Raven Audio is so much more than they were just a few years ago. Adding new amplifier models to their lineup and quickly becoming a serious player in the cable and loudspeaker industry is something I don’t even think Dave Thomas (founder of Raven) could have even predicted. If he did, the well kept secret is out now.
For many, this was the first chance to hear the two new Raven Audio towers that will surprise you to no end. Each included foam wave guides, and tuneful low-end. They are but a few of the outright special new loudspeakers entering the market that stand-out among the crowd of sometimes tiring designs. In total Raven Audio was debuting four new products at AXPONA. These products include two – new speaker models, a new line of high-quality, but very affordable cables and a new integrated tube amplifier.
Only once before (Florida Audiofest 2019) had Raven Audio shown with their own speakers. But let’s go over the electronics first. At the helm of the system was Raven Audio’s reference preamplifier the Elite Silhouette, now in its third generation. This reference preamplifier can be had with or without an included phonostage, and retails for $10,995 USD. Flowing from there the Shaman Monoblock’s take over, now in their Mk2 version. Each monoblock is powered by 6550 power tubes, and after summing it all up, each monoblock delivers 325wpc. The Shaman Monoblocks retail for $49,995 USD. Also on active display was the new Nighthawk Mk3 Integrated Amplifier, of their Avian series of amplifiers. The new Nighthawk Mk3 gets plenty of input and output refinements, along with subwoofer outputs and a new high-pass filter. The filter complete relieves the main speaker outputs of carrying any of the bass amplifying load.The new Nighthawk Mk3 offers a stout 20wpc, and retails for $2,995 USD
Enter the new loudspeakers, all scheduled to launch mid-year of 2019. First, the new Performance Celeste towers, each a ported tower speaker with two 6-inch drivers and a ring radiator tweeter surrounded by a foam wave guide. The tweeters are loaded in a time aligned configuration with the woofers. When I asked Raven’s speaker designer James Connell for a sound-bite on the Performance line, he said “ The Performance towers were designed to make all recordings sound good. We consider these our fun speakers.”
Also the new Corvus Reference Monitors, each a sealed MTM reference monitor with a time aligned tweeter surrounded by a foam wave guide. This series is designed to be a reference or master grade speaker with all the detail and accuracy a mastering engineer would expect, but with a sweet and musical character that would satisfy the most demanding audiophile for two-channel stereo use or in an ultra-home-theater system. The same Corvus Reference Monitors can be combined with two 1,000 watt self-amplified bass-modules to form the Corvus Reference Tower. Each bass-module contains two 12” woofers, which are loaded in a sealed enclosure. Covering 20hz-28khz, give or take only 2db.
Also intriguing were the new Soniquil line of cables made by Raven Audio, they include Power, XLR, RCA, and Speaker Cables that Raven Audio specifically designed to be reasonably priced.
by Eric Shook
