Audio Artistry Beethoven - anybody has heard?

I have a buddy running the Beethoven's. For listening, he runs an SME 30 with Klyne phonostage, Theta Gen Va DAC with Jade transport, Sutherlund pre, BEL monoblocks (6 of them to tri-amp the beethovens), and some electronic room correction device (make escapes me - technicians delivered it and dialed it in on site). This system throws the widest soundstage I have ever heard. One note about his Beethoven's - he special ordered them with double stacked sub towers. These things can effortlessly recreate 32' organ pipes. His system does everything right. Jazz, classical, swing, rock, you name it. Effortless. If you have the $, they are to die for. And easy on the eyes to boot. Even the outboard tri-wire crossovers have a furniture grade finish. And get this, he also uses them with a pair of A.A. Dvorak's as surrounds for home theatre. I'm not sure what the center channel is called, but it is A.A. also. The coolest theatre I've ever sat in. Even better than the Krell Reference Theatre (IMHO), which I have had the honor of demo'ing.
Erik

A little over a month ago I had the immense pleasure of sitting in Siegfried Linkwitz's living room listening to his Beethovens. I have never heard such a combination of dynamic impact and long-term relaxing sound. There may be other speakers that do a few things better, but as an across-the-board package the Beethovens are probably unique. And the bass! Omigod lovely pitch definition all the way down. They will spoil you - you may never enjoy box woofers again. The Beethovens have the clarity of an excellent midrange driver all the way down. If I had to pick a nit, I'd say the extreme top end was only very good, not excellent.

I'm a hard-core planar/dipole enthusiast myself - I've built several dipole systems, and I now own and sell full-range electrostatics and another brand of dynamic dipole. I've owned quite a few dipoles over the years. But I've never heard a dipole system with the dynamics of the Beethovens - as far as I could tell, no compression or limitations at any volume level I could stand.

Personally, I don't normally enjoy listening real loud, but Siegfried feels that music should be reproduced at its original volume level. That included the AC/DC cut we put on! But the Beethovens sound wonderful at medium and low volumes as well, which is where I listen.

The presentation of the Beethovens is different from that of conventional speakers. Something is missing. It's the box. After getting used to it, conventional speakers may well never sound acceptable to you again.

have heard the beethoven subs with the dvorak towers.the subs are a large step up over the dvorak subs, but not at the level of the martin logan monsters.

Heard them at several shows a few years back. Don't remember specifics, but I know they were some of the best sound of the show each time I heard them.

Heard them briefly at a reviewer´s home. Sounded clean and
clear,I think they would be easy to live with,main problem
though, was the perspective,e.g. does any singer have a
mouth that is two feet wide. That´s a common problem with
dipol speakers. Just my opinion.

I listed the Beethoven when I replied to the old Audiogon topic:

Top Ten Speakers of All Time?

I feel the same way now, and although am a huge Soundlab fan, the Audio Artistry Beethoven is the first box speaker I auditioned that has the magic of an electrostatic. Add to that, the bass is phenomenal, the soundstage is huge and the listenability is wonderful.

They would certainly be on my short list as choice for reference speaker.

I listened to the Beethovens at Advanced Audio in Cary, NC a couple years ago when Tom, the prorietor was actively promoting the Audio Artistry line. Well, it was overall the best and most realistic sound that I have heard to date. I remember being captivated by how open and pure, immediate and real the sound was. Very room filling and full range down to your toes. A lot of effort went into the set up of these but they rewarded, indeed. Too bad things fell apart and Audio Artistry ceased to exist for all practical purposes.

Does anyone know which brand and model of drivers do the Audio Artistry's Beethoven speakers use?

Yip