Less is more? Artora’s slimline hi-fi makes it literally so
By Straight-Six, published on 27 May 2011
In case you weren’t already clued in, we dig quality sound here on The Guide. Along with the technology and ever-amusing designs that make it possible. Now please understand that this doesn’t include the latest iPod/iPhone/iPad shit-dock with Martian piss-pod speakers, as they hammer our sensitive ear-drums with compressed techno babble.
No. We’re talking about liberating sound from the medium and pushing audio gear to its limits in order to get us ever closer to the perfect reproduction of recorded sound.
Well, that’s what the purist in us fights for each and every day (and you’ll read more about it in the weeks to come), but as is often the case, it’s the smart hi-fi designs that have the highest likelihood of mainstream success. In other words, you can’t ask folk to compromise too much. Clever brands are designing their gear around the wireless sources of today.
Enter the Artora line-up.
You have to give credit to these Danish delights: they actually use the “Less is More” imprinted on the top of their ArtoAmp 150 amp and ArtoPlayer 1000 CD player as touch-sensitive controls. You press Less to turn down the volume and More to turn it up. Meanwhile, you can play tunes through the amp using almost any Bluetooth-equipped device (computer; phone; etc.), so no cables are required. The masochist/purist in us adores the vacuum-cleaner sized cables that usually connect a quality hi-fi rig, but for most folks, wires are ungainly and ugly.
Artora’s incredibly sleek designs sail through the interior decoration test thanks to colours that include: Carbon Bronze, Innocent White (not for long…) and Beluga Black. And prices are between €2,000 and €3,000, so pretty fair according to our wallets.
While the Artora QBs speakers and ArtoPunch subwoofer replicate the same svelte design of the rest of the equipment, they impressed us less when we listened to them at a recent hi-fi show – albeit under very poor acoustic conditions. Truthfully, they’ll do the job for the kind of buyer who will want to maintain aesthetic harmony above all else.
So, as we swim against an incessant tide of iDocks and iCocks (did we really just say that?!), it’s reassuring to note that good cocktails of design, ease of use and quality can still be savoured.
To see is to touch, to touch is to want. Not bad, Artora. Not bad at all.
Less is more? Artora’s slimline hi-fi makes it literally so
You have to give credit to these Danish delights: they actually use the “Less is More” imprinted on the top of their ArtoAmp 150 amp and ArtoPlayer 1000 CD player as touch-sensitive controls. You press Less to turn down the volume and More to turn it up. As we swim against an incessant tide of iDocks and iCocks, it’s reassuring to note that good cocktails of design, ease of use and quality can still be savoured.
