The Virtuoso horn loudspeaker

The Virtuoso has pride of place as our finest design. As you will have read, our aim is to provide the most natural sounding, realistic reproduction of recorded music achievable (within size and price limits) and the Virtuoso V3 gets closer than any other speaker that we've ever heard. The ease, openness and resolution of their performance is just phenominal.

For information about specifications and prices, click on Specifications and Prices

We have no independent reviewer's assessment of the Virtuoso V3 so far, and so we can only quote what customers have told us: unsolicited feedback

SOME EARLY REVIEWS
The following reviewers' comments give the reader a better understanding of how they actually perform than any table of specifications could:

I walk into the room where they're playing, close the door behind me, and there it is: Without having to analyze the sound or intellectualize the listening experience, I can recognize what's in front of me as real music.
~ Art Dudley The Listener Magazine

Right from the start it showed an uncanny ability to cut straight to the meat of the musical issue, fastening on the important aspects in a piece and immediately establishing the relationship between its interlocking parts.
~ Roy Gregory Hi-Fi+

The Beauhorn Virtuosos simply manage to make music of all kinds more interesting and involving than conventional speakers.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

The Virtuoso has been honed over many years to enable it to reproduce the experience of a performance in a totally credible way. How have we manage to do this when others have failed? A clue is in the last quote, that by Paul Messenger, the word is ‘conventional’. We have not produced a conventional multi-way speaker putting all our resources into creating a hugely broad frequency response at the expense of what really makes music, music. But have strived to create a product that communicates the music performance though qualities such as dynamics, transients, speed, coherence, timing and rhythm.

As you can see from the pictures the Virtuoso uses only a single very high quality drive unit.

Each hefty, furniture-grade Virtuoso houses a 20cm DX4 Lowther driver, which looks after the entire frequency range. This driver isn’t seen too often, each costing no less than £540. By comparison, the drivers used on most price rivals rarely cost more than a £100 per unit.
~ Ketan Bharadia What Hi-Fi

Forget any experience you have of conventional two/three-way box loudspeakers, a horn-loaded single full range driver system delivers a totally different kind of listening experience.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

Using a single drive unit has many advantages, seamless coherence, realistic imaging, and because there is no crossover, what is effectively an active speaker. But in this case, with the advantage that you can choose or even change the amplifier.

The thing that first attracted me to the Beauhorns was their unusually seamless tonal balance; achieved without sacrificing the speed and immediacy which justifies their obsessive pursuit of high efficiency.
~ Roy Gregory Hi-Fi+

As there is only one driver, and essentially the cabinet is a non-player in the usual "resonance" stakes, the transition from deep- to mid to upper-bass is utterly seamless. There are no nasty cabinet colorations and none of the peaky response irregularities which so many conventional designs exhibit to one degree or another.
~ Chris Beeching The Listener Magazine

The quality of the drive unit and lack of crossover really pays dividends, with sky-high levels of detail and wide-ranging dynamics. Just as impressive is the rock-solid imaging on offer that precisely places instruments in the soundstage.
~ Ketan Bharadia What Hi-Fi

A single pair of terminals are all that are needed for a single-driver speaker system - this cross-overless approach is of course, in truth an ’active’ loudspeaker.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

Imaging was very good, individual instruments being a clearly defined pattern on a rich musical tapestry, which never became only a collection of individual sounds, but always a part of a performance.
~ Thorsten Loesch Enjoy the Music

The second benefit of using a high sensitivity drive unit is that when combined with horn loading at both the front and rear, a sensitivity of 106dB is achieved. This outstanding figure is what enables such staggering dynamics, scale and detail to be available in a Virtuoso based system.

Usually to review a Lowther-equipped speaker is to write an eulogy about midrange. Don’t get me wrong: the Virtuoso plays middle frequencies spectacularly. But in this case, high and low frequencies come across with equal aplomb. Instead, my attention was drawn to the fine dynamics on display, which are an inevitable consequence of the very high sensitivity and the way this translates into high-resolution, low-level listening. The single Lowther drive unit undoubtedly confers this design’s high and effortless resolution.
~ Jason Kennedy Hi-Fi Choice

Needless to say, the system scales dynamic shifts without hesitation. As different instrumental choirs add their voices, the system deals with the expanding dynamic envelope with unflustered aplomb, allowing the composers flurry of sweeping effects their full impact. The bass rumbles that underpin the orchestral contributions are distinct and perfectly pitched, and if they are wanting a little weight it does nothing to undermine their contribution. Instead, their combination of texture and life allows them to breathe convincingly, floating with none of that stodgy, earthbound heaviness that passes for bass reproduction in so many systems.
~ Roy Gregory Hi-Fi+

By the way, if you leave the needle in the above-mentioned groove long enough to hear the title song—and Mike Garson's amazing crazy-quilt piano solo—you may agree that the Beauhorn is a real piano lover's speaker. The instrument purrs, clangs, and teases realistically; it sounds uncolored, at least to the extent that I or anyone else can say so; the speakers reproduce that typical not-close-miked piano air and ambience; and, most of all, the Beauhorns are dynamic enough to do this most dynamic of instruments full justice.
~ Art Dudley The Listener Magazine

This sounds so 'big', full of life and vibrancy, you'll wonder how you ever put up with 'ordinary' loudspeakers. It's got to be good, mind you, because it's also decidedly exposed. The midband is what you notice straight away here, and even though there's good detail well into the treble, the combination of excellent mid balance and perspectives alongside quite startling dynamic tension and realism, is what makes the Virtuoso something rather special.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

One of the outstanding characteristics of the Virtuosos is their speed. When it came to dynamics both large and small, they made even agile direct-radiator speakers like the Jamo Concert 8s seem slow and sludgy. Added to this is a natural ability to reproduce the rhythm and pace in a piece of music properly.
~ Jon Marks Hi-Fi World

But what of the wider picture of how the Virtuoso plays music of all types and styles?

Of course, acoustic jazz and the like is unbelievable. Yet, I listen to wide range of Music and during their stay the Virtuosos where worked out with all sorts of rock music (try ZZ-Top at full blast with a 300B single-ended amplifier - awesome!!!). Even some goth was played at full tilt. Andrew Eldritch never before sounded so hypnotic....
~ Thorsten Loesch Enjoy the Music

From a long-term point of view the Beauhorns are very easy to live with. Once you've got used to their looks you can treat them like a piece of fine furniture. But musically they'll have you listening with new ears. Somehow they seem to let you in to so much of the performance. My wife and I ran the usual favourites of classical and jazz, and then embarked on some less-often-played material. Shania Twain, marching bands, barrel-organ music (don't think that's a contradiction in terms), and even some spoken word like Bob Newhart and The Goons. The Beauhorns made each listening experience satisfying, even revelatory. Even the low rumbles on the soundtrack from Independence Day failed to upset them!
~ Chris Beeching The Listener Magazine

It has an extraordinary stop/start-ability which simply sounds more natural and 'right' than the quality of bass reproduction generated by conventional box (or panel) speakers.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

Right from the opening quiver of violins the presence and atmosphere of the performance spring to life, while the solo instrument is incisive and direct, even a little jagged, just as it should be. The speed of the system allows the expressive flow of Heifetz's playing to retain its shape whilst revealing his fabulous technique and control.
~ Roy Gregory Hi-Fi+

Doc Watson's Gallagher guitar on "Black Mountain Rag" (the version on Will the Circle Be Unbroken) sounds like it's in the room with me, and as a Gallagher owner/player myself, this is one sound I know well. And I haven't even mentioned voices yet: Phil Lesh's and—especially—those of the harmony singers on The Grateful Dead's "Box of Rain" are just totally, utterly there.
~ Art Dudley The Listener Magazine

Not only have we worked hard to produce an excellent sounding loudspeaker, but we have also put a lot of effort into the appearance. The hand made cabinets are elegant and the beauty of the real cherry or maple veneer, or the rose wood stain coupled with the high quality of the cabinet making means that they will grace any living room of reasonable size. They measure 336x1045x672mm (13x41x26in)/WxHxD and weigh approximately 35kg/78lb. The Virtuoso also has available a matching isolation platform the Vibraplinth that greatly improves the already excellent musicality and makes an efficient and inexpensive upgrade.

The only other issue (and one common to all horn designs) is the physical size of the speaker cabinet. But here Beauhorn has done a commendable job in neatly folding the 5-foot-long horn into a modestly sized and domestically acceptable box, with very carefully considered aspect ratios. (Read: They don't look enormous.) A range of real-wood veneer finishes is available, and the cabinets are really very stylish. My wife even described them as "cuddly" despite the complete absence of rounded corners! And if you're worried about the visual impact of some horn and its gaping maw, have no fear: It is cunningly located at the bottom and rear of the cabinet, exiting at the bottom rear side corners rather than the rear panel.
~ Chris Beaching The Listener Magazine

Sheer bulk has always been the main enemy of full range horn speakers, but this Virtuoso actually doesn’t look that much bigger than a lot of the floorstanders that come my way.
~ Paul Messenger Hi-Fi+

Building a domestically appropriate full-range horn with an acceptably uncoloured and even response for less than mortgage money has been an undiscovered Holy Grail up to now.
~ Jon Marks Hi-Fi World

Well after all this then just a final word from the reviews?

It seems that all of the Beauhorns' qualities are hard to live without once you've had them in a good, revealing system. Timbral nuances are there in abundance. The sympathetic strings on a baryton, the "tongue-on-lip" of a closemiked singer, the high-frequency content of the plucked bass guitar string, the acoustic of a cathedral ... all are effortlessly revealed in the Beauhorns' presentation.
~ Chris Beeching The Listener Magazine

The bottom line is the way they encourage you to forget about the hi-fi and re-explore your music collection, getting into all sorts of new stuff along the way - I found myself spending much more time on Radio 3 than usual. The Beauhorn Virtuosos simply manage to make music of all kinds more interesting and involving than conventional speakers.
~ Hi-Fi+ Paul Messenger

Elsewhere in this edition I got to review the Lowther-based Beauhorn loudspeakers, and am currently trying to explain to Eric Thomas that there’s absolutely no urgency for him to come and pick them up, and that I’ll happily look after them until he’s good and ready.
~ elsewhere in Hi-Fi+ by Paul Messenger

It’s this ability to cut right to the very nature of the energy that produces a sound that makes this system so musically insightful. It’s a capacity that places the listener right at the heart of the musical chemistry.
~ Roy Gregory Hi-Fi+

The lasting overall impression remains that of great naturalness, lightning-fast transients and beautiful cohesion.
~ Jon Marks Hi-Fi World

And don't even think of buying a Lowther-based design or other high-sensitivity loudspeaker without hearing these first.
~ Art Dudley The Listener Magazine

I think the best illustration was when I had some friends around, one who brought along his sister who is a quite well reputed jazz vocalist in the UK. Playing her own recordings she exclaimed, "That's me" and commenting that even at most Studios it sounded nothing like this. And playing some LP's of her favourites from various periods had her exclaim "That's spooky, it is as if the musicians are really there!". Well, she should know she's on a stage with musicians on many an evening. Yet I can only concur, the realism from this system was positively scary.
~ Thorsten Loesch Enjoy the Music

The Virtuoso is a world-leading product that will bring new and invigorating musicality to any system in which it is installed. And bear in mind that we have achieved further improvement since all the above reviews were written. Don’t take our word for it, use the contact pages and speak to your local distributor about the Virtuoso range and isolation platform, and fix-up a listening session. Or, contact us at Hastings, if that would be more convenient.