Worthy sound - to the masses: how Arslab is looking for and finding the balance of price and quality of speakers
Floor speakers Arslab Classic 2
Choosing a speaker system is a music lover's headache. Yandex.Market suggests that a set of columns costs from ten thousand to ten million rubles. So is it possible to enjoy music by purchasing “serious” equipment and not go broke?
High-end acoustics cheaper car exists, and is done in 10 hours away by car from Moscow. A dozen of our engineers in the Riga workshop combine wood and veneer for cabinets with the best electronics from Asia and Europe, getting Arslab speakers.
Audiomania on the acoustics market since 1997. During this time we made a website with products from almost hundreds of manufacturers and a whole knowledge base on acoustics , which is used by thousands of people every day. More than 50% of customers return to us for new purchases.
Making the acoustics yourself was not an easy decision. We would like to tell you how we came to this.
Founding fathers
Russian electronics retail originated from the chaos of Gorbushka and the Riga market. It was there that in the mid-90s Artem Faermark, the future founder of Audiomania, was traded. The young businessman noticed that the audio equipment "is" not worse than TVs, but no one really understands it.
Artem watched for hours in the subtleties of the sound of different speakers, not forgetting about business. By the beginning of the two thousandth, Audiomania already had two acoustics stores with listening rooms. During this period, Artem met Yuri Fomin, a sound engineer of Soviet rock bands and an audio designer with a host of patents and his own company, F-Lab.
The entrepreneur and the engineer agreed to make their own High-End acoustics, which would be affordable for compatriots with average incomes and at the same time allowed to enjoy quality playback at the level of leading brands.
Yuri Fomin and the bookshelf speakers Arslab Old School Superb 90 / Photo by Stereo & Video magazine
How did Arslab develop
2004 : F-Lab together with Taiwanese TB Speakers produces speakers for global brands Jetbalance, Defender and AVE.
2008 : Fairmark and Fomin present their own speakers at CES in Las Vegas. President of TB Speakers Norman Hang (Norman Hang) invites Artem and Yuri to create acoustics under a new brand, using the development of two companies. US partners are invested in Arslab. The company created World Audio Distribution for the promotion of acoustics in the US market. Taiwanese loudspeaker cabinet maker Grand East offers a manufacturing base for the project.
2009 : Arslab present the Classic line at CES in Las Vegas and collaborate with German Ceratec and Danish-Chinese Wavecor.
2013: Production is completely transferred to Riga. The capital of Latvia supplied receivers and speakers to all corners of the USSR. Then the Union collapsed, and after it - the industry. But the shots have not gone away: veterans of the Soviet Radiotehnika made up the backbone of Arslab production.
Engineers headed by Yuri Fomin set to work. Emotion models and Monitor and Old School audio systems have been added to the Classic range. Output grew to 2,000 products per year, with a capacity potential of another thousand. Let's see how Arslab managed to find a niche and gain a foothold in it.
Minimal need
The Arslab philosophy comes down to two words: the required minimum. The more expensive the material, the better the properties. But there is a threshold beyond which the price is excessive. We try to keep the border beyond which the costs cease to be adequate return.
This does not mean that we are content with electronics and materials of average quality. We are constantly looking for new suppliers. The filling for the columns goes to Latvia from Taiwan, Germany and Scandinavia.
In our lineup, you will not find technology more expensive than two thousand dollars, and not only because of a reasonable choice of materials. To cut costs, we reduced the number of intermediaries to a minimum. We ourselves collect the acoustics, pack it and sell it in Audiomania stores or on the website.
In addition, we do much of the work on new projects on the computer before touching the wood and electronics (experimental models are created in the next step). As a result, we do not waste material in vain and save on this.
Having released the product, we do not wave his hand with relief, but continue to test. On average, each acoustics model gets a small upgrade every six months. We really love audio. Artem Faermark does not get out of the Arslab production hall and personally inspects the suppliers, studying every detail.
The result of several years of work - 18 models of acoustic systems, including floor and shelf speakers, active subwoofers and center loudspeakers. Let's look at a few of them.
Arslab Classic 1
According to the portal hifiNews, these bookshelf speakers are “acoustics, with which you can safely begin your acquaintance with the world of high-quality sound.” Classic 1 - the input model is slightly more expensive than 40,000 rubles. The magazine avreport.ru emphasizes that the speakers at the same time provide "deep bass and live high frequencies with a distinct texture".
Arslab Emotion 2 SE
In 2014, the compact floor acoustics Arslab Emotion 2 SE debuted at the High End Munich exhibition in Germany. Artem Faermark shares his thoughts that arose after the exhibition:
... we realized that, in principle, people do not need an entry-level column in this price segment, and we are left with the SE line, which has a Morel tweeter, improved body damping and a filter.
The model is suitable for small and medium rooms. The body is slightly tilted. “The overall dynamics, sharp contrasts and drive for the acoustics of such dimensions [150 x 860 x 280 mm.] Are very convincing,” writes the online magazine “AudioVideo Salon”.
Arslab Old School Superb 90
Soundex.ru write that despite the name and design, the sound of the speakers cannot be called old school.
“They create an open, detailed sound canvas with a powerful punch in the bass. In this case, the upper bass does not run into the middle and does not mask the details of the attack. From here - very mobile and lively basis of music, which will not allow to distract from listening to almost any material. ”
PS Arslab together with Audiomania offers to take part in the special promotion " Week with Arslab ". As part of this promotion, anyone can get a pair of Arslab speakers for one week for free.
PPS Other valid promotions from Audiomania can be found here .