"About" Page: Pro Bass Player/Acoustician/Recording Studio Engineer and Designer/Berklee School of Music Graduate Cum Laude Jeff Hedback
"...Duke LeJuene...is special...not just brilliant and humble but seriously NICE...one of the world’s best electro-acoustic crossover network designers...offers boutique bass guitar cabinets, wonderful HiFi speakers and he and Jeff have worked on features and specs for several custom recording studio main speakers..." (Emphasis added)
http://www.hdacoustics.net/about/
Mr. Hedback designed recording studios for Ozzy Osbourne, Christina Aguilera and the home studio where the composer records original music in feature length NFL videos.
Hedback is US Patent co-holder and primary developer for the Auralex GAMMA speaker isolation riser found under bass rigs, guitar amps and home theater subwoofers around the world.
If it occurs to you Mr. Hedback has authority on this subject, we heartily agree!
AudioKinesis Gina Stand Mount, SuperStand, Outboard Subs
What's Best Forum owner Dr. Steve Williams Re. Gina Satellite System @ 2019 THE Show:
"I did think Duke LeJeune's small horn speaker truly surprised me. I went back twice to be sure and for the money this little speaker delivered."
Also scroll to top of page, first paragraph, 9th and 10th sentences:
"Finally one last room I thought to be exceptional and that was the room of our very own Duke LeJeune and his Audiokinesis speakers. I loved the sound."
Ron Resnick @ 2019 RMAF:
"The system sounded natural and dynamic and engaging, and gave the impression of a much larger loudspeaker system than the two speakers and four woofer modules comprising the system."
Eric Franklin Shook, Part Time Audiophile Re. AK Gina Loudspeaker:
"Where I find this new Gina loudspeaker (and sub-stand combination) extra-fascinating is that it takes various, if not all, the elements of popular loudspeaker design and crams them into a rather forgiving room footprint. This loudspeaker system, including the top-and-bottom parts, does things few speaker designers even dare to consider about loading the room. For the longest time I’ve felt that most speaker designers look to tackle one or two problems out of five when it comes to loudspeaker design, and leave the rest to engineering compromise. This new Gina and Space Generator system aim to tackle them all, albeit with their own flare and flavor considering horn, efficiency and driver choice. It’s not the perfect loudspeaker, but damn if it doesn’t try to perfect the room."
AudioKinesis Azel Stand Mount, SuperStand, Outboard Subs
Scroll down 50% Re. Gina, SuperStand, and Outboard Subs @ 2019 THE Show:
"Rooms to hear. Nils Lofgren’s Keith Don’t Go. Transparent, quiet, fast, and detailed. Oh yeah… and treble shine galore. The distributed bass array is pretty neat as well."
Instagrammer “audiophileww,” AKA “The Audiophile Weekend Warrior” (TAWW) Re. Azel Stand Mount atop SuperStand w/Outboard Subs:
"AudioKinesis, Resonessence, James Romeyn. One of my favorite rooms in so many ways - the gear, the music, the people. AudioKinesis Azel speakers ($5k, $8k w/SuperStand subs, $9750 w/outboard subs) were startlingly good in so many ways, sounding NOTHING like how they appear. The big box, large woofer and horn-loaded compression driver suggest something vintage from JBL, but this is a thoroughly modern-sounding design with tremendous accuracy and musicality. Designer Duke LeJeune is a fervent student of psychoacoustics and probably has the highest talent-to-ego ratio in the business. Without getting into details, the Azel speaker utilizes controlled radiation designed to favor benign crosstalk over destructive early reflections, effectively melting away the walls of the tiny hotel room to present one of the most focused, coherent soundscapes I heard. Music was clean, present and alive, demonstrating both speed and warmth, control and vibrance..."
DaveC's Best of RMAF 2017, What's Best Forum Re. AK Azel atop SuperStand, Outboard Subs:
"The last room I made it to was Audiokenisis, Duke and James were showing their new Azel speakers. There is getting to be more competition in the $5-10k range and lots of great choices from Odyssey, Salk, Pranafidelity, ELAC, and tons more but I'd choose the Azels. The new cab looks great and most importantly the compression driver is sporting a beryllium diaphragm that has much better clarity, resolution and high frequency extension. I noticed it immediately and it elevates this speaker to a whole 'nother league. I was very impressed!"
AudioKenisis Swarm Sub Woofer AK Licenses JR's “DEBRA,” Same As Swarm Except Wider/Shallower Cabinets
Audiokinesis Swarm won three Golden Ear Awards @ The Absolute Sound for the years 2015, 2018, and 2019!
"This system is based on the idea that the smoothest, most uniform bass response in a listening room is obtained by using multiple sub woofers in various (usually asymmetric) positions. The Swarm includes at a very reasonable price four sub woofer units and a 1000 watt amplifier. The subs are driven in series/parallel configuration so that the amplifier “sees” the impedance of a single speaker. This idea, says REG, is the answer to bass in rooms. The Swarm, with the subs suitably placed, produces bass down to the bottom and smoothly from there on up to where the main speakers take over, and not just at one position but over the whole room. The uniformity of response gives you a compelling impression of being immersed in the bass sound field of the original venue in a way no single sub woofer can accomplish."
Robert E. Greene Re. AK Swarm Subwoofers:
"The Swarm System from AudioKinesis represents a new departure in subwoofer systems, and to say it works well is an understatement. It is completely stunning. To my mind, it is a revolutionary development in subwoofer design."
AudioKinesis Dream Maker LCS Has Evolved Into Azel Tower/B and Tower/M
If Scot Hull is not your all time most entertaining audiophile author, recheck your rating system! A good sample of Scot at this best...
"The AudioKinesis/James Romeyn room was a whole can of aural whoop-ass that I had no idea I was opening. First up? Let's start with the Dream Maker LCS. The LCS stands for "late ceiling splash", and yes, that's pretty much what it sounds like. This system is designed to work with your room -- just not quite the way that, say, an Audio Note or corner-horn system will... "
Scroll down about 30% for Pez and Tyson's 2013 RMAF report: AK's Dream Maker LCS (about $9k/4 pieces) tied for first place with another speaker in the high $30k/pr range. Till they retired circa 2017 Pez and Tyson were amateur, yet arguably the most renown and respected reporters at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. How “valuable” were their opinions? So valuable that TAS offerred to purchase their reports, which offer they refused for its potential to dilute their independence and pure love for the hobby.
"Duke and crew, this is the best I've heard from you all and just like every other 3 star system here I really enjoyed and loved what I heard. This room had the most locked in soundstage and imaging I have ever heard bar none with dynamics to match. The sweetspot is just an incredible experience and really musical top to bottom. So glad I heard this system, it absolutely elevated my impression of all of this gear! I was absolutely blown away. Basically the AudioKinesis speakers did everything as well or better than any other speaker at the entire show, plus had an incredibly musical and warm tonal balance, which puts it at the top of the heap for me. And, amazingly, they did it with zero room treatments. Tied for UBER KING OMG VOICE OF GOD BEST OF THE BEST.”
AudioKinesis Zephrin 46 Has Evolved Into The Azel Tower/B and Tower/M "Late Ceiling Splash" name changed to "Space Generator"
(JR apologizes if he wrongly took credit as “designer” of AK's Zephrin 46. Rather, JR's minor contribution was to suggest firing Zephrin 46's Late Ceiling Splash drivers up toward the ceiling.)
"Oh, this was a fun room! Aren't they great looking??? And they sound great. James Romeyn...was explaining how they incorporate some of the Geddis (sp?) (Ed.: Geddes) theory of sub woofer arrays, but it's basically built into the speaker. If I understand it correctly, (Zephrin 46) has two mid range woofers and the tweeter on the front baffle, and then two more of the same woofers mounted perpendicular and 180 degrees out of phase (Ed: can be wired in phase or inverted phase) in the back pointing up. These supposedly will use the ceiling to offset standing waves or modes in the room. He could click them in and out and they definitely improved the sound, depending on the program material. I didn't notice anything on a solo piano, but on a small jazz ensemble, when he engaged the two extra woofers, the sound stage widened noticeably, some depth increased and the low end seemed, not tighter, but more controlled. James is great fun to talk to and loves to tell you all about it. You can spend a lot of time in this room, it sounds really good."
Below author Robert E. Green ("REG") writes reveiws at The Absolute Sound, heads the UCLA Math Department, and is an accomplished concert violinist who tutored Russell Crowe for Master And Commander. AK's $5k/pr Zephrin 46 made "Best Speakers Under $15k/pr" REG heard at 2014 Newport Beach THE Show:
"The Zephrin 46 from Audio Kinesis ($5k/pr.) is a speaker unlike any I have ever seen. The Zephrin 46 combines a forward-radiating MTM configuration, a compression driver tweeter, and additional drivers behind that are close to the floor and firing upwards. The idea is to generate a controlled-pattern direct arrival together with a delayed and uncorrelated (and abundant!) room sound bouncing off the ceiling. The exact balance of the speaker was hard to comment on since they are adjustable through plugging or unplugging ports and through choice of tweeter resistors. The overall character of the speaker is quite different from the usual forward-radiating box. But the speaker has compelling virtues: musical, with a warm, full sound; focused images in spite of abundant room sound; and a remarkable dynamic ease. Even the loudest moments of Freddy Kempf’s BIS recording of Rachmaninoff solo works were utterly without strain. Ella Fitzgerald’s “I cried for you” from Let No Man Write My Epitaph sounded very natural indeed. I spent a long time listening here, in more than one session, such a relief was it from “hi fi” in the negative sense. Unusual but fascinating."
Since Mal Kenney left Part Time Audiophile, we miss his wonderful contributions such as this gem Re. AK's Zephrin 46.
"Newport 2014: AudioKinesis and Electra-Fidelity break their demo, cause riots and mayhem...Rooms in the Hilton usually sound just plain bad. This room sounded just plain good, with excellent dynamics and detail and little hint of the usual room bloat. This was due in part to the Zephrin’s ability to be customized on site. Besides impedance and sensitivity, the bass porting can be tuned at will.
Tony and James tried to make me listen to the speaker with the rear array turned off — as though that were some kind of desirable feature. I’m pretty sure I shouted profanity at them until they turned it back on. It was less “night and day” and more “why did you idiots break the speakers?” In other words, the demo was convincing."
Scroll down 20% to "Electra-Fidelity and AK Zephrin 46”
"...The way the speakers' LCS Late Ceiling Splash radiation pattern, which was invented by James Romeyn and Duke LeJeune (implementing reverberant field theories by Dr. Floyd Toole and Dr. Earl Geddes), threw images way high, as well as their amazing three-dimensionality, was quite impressive..."
Author Lynn Olson is a prolific DIY designer of world class tube amplifiers, and also designed one of the all time most popular DIY loudspeakers Ariel. Scroll down about 55% for Lynn's report on AK Zephrin 46 @ 2014 RMAF:
"Duke knows his crossovers, and the speaker was even-handed, not favoring one kind of music over another, and presenting each at their best. "
Clarity Cable Comments, Reviews
Clarity Cables have so much transparency that they can be used quite accurately to assess the transparency of components. I have never found another speaker cable which could do so. Compared to cables from MIT, Harmonic Technology, Wire World, et. al. the Clarity Cable is so supremely transparent that these others seem to have a cloudiness of one degree or another to them. After I have used the Clarity Cables for a while, then switch back to one of these others I am met with the frustrating realization that I cannot conduct an accurate assessment of the system at hand because I know that a certain amount of cloudiness has been caused by the cabling and it is impossible to know precisely how much is from the components and how much is from the cables.
I’ll cut to the chase and tell you these are the best I’ve used yet. Have I said that prior? Of course, not out of reviewer puffery, but out of truth. I’ve been testing, comparing and upgrading cables over the past five years, and Clarity Cable is easily the pinnacle to date. I’ve used networked, non-networked, thin conductor, fat conductor, low total gauge and high total gauge, as well as an assortment of geometries. In reviewing, I have regularly used groupings of cables costing from $15-60K. Yet, this is the best by a long shot.
When I first obtained the Organic series and Vortex power cables for review I simply was not accustomed to such extreme precision, and I initially swapped in a few other power cords or a set of interconnects to ratchet down the detail. But over time, as I have dialed in the most pleasing tone I have reintroduced Clarity products until now once again the system is consistently Clarity from first power cord to speaker cables. I simply couldn’t live without the precision and finesse.