AZ Satori vs. Audience AU24

Hi

I recently acquired a pair of the AU24's based on what I read, it was the consistent description of their sonic characteristics by that caught my attention. All I can say is that they perform as advertised. I agree completely with Stehno and Bigshutterbug. I have had numerous cables in the system including Harmonic Tech Pro 9, Analysis Plus Oval 9, MIT 770 2 Tube Reference, Miller Sound and Stage III Concept. Most of these are very good to excellent cables with the exception of the AP which I didn't care for.

The AU24 as mentioned don't have as wide a stage as some of the above but what they do much better is convey the performance in a more natural way. Timbre is just right with these cables and the harmonic undertones of instruments is very clearly resolved lending a presence to the music that is uncannily real or as Jayctoy notes, in the room. Leading edge dynamics aren't as pronounced as others but the overall presentation is closer to the mark. I found that resolution of bass to be the best I have heard to date with maybe the Stage III having more impact. They are certainly worth auditioning to see if their virtues would meld with your system and taste.

I had a dual run of Satori, and then a single run of Satori which sounded better with my speakers. After using the Satori for over a year, I got the Au24 single run in my system for a couple of weeks and went back to the Satori for a side by side comparison. It was then obvious how much superior the Au24 are. I do think the Satori are very good speaker cables, cost less than the Au24, and are a lot easier to find used.
1markr, since you are inclined to audition the Au24, you should. That's the only way to know for sure.

Thanks for all your responses....great information! It looks like I'll try the AU24 cables against the Satori. I'll have to stick to a single run plus a 1m jumper to use with the VR-4s vs the shotgun config of the Satori.

Bigshutterbug - Which tube amp are you running with the VR-4s?

Jayctoy - do you remember which VTL monos they were?

Thanks again all!!!

1markr, how do you like the vr4 genIII se's? I hear great things about these speakers? Any truth to that?

Also, I don't think you need to feel that you are compromising in the least by not running full bi-wires. The single runs with jumpers should work just fine.

BTW, audience-av.com has a white paper of sorts describing their take on bi-wiring. Perhaps reading this would make you feel more comfortable with single runs.

-IMO

Stehno, I love my Vr4 III SEs! I think they're great. However, I'm not going to tell you that they sound like $20k speakers, because 1) I don't know what $20k speakers sound like and 2) from what I've heard, not all the megabuck speakers sound that great. I also won't tell you that these are the best speakers ever made, but these are the best speakers that have graced my family room.

Anyways, the VR4s have all the attributes that I look for in speakers (in order of personal preferences):
- Very natural sounding midrange, as well as both frequency extremes, in other words the speakers are well balanced and do the human voice justice. Instruments, whether, drums, trumpets, cymbals, etc. all have a naturalness to them that is quite surreal.
- The speaker is quick and dynamic, and the bass is tight and has a good "feel" (slam).
- Soundstage is very detailed and wide, and the "sweet spot" is wider than your usual speaker. I don't quite get that "holographic" imaging like some people describe, but that's mostly due to room issues.

On top of these positives, I do not like the way they look. The finish is subpar, as I was used to looking at Legacy Focus speakers which had one heck of a beautiful furniture finish. I don't care for the "sock" that wraps the speakers. And I don't know of an easy way to get to the drivers.

But hey, I paid for the sound, which far outweighs the negatives above. Hope this helps.