After my fun experience reviewing the Audio Research D‑80 power amplifier, I made sure to drop in on Valerio Cora—founder of Acora Acoustics and owner of Audio Research—and hear how his room sounded. We met in the narrow hallway just outside of his room.
He said, “We have a very challenging room. It’s 14′ on a side. Essentially a square. There’s no AC, we’re running tubes, and we have to keep the windows wide open, which messes with the sound.” Valerio didn’t seem overly fazed, though. I’ve noted that he keeps calm no matter what the circumstances.
“We’ve been working on it all week, moving the speakers inch by inch. Right now, it’s as good as we can get it.”
Fair enough—forewarned is forearmed, or something like that. I moved in and sat down, noting that the power amplifier in this system was the Reference 80X, the tuned-up, higher-end version of the D‑80 I so enjoyed.
A track from Bizet’s Carmen was playing when I entered the room. You’re likely aware that Carmen is a very approachable opera, with at least three big tunes that you can come away whistling. Cora explained that he and his wife had attended a performance of Carmen by the Vienna State Opera on the previous Monday, hence having this album on repeat.
Fine by me. Carmen was my father’s favorite opera, though he knew it only from the movie Carmen Jones. I love it vicariously through him. Cora did not need to make excuses for the sound. The Acora speakers cast a huge, deep, palpable image across the front of the room. Deep and rich, extended but smooth. This was the sound I would wager every other exhibitor was trying to achieve.
Cora was playing some extremely approachable music that didn’t devolve into audiophile pap. The Beatles, the Doors, Santana, that sort of thing, and just one song from Sting, for which I can forgive him. I asked for a couple of tracks and he was amenable. “Right Off” from Jack Johnson by Miles Davis just slammed. These aren’t fluffy audiophile speakers—they can rock the hell out.
Backing up the Reference 80X ($23,000, all prices in USD) was the Audio Research Reference 20 preamplifier ($48,000). Those big, inert speakers were the Acora SRC5.2Ds (base price of $95,000 per pair, but $160,000 as shown because—what the hell—their enclosures are made out of labradorite, which is nuts). The source was an Aurender N50 server doodad. The DAC was a Lampizator Horizon.
As an aside, I was wearing a Red Canoe T‑shirt emblazoned with the Royal Canadian Air Force logo, maple leaf front and center. Acora is located in Woodbridge, just north of Toronto, and the company’s founder, Valerio Cora, recently purchased Audio Research, one of America’s most storied hi‑fi brands. Canadian pride runs deep these days, so I was chuffed to hear such great sound coming from companies associated with the Great White North.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Editor, SoundStage!
