How well do Arke Audio speakers perform? Mikros/Altus Benchmarking

How good are Arke Audio speakers?  We don't want our speakers to match the competition - we want to be performing well above our price point.   Our speakers our designed with extremely high-end components that are usually found in speakers costing 2-3 times as much.  We meticulously design every aspect of the speakers to enhance performance.  By selling direct to customer we can greatly reduce the price of our speakers and ensure an exceptional performance to price ratio.

We have been benchmarking our speakers alongside other formidable speakers in the retail space.   First up were the fantastic Audio Physic Avantera - these retail at £23k, which is more the twice the price of the Mikros/Altus.   How did the Mikros/Altus compare?

Sound quality is very subjective, however, it is safe to say the Mikros/Altus performed extremely well.   The Avanteras are a relatively big speaker and dwarfed the Mikros/Altus a little - the Mikros/Altus made up for their more compact dimensions by producing a soundstage and scale that easily matched the larger Avanteras.  Both pairs of speakers presented incredible transparency and clarity - nuance and subtlety was conveyed with poise and a great lightness of touch.

The Avanteras use a (hidden) 11" driver inside each speaker and therefore had good lower bass weight and scale.   The Mikros/Altus use two 6.5" drivers per channel and managed to produce a more controlled bass.   The Arke Audio speakers presented a more balanced and textured bass with great control and more percussive qaulity.  The Arkes excelled particularly at presenting mid and upper bass control and power - double bass, bass guitar and drums were presented in a more realistic and powerful manner. 

The Avanteras seemed a little lightweight in the midrange and didnt quite present vocals, strings, brass and guitars with enough tonal density and body.   The Mikros/Altus, on the other hand, presented vocals and mids with more body, with a more tangible and realistic density.  On the Arkes, vocals and instruments had a more believable quality.

All in all, our first benchmarking went extremely well.   The Avanteras are great speakers, however, we are pleased to say that our Mikros/Altus easily held their own and bettered the Avanteras in many respects!