{"id":25274,"date":"2020-10-22T15:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/?p=25274"},"modified":"2025-11-14T14:06:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T12:06:35","slug":"aequo-stilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/review\/loudspeaker-reviews\/speakers-active-analog-reviews\/aequo-stilla\/","title":{"rendered":"Aequo Audio Stilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review organized by Marc Loubeau \/ Prestige Audio Diffusion<\/a>
\nReview samples supplied by Aequoaudio.com<\/a>
\n<\/a>Retail prices in the NL including 21% VAT:
\nStilla Base model: 17.999 euro (as reviewed)
\nStilla Fully Active: 19.998 euro
\nMany other options available<\/h4>\n

Aequo Audio was founded in 2012 by a team of music and hi-fi enthusiasts. Situated in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and with an emphasis on in-house R&D, the company seeks to manufacture smart, graceful and uncompromised loudspeaker solutions for the audiophile market.<\/p>\n

The company’s first loudspeaker model, the Ensis, was launched in 2016 but until recently, I managed to not notice their presence in the market. Quite undeservedly, I might add. Those who have visited the XFi show in Veldhoven in 2019 will no doubt have seen and heard the Ensis loudspeakers in a great room and with great sound. As can be read in my show report<\/a>, I was impressed.<\/p>\n

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Stilla Appearance<\/h3>\n

Underneath the Stilla’s sleek and elegant and relatively simple appearance is a technologically highly advanced and deeply clever design. Hiding behind the cloth covers are four drivers, each one optimized according to Aequo Audio specifications. But even if the drivers were visually exposed (as is the case with the more upscale Ensis model) there is still nothing obvious to give away the depths of the technological advances that went into their design, much less the complex inner workings of the speakers.<\/p>\n

This, of course, can be a blessing or a curse. Based on the responses that I got during my time with the speakers, the Stillas have enormous appeal for those who want superb, truly full-range sound without letting the speakers dominate the room. But for the more technical-minded or more dogmatic people,\u00a0 their small and elegant appearance may give the wrong impression, leading some people to underestimate the speakers based on their looks and subsequently question their price point.<\/p>\n

Even if it is explained that the speakers have an active bass section with two analog controls (no DSP!) to allow placement in virtually any listening environment while still obtaining even-handed and deep-reaching bass, arguably, the Stilla’s true brilliance is still overshadowed by their modest appearance.<\/p>\n

In an effort to take away any doubts it is necessary to dive deeply into the technologies that went into the design of these speakers. But in order to start paving the way for the rest of the review let me state right now that, in spite of their very compact dimensions and their deceivingly simple looks, the Stillas have impressed me deeply. I know that the price seems steep but please trust me when I say that their price tag is absolutely reflected in their performance.<\/p>\n

Technical description<\/h3>\n

There is so much to say about the technology behind these speakers that if I were to dive too deeply into it, this review could easily become the longest one I ever made before even arriving at the part where I describe how the speakers perform! And that, in my opinion, is ultimately always what matters most. Thus, I will try<\/em> to keep this section brief.<\/p>\n

Besides a novel approach to cabinet shape, Aequo Audio also has a big focus on the use of their proprietary “S-Stone” artificial stone material for the cabinet enclosures. But not for the mere sake of a beautiful appearance. With Aequo Audio, form always follows function. In designing the Stilla, Aequo Audio decided to not produce a simplified version of the Ensis speaker, but rather the best possible loudspeaker at the 18.000 euro price point. The design brief contained the requirement that the measured performance of the new speaker, especially in terms of cleanliness and high-resolution precision as well as in terms of the balance between even and odd harmonics, would be very close to that of the Ensis speaker.<\/p>\n

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Enclosure<\/h3>\n

The concave white shell that makes up the biggest part of the Stilla’s enclosures is made from a big slab of S-Stone that is shaped into its curvy shape using industrial high-precision oven equipment and a 20-ton hydraulic press. While not dissimilar to materials such as Krion (a mixture of Minerals and Resin) or Corian (a mixture of polymer and natural minerals), the material that is used for the Stilla’s elliptic enclosure has a uniquely developed composition based on a mixture of ceramic particles in an acrylic bonding material.<\/p>\n

The 16cm wide shape of the speaker enclosure contains no parallel walls and is optimized against unwanted resonances, less susceptible to internal material resonances and does not diverge internal pressure waves to a single point. Inside are various isolated compartments and carefully thought out heavy bracing. While the Stilla is a ported design, the implementation of the bass-reflex port is far from standard. A tapered cavity that spans the entire length of the lower subwoofer cabinet ends in a horn-loaded output to output frequencies right down to 18Hz at -3dB measured in-room. The speakers actually reach still deeper beyond that, right down to an amazing 14Hz. The tapered horn construction prevents compression effects and noise whilst the use of acoustic damping material avoids any remaining scuffing sounds at excessive volume levels.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on an as flat as possible frequency response on-axis or for a specific angle to the speaker, Aequo Audio looks at the energy distribution\/dispersion in all directions and at any angle. They then study how this energy is reflected or how it is absorbed.<\/p>\n

Grille<\/h3>\n

The speaker grille is the subject of an ongoing debate. Apart from the protection that they may offer to the drivers, some listeners may prefer the sound of a particular speaker with, or without the grille. The problem with a removable grill is that the speaker’s phase response and voicing can be optimum only with or without the grille attached. Even if the fabric is 100% sonically transparent, the dimensional properties, edges and such will still affect the sound. That is why the Stilla was designed to be used with grille and why it is not removable.<\/p>\n

Driver Design<\/h3>\n

For the development of the drivers and crossovers, Aequo Audio works alongside specialists from Denmark, among which Ejvind Skaaning who started his career at Seas in Norway, later returning Denmark where he founded Scan-Speak and Dynaudio. At 88, Skaaning recently passed away, leaving his company to his son Per, with whom he worked closely together during his final years. Skaaning\u2019s legacy and the accumulated knowledge of his co-workers are represented in the drivers that have been developed by Per and his team in collaboration with Aequo Audio.<\/p>\n

One of the most important aspects when it comes to designing drivers is to find the ideal balance between stiffness and damping. Too much stiffness alone will inevitably introduce resonances while too much compliance will introduce harmonic distortion and too much damping can add thickness or deaden the sound. The ultimate goal for Aequo Audio is to reproduce sound that is highly accurate and transparent yet also highly natural. For instance, while the best exotic-material tweeters can achieve near-pistonic behavior and very low levels of distortion, Aequo Audio feels that extremely hard materials always add a measure of unnatural shine or spark to the musical performance due to the break-up frequency (even if it is above 20kHz) leading to induced effects further down in the audible range. While the use of paper or polypropylene composites may not sound as lofty as materials such as beryllium or carbon, the properties of the materials used for the Aequo Audio drivers are actually state-of-the-art.<\/p>\n

Drivers<\/h3>\n

The tweeter assembly consists of an aerodynamically shaped front and back chamber, isolated from the other driver\u2019s cabinet space. The doped s-silk dome-ring tweeter with a high-speed ferrite motor follows in the footsteps of work done for the Ensis tweeter although the Stilla’s tweeter has a slightly more forgiving motor design compared to the one used in the Ensis, leading to a slightly smoother musicality desired by a wider audience.<\/p>\n

As with the original, the Stilla’s tweeter is fitted with a dispersion cone to eliminate unwanted effects in the top octave, and also to fix the middle of the dome tweeter section against resonance. The membrane is driven directly by the voice coil as with any other tweeter but with a larger flexible surround than is the norm and with its center point fixed in position. That is something that I am not aware of anyone else doing. For the Stilla specifically, the acoustic lens was optimized by using fast 3D prototyping to make it work with even more demanding (smaller) rooms and to adjust time alignment of the slightly less tall speaker to best fit the various possible listening heights.<\/p>\n

The mid-bass unit is made from mineral-filled PP and is fitted with a super-high-speed ferrite motor. The unit is mounted in a closed section with a tapered backside to avoid parallel walls and minimize the returning sound waves from the rear of the cabinet. Special Baileys longhair sheep wool is applied to dampen some of the remaining energy without the loss of natural and high sensitivity reproduction of
\nmidrange frequencies.<\/p>\n

Then we arrive at the Stilla’s powerhouse section where two 7-inch (17.8 cm) Nomex-coated woofers with large excursion symmetric motors are placed at a 45-degree angle for maximum stiffness, to avoid resonances and to allow for a very narrow speaker baffle. Thanks to smart placement of the first driver under 45 degrees, facing front and sideways, and then aligning a second one under 45 degrees facing the other side of the speaker, the drivers effectively cancel out mutual vibrations. The remaining backward\/frontwards energy is dealt with via the controlled flexing in the foot, about which I will explain more further below.<\/p>\n

Crossover<\/h3>\n

In order to introduce as little phase shifting as possible, the Stilla uses a first-order crossover. The speaker is indicated to have perfect time-coherent behavior in the treble and midrange\/upper bass with both drivers moving together in perfect synchronization over virtually all frequencies far beyond the crossover band around 2kHz.<\/p>\n

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Pivoting Foot<\/h3>\n

Each speaker is mounted on an adjustable pivoting three-pronged multi-layer aluminum\/S-Stone foot that is attached to the speaker with a single hinge resting on four vibration-dampening bearings while the amount of tilt can be adjusted by hand using a single hexagon nut. The speaker’s entire weight rests on a single point of contact via a stainless steel ball-end that supports the full weight of the speaker, filtering out sideways movements. The position of this single point of contact is carefully chosen in order to utilize precisely the required amount of the foot’s natural flexibility. The speakers’ front-to-aft position is thus slightly springy to allow for the dissipation of unwanted vibrations while retaining a solid coupling to allow for fast and precise sound.<\/p>\n

While I am writing this, I can’t help but be impressed. And we haven’t even come to what is arguably these speakers’ biggest selling point: the fully analog ARPEC system.<\/p>\n

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ARPEC<\/h3>\n

Housed in a separate aluminum surrounded, passively cooled space inside of the Stilla cabinet are the ARPEC electronics and two 250W Ncore amplifiers and the power supply. ARPEC (Analogue Room size and Placement Extension Control) enables very easy and intuitive room and placement adjustments, controlled by two rotary knobs placed on top of each individual loudspeaker. One knob controls adjustment for the room size, varying from XXS to M to XXL, the other adjustment for the speaker placement, varying from a position in a corner to a position completely free of walls.<\/p>\n

Any conversion to digital and back incurs a delay and this can gravely affect the bass section’s phase alignment to the midbass driver. Keeping the signal in the analog domain neatly avoids this issue altogether. The two knobs are not level controls nor a simple equalizer, but they drive a complex network of passive filter components to control the amount of bass roll-off and a continually variable counter measurement for room-induced bass reinforcement or -suckout to achieve an ideal balance in just about any room.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the ARPEC system, the speakers are easy to place and get perfectly balanced. Thanks to the ability to make individual speaker adjustments one can also overcome any asymmetry of the listening room\u2019s layout relative to the left and right speaker, again, without any time delay or A\/D losses inflicted by DSP solutions.<\/p>\n

Easy to drive<\/h3>\n

A great benefit of the Stilla’s active bass section is that the speakers have only very modest power requirements. The bass section is already taken care of by the twin Hypex Ncore amplifiers in each speaker while the midrange and treble sections have an essentially flat impedance curve. The speakers have a nominal 8-Ohm impedance response without any of the impedance peaks associated with steep filters or vented enclosures and a 90dB sensitivity which means that you can drive them with virtually any amplifier, including low-powered SET amplifiers.<\/p>\n

Getting on with it<\/h3>\n

Phew, at this point in a review, I feel like I normally arrive at the conclusion! And to think that I still<\/em> only covered the surface of the technology that goes into the Stilla loudspeakers. I hope that by now the price tag starts to make sense. And for those who are still on the fence, just wait to read what I have to say about their performance!<\/p>\n

For those who would like to read even more about the technical aspects of these speakers, I recommend heading to the technology section<\/a> on the Aequo Audio website where all the highlights are covered in great detail.<\/p>\n

System Context<\/h3>\n

The Stillas will be listened to using the Antipodes K50<\/a> Music Server connected via AES\/EBU to the CH Precision C1<\/a> DAC which, in turn, is connected via CH Balanced Link XLR cables to the CH Precision A1.5<\/a> amplifier with Jorma Trinity<\/a> speaker cables. In a later stage, I will include the Audio-GD Master 1<\/a>\u00a0preamp, NuPrime ST10<\/a> power amp and Driade Flow 405<\/a> speaker cables. The Stillas are powered with the standard Neutrik Powercon-fitted cables.<\/p>\n

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Listening<\/h3>\n

Disrespectfully, I started listening to the Stillas in a compromised position way too close together, between the Magico S1 MkII’s which are themselves positioned in between the Logans. Couldn’t sound great at all, one would think. Wrong! With the two controls set simply in their neutral positions, the Stillas were impressive right from the start. The bass was deep and powerful but not boomy and the focus was remarkably good. Even more amazing was the depth and width of the soundstage, better than with the Magicos, actually, which are actually positioned more ideally. That certainly whetted the appetite!<\/p>\n

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Note how the Stillas are more narrow and less tall than the Magicos and even appear considerably sleeker than medium-sized monitor speakers<\/em><\/p>\n

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With the Magicos moved out of the way and the Stillas positioned in their place I felt that I was already very close to their ideal positions. The imaging depth further increased and the focus became even better, almost startlingly so. I’m used to a high level of accuracy and very stable imaging from the Magicos but the Stillas have even more solid and considerably deeper imaging. They make achieving reach-out-and-touch imaging seem easy! In terms of bass, now that they are in the Magico’s old spot, the Stillas sound a little cleaner but it’s not a world of difference. It is remarkable how easy they are to get sound right. But with speakers of this caliber, it’s only natural to try and wring the maximum in performance out of them. And so, the Logans also had to make way. That’s something that I don’t enjoy doing, not because they are so heavy (which they really aren’t) but because they are so incredibly finicky to get right in terms of focus and imaging. With Martin Logans, it really comes down to the millimeter.<\/p>\n

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With the Logans out of the way, I was free to position the Stillas anywhere that I liked, but guess what? They were apparently already pretty much in their ideal positions! Only ever so slightly more apart and maybe 5 cm closer to the listening position but that was it. What is left is some room in regards to the toe-in. The manufacturer advises strong toe-in with the speakers almost pointing straight at my shoulders. While that produces a very strong and solid image I personally prefer the sound with the speakers toed in slightly less. This way, arguably you lose a little directness and solidity but you gain a truly holographic soundstage that spans all the corners of my listening room.<\/p>\n

Actually, their soundstaging capability is one of their greatest assets. There were several visitors who asked whether it were really the Stillas that played and not the Logans that were positioned next to them. That’s how wide<\/em> the speakers image and also, this gives a handle on how uncolored they sound.<\/p>\n

With no walls in sight, I revisited the adjustment knob positions. It was interesting to note that the wall boundary knob (selective gain) added bass but without it ever becoming boomy. Of course, you can overdo it and offset the balance between bass and mid\/treble, but no matter the setting, the bass always of very good quality. Turning the knob counter-clockwise thins out the bass and this was clearly not ideal for my large listening room but as I would find later, this will actually work wonders in the smaller listening room. The midway position remained ideal.<\/p>\n

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Changing the position of the room size knob (roll-off) was also interesting. What this control does is to roll off (anti-clockwise) or extend (clockwise) the bass which, in my mind, would curtail a large speaker such as the Stilla in its response, making it sound like a monitor. In reality, nothing of the sort happens. As Ivo knows first-hand from having done countless measurements, room boundaries not only add gain but also extend (or, in certain cases, curtail) the bass. And with the knowledge gained from years of experiments, the filters in the ARPEC system are meant to precisely tap into these acoustical phenomena. And so it happens that the Stilllas sound fully full-range even though the room size control is set to the middle position and, apparently, some roll-off is already happening. As it turned out, once all the speakers were out of the way, the control could be turned up two notches to make for an enormously satisfying solidity and dynamic heft that, frankly, is simply not expected when you consider the Stilla’s baffle is a mere 16 cm narrow.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Stilla’s bass is not merely great given the speakers’ size, it’s absolutely great full stop. I mean, the Magico’s may ultimately be slightly tighter and slightly more coherent (more on this later) but they sound like a small monitor compared to the Stillas. Actually, the Stilla’s deep and full-bodied presentation has a lot more in common with that of the Martin Logan ESL15A’s. Sure, the Logans have even more authority but with their huge subwoofer cabinets and twin 12-inch (30 cm) drivers per speaker, that is only fair. Besides, the Logans are considerably more costly and considerably less likely to pass the WAF test. Even so, the Logans do not seem to reach any lower than the Stillas which is really quite extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Not only is the bass deep and powerful, but it also goes loud, too! Admittedly, I do not normally play very loudly but the Stillas had absolutely no problem playing more loudly than I can comfortably sustain. Especially given the small size of the woofers it is amazing that there are simply no port noises or other signs of stress.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the bass is fast, dynamic and coherent and it crosses over to the midrange with a level of seamlessness that rivals that of my ESL15A’s between the active bass section and the passive midrange and treble. The latter is something that Martin Logans with their very different driver materials, understandably, still cannot do 100% perfectly. With the latest Logan models, the transition is no longer audible but if you focus on the bass or the midrange then you can still detect that the foil simply performs very differently from the bass section. With the two-way Magicos as a reference, the Stillas show a hint of thickness in the bass that is not there in the midrange but it really is quite subtle. Using the two ARPEC controls, you can reduce the bass output somewhat to subjectively better match the midrange but I found that this has the side effect of making the midrange stand out a little. But at this point, I’m splitting hairs, really, and it’s important to note that we are talking about a truly<\/em> full-range system the size of small column speakers. Many big, multi-driver, speakers would dream of sounding as fast and coherent as the Stillas.<\/p>\n

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Ok, so the bass is superb, I think I’ve got that covered. What about the treble? I’m glad you asked because that is yet another aspect of the Stilla’s performance that rather surprised me. Coming from a long history of Ribbon Tweeters, Electrostatics and arguably some of the best dynamic tweeters there are, I’m not easily impressed with most tweeters’ performance. The Magico S1 MkII’s diamond\/beryllium tweeter, in particular, is one of the very best I heard. Comparatively, when coming from the Magico’s, the Stilla’s treble response seems slightly lower in resolution and slightly less airy. But they are absolutely not dark at all, actually very pleasantly open, and in every other aspect, I was surprised to find that there is simply nothing to criticize about the Stilla’s treble section. Honestly, going from the Magico to the Stillas’s, superficially rather “normal”, soft dome tweeter, I expected to have to go through a transitional period during which I had to get used to the new treble performance. But that’s not at all what happened. The sound agreed with me from the very first minute. I just can’t say that the tweeter has any sort of identifiable character. It just doesn’t stand out at all and that’s actually a lot more important to me than ultimate resolution or refinement. The Stilla’s treble is highly articulate, fast and precise, yet forgiving and with absolutely no edge or sharpness.<\/p>\n

But is the Magico tweeter really airier or is this an unnatural shine that is not supposed to be there? Is it even desired? While this may be a matter of taste, I can add that I found the Magico treble to provide the seamless transition for me from the Apogee and Magnepan ribbons to dynamic tweeters. The Wilson Watt\/Puppy system 8 also had even more of a spark in the upper treble that could be nice at times but could often also be a little too much, too pinching, especially at high volume levels. This, I’m quite sure, was the breakup frequency that was causing havoc and which may be more, or less, audible to people after a certain age. When comparing the Magicos to the Martin Logans, though, I again also hear a similarly “airy” and refined treble. But whether the extra air is desirable? During my time with the Stillas, I have come to doubt this.<\/p>\n

While bass performance is one of the most important aspects for me and the treble quality comes in as a close second, no speaker is worth much if it doesn’t convey the musical message. But that, the Stillas do with verve<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Musicality is a meaningless word when describing how a piece of audio equipment sounds but when it’s missing, you’ll instantly know it. It’s what happens with some ultra-high-end equipment and often with super-advanced, ultra-revealing loudspeakers. With the Stillas, however, you never have the impression of listening to a high-tech product. These speakers have no cabinet coloration that I can detect and they are very neutral and seriously revealing, but somehow, they don’t deliver anything but foot-tapping, emotion-provoking, highly communicative, thrilling, pure and natural music. Wood instruments really sound wooden while vocals sound highly realistic.<\/p>\n

This has a lot to do with the open, expressive, dynamic and natural mid-band performance but I’m sure it’s just as much the result of the elaborate cabinet, its internal construction and the thoughtfully assembled crossovers.<\/p>\n

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Cables<\/h3>\n

The Stillas are not fussy when it comes to cables. I obtained the best results using the Jorma Trinity speaker cables but the speakers also worked remarkably well using the FoilFlex cables, yielding a slightly tighter and airier but similarly transparent sound. The FoilFlex cables are extremely revealing and can sound a little thin in the lower midrange when combined with certain components or speakers. But that is no issue with the naturally organic and full-bodied Stillas, especially not when you adjust their toe-in somewhat.<\/p>\n

A different perspective was offered by the Driade Flow 405 speaker cables which will find favor with those who prefer the sound to be a little bit sweeter and rounder. The Driades also excelled at representing music as an organic whole without highlighting any single area.<\/p>\n

Going back<\/h3>\n

The biggest surprise came when I moved the Magicos back into position. As I prepared to be rewarded with super-high-res sound and utter transparency, all I noted was a slightly tighter bass and slightly more coherent sound. Were they more revealing? Not really. More linear, more transparent? Only a little, honestly, and just a little bit more refined. Of course, the lowest octaves were missing in the bass but what struck me much more was how much dynamic liveliness and soundstage size and -depth was missing. I never noticed this but, comparatively, the Magicos do not image very deeply. Also, they are comparatively dynamically a little more restrained. This probably has a lot to do with the differences in efficiency and crossover implementation.<\/p>\n

Moreover, remember the airier and more refined treble that I mentioned earlier? Well, after having lived with the Stillas for several weeks, I now perceive the extra air as a “hifi” aspect that is added on top while the extra resolution is very nice but does nothing for the musicality. Rather than experiencing joy for returning to my preferred speakers after having heard overly colored or uneven sounding other speakers, the overwhelming feeling this time was of a very neutral, technically perfect, but also more technical<\/em> and more restrained sound. So what if the Magicos have an overall slightly higher resolution, are more linear, or a little bit more revealing. With their more business-like presentation the feeling of listening to an actual “live” performance was much reduced and, as a consequence, my engagement considerably diminished. And besides, the Magico’s ultra-revealing nature also unveils graininess, dryness or hardness in the source while the Stillas pretty much always sound friendly.<\/p>\n

But especially when going back to the Logans, no matter how great the bass or how transparent everything from the lower midrange and up, I was unpleasantly surprised. The image focus, the solidity and palpability of the midrange, the depth of the soundstage, and the overall sense of realism all took a serious beating. Yep, the Stilla will absolutely spoil you in these areas.<\/p>\n

Amplifiers<\/h3>\n

With a 90dB sensitivity and a flat 8-ohm impedance curve, the Stillas are very easy to drive. They place no demands on the amplifier other than that it should be of high quality. The highly cost-efficient NuPrime ST-10, for instance, also worked remarkably well with these speakers. You are never fooled that it offers the same amount of transparency or nuance as the CH A1.5 but the result is every bit as musically engaging. And although the ST-10 is not exactly known for being refined, the Stillas simply make it work beautifully, ever so gently smoothing the ST-10’s rough edges to make it sound better than it actually is.<\/p>\n

Also, as the experiment in the secondary listening room showed, the Stillas also work very well when driven by a tube amplifier.<\/p>\n

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A Challenging Room<\/h3>\n

I also listened to the Stillas in my rather unevenly-shaped secondary listening room. Surprisingly, although I normally use tiny monitors and in spite of being floor standers, the Stillas did not at all look large. Actually, they fit right in and looked rather smart!<\/p>\n

This system consists of an Ayon CD10 II<\/a> CD player \/ DAC with an Ayon Spirit III<\/a> KT150 push-pull tube amplifier, normally with Xavian La Perla Esclusiva loudspeakers, connected with Driade Flow 405<\/a> speaker cable.<\/p>\n

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With the left speaker walled in on two sides and the right speaker standing pretty much entirely freely, this room is very far from being ideal. But as long as the left corner-induced room mode is not activated, the room actually sounds pretty decent and that means that small speakers usually work best. So, it doesn’t take much imagination to predict how the fully-full range Stillas would fare. Indeed, with the two controls in their neutral positions, there is an overwhelming amount of bass coming from the left corner. Its bass is of very good quality, not boomy or thumpy but still, a lot like having a subwoofer turned up too loudly. But this is where the ARPEC system comes to the rescue! Remember that I mentioned having independent controls is a benefit? Well, this is the perfect use case for that! With the left speaker’s wall boundary control dialed back to its lowest position I was surprised to find how well the speaker compensated for the wall influences. While I already experienced some of the system’s ingenuity in the main listening room, it was now absolutely obvious that the filter curves that activate are chosen very smartly. All it took now was a few notches off the Room Size control on both speakers to align the bass extension with the room gain to achieve a well-balanced bass without any peaks or suckouts, all the way to the lowest frequencies. The sound quality that was achieved with these simple two steps is staggering. It’s not merely good given the conditions, it’s absolutely great, period! Never before have I heard such deep-reaching and such linear and even-handed bass in this room. Along with great bass came excellent focus and a room-filling soundstage. Given the close proximity to the rear wall, the depth of imaging is never truly great in this room but even in this regard, the Stillas performed admirably.<\/p>\n

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Ivo and Paul take the steering wheel<\/h3>\n

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Ivo Sparidaens measuring the distance to the back wall using a laser distance meter<\/em><\/p>\n

When it was time for the speakers to return, Ivo and Paul both came to visit and do some final listening. Since the speakers were by now positioned in the secondary listening room I asked Ivo to set up the speakers according to his own preferences. This way, it would be interesting to find what an alternative positioning method could potentially achieve. The first thing that was confirmed using a laser distance meter is that I had placed the Magicos perfectly accurately to within a single millimeter.<\/p>\n

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Here’s Paul Rassin, functioning as a guinea pig for Ivo’s laser beams<\/em><\/p>\n

Having used nothing but a measuring tape (but doing countless measurements) that was certainly nice to know. As a result, having used the Magico position marks on the floor, the Stillas had already been positioned very accurately. As it turned out, after Ivo finished setting them up and not knowing where I placed them, the Stillas ended in a position very close to what I used to review them. The main difference was that he used more toe-in.<\/p>\n

Fully Active<\/h3>\n

The Stilla is also available as a fully active system which I think is especially interesting. Of course, with the extra Hypex Ncore amplification, you need to be in the market for a super-clean sound but in my opinion, neutral amplification makes these speakers sound best. With the same type of amplifiers driving the bass and midrange\/treble sections and without any speaker cable-induced variances, I’d wager that they will sound mightily impressive. And the real beauty is that the fully active version carries only a relatively modest 1999-euro price increase. Try getting separate high-quality amplification and speaker cables of the same quality for that kind of money. Actually, that’s close to what my Jorma speaker cables cost. Of course, a hair under 20K is not small change in any way but just to put things into perspective: the CH Precision A1.5 alone carries a price tag of 31.000 euro and does not come with speakers or speaker cables.<\/p>\n

On the Horizon<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, Aequo Audio is working on a visually striking new speaker, the fully passive Adamantis. Positioned neither below nor above the Ensis or Stilla, it is in a different category altogether. Without the ARPEC system and associated onboard amplification, these speakers will require more care in positioning and a serious external amplifier. But implementing all of the knowledge gained in the acoustic field and being cast from a new and proprietary Nano-Tech-based material called Diluvite, the Adamantis promises unprecedented low resonances and a level of sound quality that belies their price tag.<\/p>\n

But the development at Aequo Audio doesn’t stop there. In their quest for the ideal cabinet- and driver material, the company has started a new branch called Diluvite Nanotech Composites that focuses solely on developing and marketing their new material in a wide range of alternatives to serve numerous applications.<\/p>\n

And as if that wasn’t enough, the company is also looking into fabricating tweeter diaphragms using materials that stem from the Diluvite research.<\/p>\n

Aequo Audio has made several white papers filled with interesting info about the Adamantis, Diluvite, RF and EMI shielding that I read with great interest but I’ll refrain from diving into this any deeper because this review is already long enough!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh, one last thing that I really must mention is that Aequo Audio will open a new auditorium<\/a> in Eindhoven that will be open by appointment for prospective buyers who are interested in hearing a pair of Aequo Audio loudspeakers in an inspiring environment.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

How does one summarize a product that requires basically two reviews’ worth of text to only superficially describe all the technological solutions that went into its creation and to explain why they cost 18K? Well, the thing is, with the Stillas, one does not need to know about any of the technologies that hide underneath. All it takes is a single demo to understand their brilliance. But if that did not fully do the trick, just try going back to your old speakers. Going back to the Magico S1 MkII’s sure was a real eye- and ear opener!<\/p>\n

These are not lifestyle products but seriously high-end speakers that tick all the audiophile parameter boxes. In a way, their sleek and elegant appearance perfectly exemplifies their intended use. Just position them anywhere, adjust the ARPEC system as needed and enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Associated Equipment<\/a><\/p>\n

External Links<\/h3>\n

Manufacturer’s website: Aequoaudio.com<\/a>
\nAequo Auditorium: Auditorium-Eindhoven<\/a>
\nDiluvite Nanotech Composites website: Diluvite.com<\/a><\/p>\n

PRESTIGE AUDIO DIFFUSION
\nDistributor for France & Monaco \/ French part of Belgium \/ French part of Switzerland<\/p>\n

Contact : Marc Loubeau
\nTel\u00a0: +33(0)6 49 89 68 88
\nEmail\u00a0:\u00a0contact@prestigeaudio-diffusion.fr<\/a>
\nWebsite: www.prestigeaudio-diffusion.fr<\/a><\/p>\n

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