Arke Audio Mikros speakers
If a new product excites a reviewer, it does the more so when it’s from a totally new brand, and so we welcome Arke Audio into the audiophile arena with its growing range of passive loudspeakers.
Joining the company’s two-way Solos launch model comes the more compact Mikros (from the Greek, meaning ‘small’), designed and hand-built in Bradwell, Derbyshire. The company prides itself on meticulous attention to detail, thoughtful engineering and premium component selection. Wowing us at the North West audio show last year, Arke’s latest creation deserves closer inspection.
Arke Audio works on a modular design philosophy with emphasis on reducing waste while allowing a system to evolve by offering upgrade paths as an alternative to replacing loudspeakers. The options here include turning Mikros into a three-way floor-stander (by adding an Altus) and/or adding a Kratos bass enhancer.
Behind this innovation is Jason Darke whose passion for music and playback began three decades ago – he recalls constructing his first DIY speakers some 25 year ago, since when he’s been a very keen enthusiast and loudspeaker builder. Jason has an interesting background as an aerospace engineer focussing on vibration, acoustics, structures and filter networks. In recent years he has specialised further in acoustics and room acoustics.
“I have been building speakers based on Troels Gravesen designs for the last few years before developing my own speaker and subwoofer designs”, he says. Each one is lovingly hand-made, to order, in the Peak District.
The Mikros
A smaller package than the earlier Solos, the new Mikros promises a similar midrange performance with the high-frequency and transparency claimed to be ideal for small rooms and tight spaces. Both designs were originally conceived for Jason’s personal use but there were so many enquiries to purchase them that he began a bespoke service and Arke Audio was born. That service has been maintained as production increased so that today, Jason says: “My interest is less in selling lots of speakers to people blindly via a website. I believe speakers are very personal and specific to room and system so I’ve tried to design them to cover most eventualities.” Jason also offers a set-up service, as well as room acoustic solutions, as part of his tailored service.
The Mikros uses 19mm engineered bamboo for its cabinet, this is braced and damped with a 2mm bituminous compound, while the front baffle is of 30mm high-density fibreboard to create an enclosure that is dense, inert and weighty.
High frequencies come courtesy of Satori’s Textreme 29mm tweeter (capable of output up to 40kHz) with its carbon fibre dome, paired with the latest version of the SEAS Nextel 180mm mid/bass drive unit featuring a paper cone with proprietary Nextel surface treatment and additional damping layers. Maintaining the audiophile component line up, the crossover relies on Jantzen Audio copper foil Amber-Z caps on the tweeters (which can take a few hundred hours to bed in) with high-end Jantzen Audio wax-coil foil inductors used on the mid/bass. The crossover point is at 2kHz with second-order filters.
Maintaining the audiophile approach, internal wiring relies on a hybrid of single-crystal silver and single-crystal copper conductors. To the rear are pure copper low-mass binding posts – one pair for amplifier connection as well as two smaller posts: these are for the addition of Arke’s Altus which turns the Mikros into a three-way floor stander, while the red can be used to connect a tweeter attenuation resistor of choice.
A quick in-room measurement shows just how flat the frequency response is, confirms the more-than-expected level of bass output we heard, and just how good these units are both on and off-axis.
Sustainable ethos
Arke Audio speaker cabinets are crafted from bamboo not just for its warm aesthetic but also for its remarkable sustainability credentials. Bamboo reaches harvest maturity in just three-to-five years compared with decades for traditional hardwoods, while offering excellent acoustic properties including high rigidity and natural damping characteristics that enhance sound quality.
He clearly has an eye for detail, the new-look Arke Audio branded terminal plates on the Mikros are 3mm brushed stainless steel and cement the high-end appearance of these units.
Set up
The review Mikros were supplied with three different pairs of resistors for the tweeter attenuation and it was interesting to experiment and hear the difference that not only changing the value had but also the different brands made. I liked the way this feature allows people to tune the high frequencies to suit their personal preference and their room. “That’s why I have external resistors”, says the designer. “It looks a bit messy, but it is very tuneable and fits my ethos: I don’t believe speakers can be one-size fits all.”
I began, as instructed, with my ear-level around the centre of mid/bass unit and found that a position closer to the tweeter was more to my taste with the Mikros on 60cm stands. Listening predominantly to classical repertoire and speech material, I preferred my wooden framed Ton Trager stands which delivered greater detail with improved imaging compared to the metal alternatives I had to hand, surprisingly the listening panel were of the opposite opinion with their rock/pop catalogue and opted for Custom Design’s Signature FS104s, the centre columns half-filled.
First impressions
So how would the audiophile dream ingredient list of SEAS, SB Acoustics and Jantzen components, with WBT terminals, work in my listening room? Initially I coupled a well-used Hegel H190 amplifier and settled back to listen.
The Mikros certainly produce more bass than I am used to from BBC-style monitors and sounded slightly forward in the midrange by comparison, giving a more intimate presentation as the response crowned through the midrange. The sound was certainly compelling, dynamic and expansive; filling the room. I even upended the cabinets such that the tweeter was in the more conventional position, above the main drive unit and this allowed for the use of lower stands to make the loudspeakers less obtrusive in an A/V setting, either side of a large TV. A decent toe-in also improved the overall sound.
My first thoughts were that the Mikros are capable of incredible transparency and utterly vivid realism along with spine-tingling resolution and wonderful imaging. I agreed wholeheartedly with Jason’s statement that: “ … you can’t do everything with a tiny box, however, the bass they produce is still unbelievable,” as my feet felt the vibrating floorboards with the Mikros delivering impact down to 30Hz. Wow!
Their party trick though is probably the midrange and vocal quality; this was cemented in my mind by hours of classical and speech-based material used during the warm-up period. In this regard they are sublime and I would be more than happy to have them permanently in my reference system.
The soundstage was astonishing in terms of not just quality but also scale: the Mikros maybe small boxes but they produce a mighty sound with phenomenal dynamics. I found it best to keep the rear-firing ports distanced from the back wall since it was prone to combine with one of my room modes, and increased the toe-in to improve the magic as I sat even more ‘on-axis’.
The Mikros sound
For the panel’s arrival I connected the mighty Hegel H600 (300W/ch and with Qobuz Connect) and was absorbed in the goose-pimplingly good Norma (Maria Callas) courtesy of Radio 3 when the first listeners arrived. They agreed that the presentation was highly detailed and beautifully nuanced through the entire spectrum. The vocals were clear and the overall sound addictive. High praise indeed. Undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in opera history, with unparalleled dramatic intensity and stupendous breath control, this work can lose some of its magic on mediocre replay systems. Thankfully not with the Mikros in control as we were treated to Bellini’s stupendous, even hypnotic raw psychological drama in all its glory.
As listening began in earnest I escaped to a cooler room as the UK was experiencing an early heatwave. Even two rooms away I could feel the extraordinary bass as the panel wallowed in The Commodores’ mid-eighties track Nightshift, a deliciously fleshy number which really came to life via the Mikros. “Timbre and tone are sublime”, noted one panel member. “Totally absorbing”, another and “so lifelike and believable” from a third, “with immense detail retrieved from the recording”.
With Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire, recorded in 1982, the consensus was of tightly-controlled bass driving the rhythm, delicious lyrics and beautiful spaciousness around the instruments in a presentation where dynamics were particularly impressive.
The panel explored the Mikro’s predilection to play at higher SPLs. In fact they seem happiest the more the volume is increased without resorting to distortion/break-up; really impressive for such a compact design if not for late night listening when the neighbours need a break.
Moving to the high-energy house anthem that is Ewan McVicar’s Share the House, and it was clear that the Mikros are really at home with such material. Feet tapped involuntarily as the entire listening room was filled with the sound generated by these modest-looking boxes perched on their stands. Incredible.
“Spine-tinglingly luscious” was how one panel member described Katy Perry’s upbeat pop anthem Last Friday Night. The vocals clean and easily discernible, the overall stereo image captivating as the Mikros didn’t put a foot wrong through the entire audio spectrum: the sound in the correct proportion throughout and not overwhelmed by dominance in any one area. Not one panel member didn’t want to take these loudspeakers home for their own systems, and at least two rely on large floorstanders, so a ringing endorsement indeed.
The session concluded with the rather complex ballet that is Stravinski’s The Rite of Spring. Often too much for lesser systems, the Mikros had no difficulty with the rapid shifting meters and colossal orchestral forces, allowing us to become immerse in the performance as only the finest loudspeakers are able. The notoriously tricky horn, bassoon, and string lines also failed to trip them up and we were embraced with driving rhythmic accuracy which allowed the work’s raw energy to be preserved and bring a smile to our faces.
Conclusion
Few products can be more deserving of the highest accolade, an Editor’s Choice, than the outstanding Arke Audio Mikros. What’s not to like about them, except perhaps the price but these components in a speaker from a big-name brand would cost several-times more. With the Mikros, the end cost is a representation of the hand-crafted passion that is put into every pair, overseen by the designer himself.
Jason Darke has created a really special product in the Mikros and one that will bring a real smile to a music lover’s face. The Mikros has an addictive quality above its exemplary frequency response, true transparency, phenomenal detail and honest reproduction of source material, especially live material which comes across with so much atmosphere and true-to-life realism as to send a tingle down the spine.
I fell in love with the Mikros’ sound as soon as I heard them and that love simply grew the more we listened. The panel were simply blown away by the results from myriad tracks that they knew well. These Arkes are truly a masterpiece of audio engineering and well worth a personal audition.
Pros
Exceptional transparency, detail, and realism
Outstanding midrange and vocal performance
Deep, powerful bass for a compact speaker
Huge soundstage with excellent imaging and dynamics
High-quality components and hand-crafted construction
Tunable tweeter response to suit room and taste
Sustainable bamboo cabinet design
Handles high volume levels with ease
Cons
Premium price for a standmount speaker
Requires careful setup and positioning for best results
Rear port can excite room modes in some spaces
External tweeter resistors may look untidy
Forward midrange balance may not suit all listeners
Long component burn-in period recommended