[Ultralight]

Doing a search on audiocircle, I do not find any posts of substance, so here's my query.

Recently I saw a low cost speaker tucked in the corner of a high end dealer's flagship room. Upon inquiring, I found out it was a direct sales speaker that the dealer picked up for himself.

It's the Kvart & Bolge $329 single driver line transmission speaker. 

http://www.kvart-bolge.com
    
Anyways, were it not for its presence at the dealer's showroom, and a few rather rave reviews from the likes of Audiophiliac and Brent Butterworth, plus enthusiastic owners on Amazon including an owner for whom the speaker replaced a $2000 speakers, I would not have thought more about it. 

I did end up giving the customer service a call and to my surprise, Arved Deecke the owner of Kvart & Bolge answered. We had a fascinating conversation and I was thoroughly engaged by his observations and experiences in starting the company. With my interest piqued, I looked through his blogs and find them not only written in a highly engaging style (to me), I am very surprised by the vast diversity of his topics.

Here're four examples of his blog posts.

From something you'd expect a full range speaker company to blog about

http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!7-Ways-Phase-Shifts-Can-Kill-Your-Goosebumps/c1rr6/55c53b570cf2e442d27c4885

To something really quirky about speaker positioning

http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!Headphones-vs-Speakers-A-Third-Solution-You-Might-Find-Surprising-I-did/c1rr6/5588581b0cf23681a56347cf

To some obscure historical invention that relates to sound production

http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!Hifi-History-The-Invention-of-The-Thing/c1rr6/55cfdd8f0cf25f10d9b6c05b

To the $2.5 billion dollar record.

http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!The-Truly-Most-Expensive-Record-Ever-25-billion-dollars-no-Beatles-and-no-nudity/c1rr6/557a38940cf2c5991af3e149

OK, I'm diverging from my question.

I am wondering if anyone own the Kvart & Bolge and can comment on how it compares to your other speakers.  No, I don't get anything out of this post and I am not shilling for the speakers. I am simply very curious about them and would love to hear from audiocircle members who may own a pair. In particular, I am curious about how his speaker would compare to something like Omega Super 3i.  I know that Arved made a IKEA bowl speaker using a pair of Omega Alnico drivers.

Thanks!

UL

ps:Phil A, thanks for the note. I totally forgot to though I meant to mention it too.   The consumer can send them ANY graphic design and they will put that graphic design on the speaker. So one can custom match any decor, or use any art (presumably not copyrighted).  They are even set up to print a specific Pantone color if specified. I was really floored, most of all because it doesn't cost a penny.  Custom or not, the speakers cost the same.  I just found the business model fascinating.

http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!designs/c19qp

[Phil A]

Never heard of them but they look nice and worth checking out.  The initial link in your post did not work for me (or I was too impatient) - this one did - http://www.kvart-bolge.com/#!product/prd15/2429754271/zebra-wood-finish

[Phil A]

They have a bunch of wild finished too - http://www.kvart-bolge.com/

[MBroder]

Yes I own a pair of the Sound Sommeliers. Bought them when Guttenberg CNET review came out. http://www.cnet.com/news/these-room-friendly-micro-tower-speakers-bowled-over-the-audiophiliac/ I pretty much agree with everything the Audiophiliac writes. I have always been partial to full range loudspeakers. For some reason I seem particularly sensitive to things like phase shifts and acoustic lobing and love a great stereo image. I listen mainly to acoustic music and find that the Kvarts reproduce the spectrum of all "real" acoustic instruments well including the bass which is really not something I have seen in a speaker that small. Also no signs of membrane break up at the higher frequencies. Bass is natural and uncolored despite the far extension... I am a 45 year old male and my hearing goes up to about 17kHz so I might be missing something. All in all they look great and sound better than they should for the price. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Malik Broder

[Ultralight]

Thanks Phil A.  Yeah, really wild finishes AND custom finishes of any type.  I added that to the ps. 

[Phil A]

If I was in the market and got a pair, I'd put a custom picture/graphics onto it as a conversation piece.

[Phil A]

Of course not my picture as I wouldn't want to scare people coming over

[JLM]

This thread might better belong in the Single Driver Circle.

Single driver folks know (should know) all about all those phase issues and the advantages of single driver design.

I sit pretty low in my listening chair, but these speakers are really low, and tipsy (recommend a larger/heavy base plate).

Remarkable bass from a 3 inch driver (do I fully believe it?), even from a tuned cabinet.  Note that I own much bigger transmission line single driver speakers (one of only a few that reach significantly below what this is rated at).

Not a fan of aluminum cones (probably similar to the E. J. Jordan drivers that are designed to flex), low efficiency, or limited output. 

but small single drivers will never provide the "scale" of any performance beyond small ensembles.

[Ultralight]

JLM, I don't know 1/100th that you do about speakers. But my sense is that in a smaller room, and undergirded by a subwoofer, something like the Kvart can sound solid and large.  I've had the chance recently to play with a pair of Omega 3i.  With a sub, I can't tell that it is 'small' at all.  (They do sound very good by the way - and superb for the $ once matched with subwoofer.)  I think the KVart is probably similar.  The Omegas are quite fast and I guess that Kvart with its small drivers may be even faster.

UL

[JLM]

There's a sense of body missing in the mid-bass frequencies if you don't have a 6+ inch driver (maybe a good 5+ inch driver) in the mix.  Duke LeJeune eluded to that recently in his circle.