Acora Acoustics: “The New Kid Chipped Off The Old Block”, along with Esoteric, TW Acoustic, Audio Research, Cardas – CAF 2019

Earlier in the year — at both THE SHOW and RMAF — I’ve come across many audiophile writers and found a consensus among those who have been duly impressed with the Acora Acoustics and their sound.

Acora Acoustics as a company has only been showing for what seems like a single year, but the loudspeaker design experience of founder Valerio Cora goes back twenty-plus years. Acora builds their loudspeakers out of granite, which is an extremely hard material and even harder to machine and finish. The technology needed to precisely process and manufacture loudspeaker enclosures from granite with optimum tolerances didn’t exist commercially until more recent years. 

Granite as an enclosure material is possibly the ideal choice. Resonance at audible frequencies doesn’t exist, the structure is full of mass and free of reflective internal bracing, and only damping is needed for internal baffle surfaces. Wood structures generally require more compromises when it comes to loudspeaker design for the reasons stated above. Finally, granite looks good as a finished product. You can actually see the “granite aesthetic” just by looking at it.

The only downsides to granite enclosures are only on the manufacturing side. It’s labor-some to handle, expensive to machine, and time consuming to process and refine. The production time alone for the average Acora Acoustic enclosure requires a full work-week of machine time. This is due to the lack of work-ability of the material and the high tolerances in the Acora loudspeaker design.

Here at Capital Audiofest 2019 Acora Acoustics has paired with Esoteric, Acoustic Research, TW Acoustic, and Cardas. The exhibit space is smaller than I had enjoyed at RMAF in September, and yet with the mid-sized SRC-1 floorstanding loudspeakers, everything fits in sonically. No overloading the room. In fact, it’s kind of a surprise that the sprawling RMAF room was so well handled by these simple two-way towers.

First let’s talk about the Acora Acoustics SRB ($15,000 pr USD), a two-way stand-mount loudspeaker, in a true bass-reflex enclosure, that utilizes a 5.5-inch sandwich paper cone mid-bass drivers, 1-inch beryllium dome tweeter, and 2cm-thick high polish black granite time-aligned enclosure that weighs a hefty 58 lb. each. The pair presenting an 8-ohm load, requiring 10 to 150-watts of amplifier power, with a sensitivity of 86.5dB 1w/1m, over a frequency range of 43Hz to 35kHz, and standing 13-inches tall, or 40-inches with the recommended SRS matching granite speaker stands (27-inch/63lbs).

Second, the Acora Acoustics SRC-1 ($28,000 pr USD), a two-way floor-standing loudspeaker, in a true bass-reflex enclosure, that utilizes a 7-inch sandwich paper cone mid-bass drivers, 1-inch soft dome ring radiator tweeter, and a 3cm-thick high polish black granite time-aligned enclosure that weighs a whopping 246 lb. each. The pair presenting an 8-ohm load, requiring 10 to 250-watts of amplifier power, with a sensitivity of 90.5dB 1w/1m, over a frequency range of 29Hz to 30kHz, and standing 43-inches tall.
Third, the Acora Acoustics SRC-2 ($36,500 pr USD), a two-way floor-standing loudspeaker, in a true bass-reflex enclosure, that utilizes two 7-inch sandwich paper cone mid-bass drivers, 1-inch beryllium dome tweeter, and a 3cm-thick high polish black granite time-aligned enclosure that weighs a whopping 244 lb. each. The pair presenting an 4-ohm load, requiring 10 to 250-watts of amplifier power, with a sensitivity of 92.5dB 1w/1m, over a frequency range of 29Hz to 30kHz, and standing 43-inches tall.

In previous coverage I’ve used words like “perfect” to describe the sounds with my initial gut feeling when presented by these marvelous stone wonders from Acora. To date, I’d like to hold on to that impression further as stated above, the same SRC-1 towers that commanded larger spaces, define themselves as versatile with the way they handle this smaller space with finesse and grace, never proving themselves to be too much for the room.

by Eric Franklin Shook

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