Arslab Stark

"Acoustics should not interfere with listening to music." Under this motto, the Russian speaker manufacturer Arslab has been producing its products for 12 years now (from the Latin Ars — art and Lab — laboratory). The company offers Hi Fi and Hi End acoustics at a reasonable price, increasing the army of its fans every year. Today we will talk about one of the most "hit" Arslab models released in 2019, the old school 2.0 speaker system — Arslab Stark.

In the spirit of British retro

Looking at Stark, you feel as if you are in the English outback, a pub or a living room with a fireplace and old rustic furniture. The metre-high speakers turned out to be narrow (34 cm), but wide (43 cm), a kind of nod to monitor acoustics in the spirit of the British Spendor sample of the 70s.

The 22mm plywood cabinet is lined with beautiful textured veneer in three colour options: light oak, walnut and black ash. Black grills go well with everyone, adding some rigor to the look.

To protect against resonances, the body is reinforced from the inside with ties, muffled with bitumen and special Danish foam rubber. For a strong grip on the floor, the base has metal adjustable spikes.

Audiophiles Approve

Stark received a three-way configuration with the classic vertical arrangement of three speakers operating in the range of 45 – 20,000 Hz. A 1.25-inch Wavecor dome tweeter placed in a shallow horn is responsible for high frequencies, an 8-inch Beyma driver with a 1.5-inch voice coil is responsible for medium frequencies, and a 12-inch Beyma with a 2.5-inch coil is responsible for bass.

Beyma transducers have paper cones, ferrite magnets and a steel frame, which guarantee a high sensitivity of 92 dB. Therefore, Stark can be safely connected not only to transistor, but also to tube amplifiers with a power of 50 – 150 W per channel.

The system sounds as good as it looks. The sound is accurate, clear, tonally balanced, with a spacious and transparent stage and good dynamics. Listening to Stark, you understand that the company fully adheres to its motto, which we mentioned at the beginning.

Arslab Stark will please even picky audiophiles. Neutral sound, golden age hi-fi style, excellent build quality and relatively low price ($3000) make it more attractive than most of the more expensive speakers.