WA mutual syndication arrangement with “6moons.com” online magazine is something really substantial and important for “High Fidelity.” Using the platform of one of the largest audio magazines in the world, both in terms of print and online market reach, we can present our reviews to an audience nearly an order of magnitude bigger than “High Fidelity” alone (250,000 “6moons.com” readers vs. 35,000 readers of “High Fidelity”). I know that our Swiss partner, as that’s where the magazine is currently registered, is also happy with the state of things.I also see that inspirations go further than just reviews presentation – in my case I always look for new or simply interesting audio products from all over the world in Srajan Ebaens’s,
the chief editor of “6moons.com,” reviews. That’s how I became aware of AudioSolutions – Srajan reviewed its most expensive top model, the Rhapsody 200 (see HERE). I liked the way of thinking of Mr. Gediminas Gaidelis, the company’s owner, not to mention the fact that the company is based in Lithuania. That is important for me, as a Pole, as our countries have been connected both historically and geographically. And despite our current relations being far from what they should be, I’m all in for co-operation reaching as far as possible on a basic, purely personal level.
First audio products from behind our north-eastern border reviewed in “High Fidelity” were the Black Stork turntable and the breathtaking Reed 3Q tonearm (reviewed HERE). Not much longer after the review both partners parted their ways and now we deal with two separate companies - turntables.lt manufacturing turntables and Reed specializing in tonearms. I’ve already arranged with the latter a review of one of its newest products.

I had a more or less vague knowledge about AudioSolution from the review in “6moons.com”, as for instance the fact that it was founded in the summer of 2011 and its motto is “The Art and Science of Speakers Engineering.” However, nothing gives a better “insight” into a given product than a conversation with its designer. Thankfully, Mr. Gediminas Gaidelis is not a man of few words and was happy to give a short lecture on the particular model I received for the review.

Technical philosophy behind the Rhapsody 60… Well, my philosophy is that speakers sound must be as uniform as possible. That means when listening, no particular frequencies should come forward or be left behind. For example some speaker manufacturers prefer sound where midrange is a little bit “deeper” compared to the rest of frequency band, which creates “intimate” sound.
AudioSolutions aims at speaker character which is as neutral as possible. This doesn't create any type of sound, and the speaker plays what is written in the recording. We seek this because it is unpleasant when sound is for example intimate in every style of music. It may be good for easy jazz but is not suitable for classical music where sound should be clear, fast and with high dynamics. So, our sound conception is to reproduce what is in the recording. If the recording is intimate, sweetened or dark etc., the speakers will let you hear this, and I think this is the only true way to listen and understand what creator of music meant to "say" with his music.
To achieve this, we tune our speaker ports (including the Rhapsody 60) a little bit lower. We get slightly less bass but the bass itself is more natural, deeper and better integrated with the rest of frequency range. The same goes for the cabinet volume. When calculating the volume, we try to avoid smaller volumes than drivers really need. We usually go for an exact or a little bit bigger volume. In one word, we calculate speaker cabinets and phase inverters with lower Q.

Now, a few words about the cabinets. We don’t agree with engineers saying that the box should be dead quiet. They try to use aluminum, marble and other hard materials to dampen the box as much as possible. This is not a bad way to start but even DIY-ers know this is impossible, because lower frequencies travel through the walls with no losses (depending on wave length and wall thickness).
This affects power response which is actually more important than on-axis response and may result in dull and “dead” sound. To avoid this, we endeavor to achieve something else - that our cabinets radiate all frequencies in all directions as linear as possible. In result, power response becomes more linear as of course does the whole sound.
But do not mix this with internal wall resonances. We are fighting them too; they are equally unwanted in the cabinet as standing waves. To lower the resonances we use several layers of material with different resonance properties. Such “sandwich” is less resonant than a one-layer board of the same thickness; curved side walls helps here too. We all know why we use cabinets for drivers - to eliminate back waves from driver rear. But, unfortunately, it can’t be eliminated completely in classical type boxes, as some part of it is reflected from the rear wall of the cabinet and travels back thru the thin driver cone. This causes acoustic lobeing effects, phase irregularities and distorted sound.
The best way to fight these reflected waves is to lower back wall surface area. The lower surface area, the less sound that is reflected. That's why we use narrow back walls (only 7.8cm for the Rhapsody 60). And this is working flawlessly. Our measurements show less distortion, better phase characteristics and real, clear and much more pleasant sound.

Why our speakers are tilted back? This way we line up speaker drivers so their acoustical centers are in one line and there is no time delay. Some manufacturers use stepped front baffle to line up drivers. But this creates more problems than it solves because of the rise of early reflections, phase irregularities, response problems and many more. And by the way, to lower early reflections, we disperse sound by covering the front baffle with leather. The leather surface is not flat and it works very well for breaking sound waves in all directions. Others manufacturers use foam or felt; we use leather because we have found it to be the best.
When designing crossovers we avoid high inductance ferrite core coils. In fact all our coils are Jantzen audio air coils wound with wire of 1mm minimum diameter. Yes, they are pricy, but this is another aspect of our philosophy - we do not try to save money on cheap bipolar caps or ferrite coils as this means instant death for sound. Why use good speaker drivers, cabinets and dampening materials only to create a bottleneck in poor quality crossovers?
Personally, I think that crossover is like a speaker’s soul. You can have good drivers with huge potential but if you use bad crossover components you won't get any good results. Actually speaker driver is like clay. No matter how good your clay is, you won't create anything outstanding without the know-how and using bad tools. So, good crossover is a must for good sound.

Today we have possibility to manufacture 15 pairs a month (the Rhapsody series). We are not a big company making tons of speakers each month. But due to our lower output we can build speakers of highest quality and be sure that we make the best products we can. We are planning to move to bigger place after some time and production volume will increase to ~30 pairs a month. We do not necessarily aim for highest quantity but our objective is to maintain best quality.

Having a degree in electronic engineering, I design all our filter networks myself. My philosophy is to use the least number of parts but no fewer than necessary. The Rhapsody 130 crossovers are of the 3rd-order with a custom Q that’s neither exactly Butterworth nor Linkwitz. On the other hand, in the 60 model we use a 1st order, really simple crossover. Many designers are reluctant to use third-order crossovers because of their phase shift is highest. Its power response, however, is the best compared to most popular designs. Its on-axis response has the lowest ripple and its phase shift right before and after the crossover point is actually the lowest. That’s why I don't much care that it sums up to a 270 degree phase shift ( so does the 1st order where we have a 90 degree shift), but it sounds live and natural which is my goal. Furthermore, vertical acoustic polar response only shifts down 15° from horizontal. The speaker leans back 7° so there's merely an 8° axial shift. Taking into account many strengths of the 3rd-order crossover, I can live with that. Many people promote 24dB/octave Linkwitz filters because their on-axis response sums flat. But what use is a flat on-axis response when the room influences the power response?
Everything needs to be factored into the calculations, not only on-axis measurements. And here the Linkwitz filter exposes its weaknesses of poor power response, high group delay and high phase shift above and below the filter frequency. From my perspective a 4th-order Linkwitz is good for DIY beginners. That's how I started 9 years ago.

The Rhapsody series speakers sound best paired with tube or high-power class A solid state amps like Pass Labs. Rhapsody speakers need good amplifier control to avoid bass resonance. We manufacture everything “in house.” Only the CNC machining of front panels is carried out by an outside company. Front panels need to be made with extremely tight tolerance. Crossover parts and speaker drivers are naturally ordered from the specialists – Jantzen Audio, SB Acoustics and SEAS.
The tweeter in the Rhapsody 60 is the same as in all other series – top SEAS silk dome with low Fs. The bass driver is from Seas like in the Rhapsody 200. They are very well built and perform much like the Scan-Speak Revelator. They have reduced mechanical dampening (higher Qms) to perform more natural and "live", but they need an amp with high dampening factor to show all their beauty. Their definite advantages are very good response, low inductance and soft suspension. They only need simpler crossover yet the sound is warmer and more natural, which as I mentioned before is our goal.

SOUND

A selection of recordings used during auditions:

• Jesteś Bogiem, soundtrack, Magic Records, 3719533, CD (2012).
• Blue Mitchell Sextet, Blue Soul, Riverside/JVC, VICJ-41559, 20bit K2, CD (1959/2006).
• Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin', Columbia/Mobile Fidelity, UDSACD 2081, Special Limited Edition No. 3085, SACD/CD (1963/2012).
• Charlie Haden & John Taylor, Nightfall, The Naim Label, naimcd077, CD (2004).
• Dead Can Dance, Anastasis, [PIAS] Entertainment Group, PIASR311CDX, Special Edition Hardbound Box Set, CD+USB drive 24/44,1 WAV (2012).
• Diary of Dreams, The Anatomy of Silence, Accession Records, A 132, CD (2012).
• Elgar
• Delius, Cello Concertos, wyk. Jacqueline Du Pré, EMI Classic, 9559052, 2 x SACD/CD (1965/2012).
• Lisa Gerrard, The Silver Tree, Sonic Records, SON212, CD (2006).
• Manuel Göttsching, E2-E4. 30th Anniversary, MG
• ART, 404, CD (1981/2011).
• Radiohead, Kid A, EMI, 27753 2, CD (2000).
• This Mortal Coil, HD-CD Box SET: It’ll End In Tears, Filigree & Shadow, Blood, Dust & Guitars, 4AD [Japan], TMCBOX1, 4 x HDCD, (2011).

Japanese editions available from

Memory is a strange thing. It follows its own rules, is capricious and unpredictable. We tend to remember things not as they were but rather as how we “kept them in mind.” And these two are not the same. Hence, comparing audio components or generally audio products not directly against each other but through the lens of our memory we are left to HOW they became embedded in our memory. There is no way we can make up for that, at least not 100 per cent. What we can try to do, however, is to minimize that “time gap”, to somehow bridge its two sides. In such case, we may find useful to have certain reference points, fixed sonic standards. Knowing how a given product compared to them, let's say, a year ago and comparing against them a currently reviewed component, we will find it much easier to relate these two distant auditions to each other.
In case of the reviewed speakers from Lithuania it was important in that I had to reach to my memories and my review (one of the reasons I write in my reviews exactly what I think…) of the Minima Vintage speakers from Sonus faber (reviewed HERE). The connection is obvious due to the characteristic artistic design of the Italian speakers. Equally important, however, are the links concerning their way of building sound. No, it's not the same sound but one belonging to the same “family.”

It's pretty warm – no doubt. Frequency response is quite clearly limited both from below and from above. One doesn’t need to reach for the Harbeths M40.1 to notice that because even the Dynaudio Confidence C1 Signature speakers reviewed in parallel, housed in even smaller cabinets, sound much more open with stronger, more powerful bass.
The reviewed speakers, similarly to the Sonus faber before, are not designed, however, to provide the most “accurate” sound, at least not in all respects. Mr. Gediminas Gaidelis clearly modeled the sound of the Rhapsody 60, focusing on its few, selected characteristics and honing them to as near perfection as possible.
Coherence is the one that plays the primary role. Equally important although subordinate to it is time consistency. And finally, the third one, resulting from the other two – beautiful midrange. There is no point proving that the speakers measure down to the “so and so dozens Hz” and that the tweeter’s upper-end response is as high as Esotar2 in Dynaudio speakers because it makes no sense. Even a short audition should be sufficient to formulate the following conclusion: these are speakers that mostly play midrange. When we “learn” their sound we can go further and add that it makes sense.
Because most beautiful, as in truly beautiful, in absolute terms irrespective the price level, the Rhapsody 60 will play those albums where the leading instrument is the piano and the main role falls to vocals followed by saxophone, cello, violin and even double bass. This predilection for stringed instruments (vocal after all is also “stringed”…) is very interesting because it is reproducible. I had the same thing with the RLS Callisto III speakers from Sonus Faber and others sounding rather warm smooth and perfectly structured.

It is based on the saturation of lower midrange and such integrating it with treble that the latter does not attract attention per se but is its unobtrusive extension. That particular effort is clearly audible. Playing Bob Dylan’s album, with the acoustic guitar in the lead role I heard a slightly tempered and warmed sound of the strings, with an emphasis on the body. It was the same with Charlie Haden and John Taylor’s Nightfall where the piano was shown closer and fuller than I’m used to, listening on the Harbeths M40.1 which are not particularly bright after all. After such an introduction one might expect an exposition devoted to describing how this could be improved or remedied. It will not happen. As it seems it's just a consistent vision, a firm plan. Granted, it is not particularly selective or defined sound. Its value lies in the tangibility of phantom images, in their large volume and – finally – in excellent soundstage.

The latter, in the context of what I wrote about treble, may seem strange or even far-fetched. After all, it is the high notes that mostly define soundstage imaging and are the basis for successful holography. To a large extent this is true; everyone who was into room acoustics and its effects on soundstage reproduction knows that. On the other hand, an equally important prerequisite is phase coherence and midrange, or even low end, saturation. The latter two define how large the images are, the first one determines their accuracy. Except that in case of the Lithuanian speakers “accuracy” doesn’t mean clear separation of sounds from each other, “cutting them out” from background, but rather their excellent differentiation – in each plane. And if a recording features strong and saturated main instruments, it will be particularly evident on those speakers. It largely concerns acoustic instruments, not just on the perfectly recorded Naim discs or Mobile Fidelity remasters but also on far from perfect recordings from record companies not knowing anything about audiophilism.
Let’s take as an example Accession Records with The Anatomy of Silence by Diary of Dreams. On the album we have acoustic versions of 10 songs from the band, featuring the piano, double bass, classical guitar, etc. The speakers from Mr. Gediminas showed this material the way it should probably be presented, i.e. with large vocal in the center, slightly in front of the speakers line, and with full, powerful midrange. Spatial relations are really great, first due to fleshy phantom images, strongly anchored, then by clear and warm elements shown in counter-phase. When an instrument was recorded and mixed as mono, without supporting it by reverb, one can hear it different than an instrument using a spatial imaging effect. Something seemingly normal that most speakers lack. They either cut out instruments from the background and it no more matters whether there's any space, any information about it, or not as everything is hyper-clear, or everything is blurred and as a result takes equal space between the speakers. Our reviewed speakers are different – they offer full sound but at the same time very well indicate the type of space and its attributes.

Conclusion

Lithuanian products rarely grace the pages of audio magazines, both in Poland and all over the world. In fact, little is known about Lithuanian local audio scene. The few reviews of products from companies such as Reed or LossLess s do not change much. That’s why the reviews of AudioSolutions products that first appeared in Srajan’s “6moons.com” and now here, in “High Fidelity” is hopefully a little bit of a catch up.
And worth it, because the reviewed speakers are really “cool” – it's the best word I can think of. Clearly inspired stylistically by Italian products, primarily Sonus faber, they have their own “voice.” Their very warm, vivid and “gutty” sound will be perfect for recordings with a clear lead instrument (which can also be a vocal), especially a stringed one. Those who may be worried by my description of treble should rest assured as both the piano and the harpsichord are shown in an intense, vibrant way. Bass is not very deep, and even smaller speakers such as the RLS reach lower. However, bass extension is only a part of the story and is usually paid for by something else. Since the Rhapsody 60 is not overexploited and its bass-reflex port is not worked especially hard, its sound is really free. And since low midrange is thick it is not perceived as a weakness.
The vividness of the Rhapsody 60 is delightful. It's a very "colorful" sound in the sense that it is not one-dimensional or gray. It is not as fast as say the Dynaudio speakers but we won’t overcome that. Nicely finished, well thought-out speakers with the kind of sound one needs to confront with one’s own expectations. Well worth it!

Testing methodology

Auditioning had a character of an A / B comparison, with known A and B and a relatively long time between samples A and B – swapping the speakers around is a challenge for everyone. Music samples were 2 min. long but after “official” testing were whole albums were also auditioned.
The speakers were tested on Sonus faber stands - simple, 60 cm high units. However, AudioSolutions offers its own tilted back stands that the speakers can be screwed onto. The same solution was employed by Chario in its Academy Sonnet speakers (reviewed HERE). I couldn’t do anything with the height of the stands but I was able to safely and securely tilt back the speakers with small spacers from Acoustic Revive. In addition to the reference amplifier I also used the Accuphase A-200 class A power amplifier (reviewed for "Audio").
The stands did not sit on the floor but on the Acoustic Revive RST-38 platforms. The speakers were compared directly against the Dynaudio Confidence C1 Signature and the Harbeth 30.1 and M40.1. Speakers’ axes crossed were slightly behind me.

DESIGN

Rhapsody 60 from Lithuanian manufacturer AudioSolutions are medium-sized, two-way standmount speakers. Midbass woofer from SB Acoustics is loaded into front-vented enclosure. The port outlet is not ordinary extruded plastic but metal, screw-on ring as featured in Wilson Audio speakers. The 150 mm woofer has an impregnated paper cone. It also has a powerful magnet and stiff, solid basket of aluminum magnesium alloy cast. The tweeter is a beautiful, 25 mm silk dome from SEAS top line. It has a rigid metal front and a large damping chamber. Both speakers are mounted not directly to the enclosure but onto artificial leather that covers most of the front baffle. The sides are strongly rounded and covered with very nice natural veneer. The top, bottom and back are made of thick MDF, stiffening the whole cabinet. The back has a very small surface area with its upper and lower sections markedly protruding to the rear. Placed between the two is a metal badge with the speaker ratings and a bolted on single pair of very nice speaker terminals (Chinese-made). The crossover is not bolted to the terminals – it’s mounted inside and potted in epoxy resin with added quartz for vibration damping. Mr. Gediminas gives two reasons for that – to reduce the impact of the midbass driver and to protect it against copying. It features (based on manufacturer data) large air coils from Jantzen and polypropylene capacitors.
The cabinet is made of several layers. The outer layer is 10 mm MDF; the two internal are 5 mm plywood. All layers are separated by vibration damping material. The top and bottom reinforcing walls (and the back) have a thickness of 44 mm; the sides are 20 mm thick. Please note that this information is also “bona fide” only (sorry!) as I didn’t manage to disassemble the speakers.