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Reviewer: Joël Chevassus
Financial Interests: click here
Source: Apple iMac, Squeezebox Touch + Welborne Labs PSU, Jadis JD-2 Drive, Audio GD Ref 5, Totaldac, Trends UD-10.1, Wyred4 Sound Music Server [on loan], Wyred4Sound DAC 2 [on loan], MacBook Lion OSX with HiFace USB to S/PDIF interface, iMac Lion OSX
Amp/Preamp: Rogue Audio Hera II, Wyred4Sound STP-SE, SPL Volume2, Orpheus Lab Three M, Trends TA-10.2.
Speakers: Triangle Magellan Duetto, Vivid Audio K1
Cables: Legato digital cable, Skywire Audio 2020 digital cable, Naturelle Audio interconnects Live 8 MK2, Audio Art SC-5 SE speaker cables, Legato Precision speaker cables, Legato Fluidita interconnects
Power Cords: Audio Art Power 1 SE, Furutech and Legato power cords
Stands & room: DIY stuff, Triangle TS400 stands, Vicoustic panels.
Review components retail: €3.850 for lacquer finish, €3.550 for standard finish - prices may vary according to country and VAT


Context. Apertura is a speaker brand established in France 20 years ago. Founder and designer Christian Yvon previously worked for prestigious firms like Focal and Sonus faber. In particular he was involved with rather ambitious projects for Goldmund in the field of loudspeaker design.


At that times he co-designed with engineer Georges Bernard the famous Dialogue, Apologue and Epilogue Goldmund speakers which in a certain way were the fanciest expressions of the 1980's Star Wars style before launching Apertura in the early 1990s in partnership with Musitec.

... showing all three current Apertura models.


Having explored several concepts and designs with recognized products like Tanagra, Double Kalibrator and more recently Thema, Altra Signature and Variation, Christian Yvon seems to pursue a strict quest for minimalist signal paths. This conceptual effort in fact may be summed up as a commitment focused on the cancellation of defects rather than the implementation of specific qualities. In my opinion this is a quite common approach but it’s nonetheless useful to remember from time to time that the overall playback chain in the end is no more than a succession of various distortions and losses.  In Yvon’s opinion, quality can only be improved when all the faults have first been removed. I would add that perhaps these aspects are part of one and the same process.


For over 25 years now Christian Yvon has worked on the problem of crossover filters to develop his own technology with a crossover structure called DRIM or Dual Resonant Intermodulation Minimization which is a kind of multi-elliptic or Cauer filter design. Elliptic filters use equalized ripple behavior in both the pass band and stop band whereby the amount of ripple in each band is independently adjustable. Apertura’s proprietary design uses resonant circuits that allow each driver to operate within a well-defined frequency band thanks to a progressive triple transition slope of 6dB, 12dB and 24dB/octave with a stabilized rejection mode of nearly –40dB.


This particular crossover design is said to help reduce intermodulation distortion whilst keeping phase rotation under control. It is said to be particularly insensitive to impedance fluctuations too. Thanks to this patented filtering technique, it is possible to compensate for peaks and dips in the frequency response.


Two years ago Christian Yvon decided to part with Musitec because of divergent opinions on their in-house subcontracting strategy and insufficient efforts dedicated at R&D. He took the opportunity to form a new partnership with Mr Eric Poyer who has a background in the audio industry and will manage all production and commercial aspects for the latest Apertura products. Their new factory is located in Brittany near Nantes.


This newfound freedom seems nevertheless to have come with an unexpected extra cost when ex-partner Musitec decided to keep alive the previous Apertura website whilst supporting French distributor Jefferson with establishing new brand Tanagra. This of course uses one of Yvon’s successful past model names and also old Apertura stock of parts and enclosures to increase confusion around the Apertura brand. Genuine Apertura products today are only those listed at www.apertura-audio.com.