Living Voice Products

At the high-end of audio design, art and science merge. The most revered audio designers are no longer strictly concerned with the objective world of measurements and specifications. Instead they explore the world of human expression and human sentiment as captured in the recorded musical performance. This is an exploration guided not by machines and technology, but by tacit knowledge, intuition and musical sensibility.

There is a vast legacy of music captured on recordings dating back to the beginning of the last century. These recordings allow us to see into the times and the minds of the music’s composers and performers with a remarkable sensitivity and clarity. Music conveys the subtlety and fathomless depths of human experience and is one of our most profound and affecting art forms.

All Living Voice products reflect our desire to provide the committed music enthusiast with a coherent, artistically convincing and emotionally engaging experience.

This approach originally led us to develop the Auditorium loudspeaker design. It remains the case today — if we can’t find a product we consider resolves a particular issue to the performance level we aspire to, then we’ll examine the possibilities of creating it ourselves. This is rarely driven primarily by cost or marketing considerations in the conventional sense. We prefer to think of it as a refusal to compromise (or enthusiastic bloody-mindedness, if you prefer).

Living Voice

Living Voice was established in 1991 and is based in Derbyshire, England.

You can find out more about us by downloading our ‘Book of Products’.

VOX OLYMPIAN HORN LOUDSPEAKER Horns are where it all began, with the very first Living Voice loudspeaker, the Air Partner, which made its public debut to an astonished audience at the 1992 Heathrow HiFi Show. Two decades later, the Vox Olympian horn loudspeaker is the ultimate refinement of our art. As one reviewer has commented, “what sets it apart is that every facet of the speaker is built to a standard of engineering and integrity that is totally beyond what might be expected of even other exotic loudspeakers.”

AUDITORIUM SERIES It's important to anyone with a passion for music that their hi-fi system has a natural tonal balance and more importantly an even and consistent dynamic balance. Many people, and technophiles in particular, believe that this balance can be achieved through objective quantitative analysis.  At Living Voice we have a different outlook. We develop our products using our musical sensibility, and we measure our progress against the artistic expression and emotional communication that we are able to realise in recordings of significant musical performances. The Auditorium Series consists of 4 models with the option of inboard (IBX) or outboard (OBX) crossover electronics on the two top models.

G8 EQUIPMENT TABLE The ultimate equipment table for the ultimate music system. The Living Voice G8 was originally designed to allow the use of high performance Kondo KSL valve electronics in the saloons of super-yachts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do all the Auditorium Series speakers essentially look the same?

The glib answer would be we prefer to spend the money where it’s heard, not necessarily seen (we’re an ad man’s worst nightmare).

Although at first glance visually identical, there are substantial – and crucially inter-dependent – differences in every aspect of design and construction as you ascend the Auditorium range.

The relatively recent adoption of Kondo KSL amplification and cabling revealed that a further substantial increase in performance was possible. This led to the introduction of the OBX-RW which, gratifyingly, has come to be regarded as one of the world’s most musically persuasive loudspeakers.

Why the outboard (OBX) crossovers?

Ironically, one of the worst places to place a crossover circuit, for a number of reasons, is in a loudspeaker cabinet. 

This is normally done for reasons of cost, reflected not only in the product pricing itself, but also in shipping costs - plus of course the extra floor space and cabling required.

Accordingly, for optimum performance, we offer the OBX-R2 and OBX-RW with external crossover boxes.

For those reluctant or unable to accept the demands of the external crossovers, the IBX-R2 and IBX-RW are otherwise identical, with only a marginally compromised performance in comparison to the OBX variants.

You design and ‘voice’ your loudspeakers using valve amplification. What about results with solid-state amplifiers?

While valves remain our preference, many Auditorium Series owners achieve excellent, musically rewarding results with a variety of transistor amplifiers. The venerable Sugden A21, for instance, is a charming, highly capable partner for the Auditorium Series speakers.

Are all Auditoriums designed for bi-wiring?

Yes. The speakers are designed to give optimum performance in this configuration, but a single run of high quality cable, such as Kondo KSL SPz (silver), will sound better (though regrettably, not cost less) than bi-wiring with SPc (copper). It is of course quite possible to gain highly satisfactory results with less expensive cables. And truly astonishing results with Kondo KSL.