used in its two 18 cm mid/woofer drivers. Atypically, both speakers’ tweeters are placed asymmetrically from each other on the speakers’ baffles, which means the speakers can be positioned either with the tweeters facing out or facing in. Based on my experience, this sort of “mirror-image” driver configuration allows for more flexibility in speaker placement to better suit personal taste or room acoustics. It’s almost like having two slightly different pairs of speakers in one.
The rest of the system consisted of a tube-based, 80Wpc Pathos Acoustics InPoL Heritage MkII class-A integrated amplifier ($23,500), an Audio Analogue AADAC DAC ($5500), an Innuos Pulsar network music player ($10,499), with cabling by Analysis Plus ($various).
I listened to “Catholic Country” by Kings of Convenience, which is a male-female duet with acoustic guitars. Its hypnotic nature totally got into my head. Mesmerized by its repetitive beats, it was as if the speakers had physically disappeared. Experienced audio enthusiasts know that this disappearing act is difficult for average speakers to pull off, and nearly impossible to do without the proper associated components. This system seemed to be doing it effortlessly.
As an audiophile and a voracious listener of all kinds of music, Jonson believes that the experience of being immersed in music is often something spiritual. Born and raised in Korea, he cut his teeth on western music mostly through the music of the 80s and the 90s. As of today, names that make his heart beat a little faster include Vladimir Horowitz, John Coltrane, Youn-Sun Nah, Francis Poulenc, Leonard Bernstein, Tannoy, and Magnepan. Jonson also runs a podcast and a YouTube channel about language learning, called SpongeMind.
As you might know, PMA is an independent consumer audio and music magazine that prides itself on doing things differently. For the past three years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing you an authentic listening experience. Our commitment? Absolute authenticity. We steer clear of commercial influences, ensuring that what you hear from us is genuine, unfiltered, and true to our values.
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