Less than a year old, VUE Audiotechnik was founded and developed by two industry pioneers (Ken Berger and Jim Sides) who are noted for developing highly respected speakers for other manufacturers. And from what we’ve seen and heard so far, VUE may very well be on its way to becoming a standard in audio excellence.
VUE Audiotechnik’s a-Class systems are full-range cabinets loaded with a neodymium LF transducer, neodymium compression driver and a high-order crossover. Each compression driver has a 3-inch voice coil and is mounted to a 70° by 55° horn that can be rotated for either horizontal or vertical configurations. The a-Class line includes four sizes of full-range cabinets: the compact a-8 and a-10 systems, along with the a-12 and a-15; the numbers correlate to the woofer size in inches. The a-12 and a-15 are capable of operating passive single-amped or bi-amped mode with a flip of the high current switch on the enclosure rear panel.
Features, Functions
I checked out pairs of the a-12 and a-15 along with an as-115 subwoofer. The 8-ohm a-12 has a 55 Hz to 18 kHz response, 900W RMS program power handling, 1W/1m efficiencies of 96 dB (passive) and 107 dB in bi-amp mode, 128 dB max SPLs, weighs 44.8 pounds and costs $1,995. The 8-ohm a-15 has a 52 Hz to 18 kHz response, 1,200W RMS handling, 98 dB/passive and 107 dB/bi-amped efficiencies, 131 dB max SPL, weighs 59.5 pounds and has a list price of $2,495. The single-15 as-115 sub has a -3 dB frequency response down to 38 Hz, 1,200W power handling, 95 dB efficiency, weighs 79.8 lbs. and has a list of $995.
The full range models have a pentagon shape to them so that they can be used in either FOH or monitor orientations. Their pentagon shape also allows arraying the cabinets in vertical or horizontal configurations utilizing the integrated M8 fly points. Also standard are integrated handles and 36mm pole mount to be positioned on stands or above any of the VUE subwoofers. All are coated in a nice, rugged, textured black waterproof polyurethane.
The subwoofer family includes the as-115 subwoofer, as-215 dual 15-inch and the as-418 quad-18 isobaric subwoofer. The a-Class subwoofer components feature large, 4-inch voice coils for increased power handling and decreased power compression. The bread-and-butter as-115 is a solid, front-firing vented design; the as-215 and as-418 subs offer significantly more punch.
In Use
For my first outing with the a-15, I used them as monitors. They are certainly not a low-profile box when in a horizontal position, but they make fantastic wedges. I was powering them with 1,600 watts (slight overkill) but you could certainly tell that they could take it. Jim Sides told me that during development, the high-end of the frequency response was intentionally left intact to reproduce a nice, crisp clarity. To my ears they were a little bright in the 2 kHz to 2.5 kHz area so I took down everything from the 1.2k to 3.2k range to smooth it out a bit. This was especially needed when using them as monitors in the near field.
Once they were tweaked a bit, the reproduction was really quite astonishing. The a-15s were smooth and clear from one point to the other. To be honest, they were actually a bit much for what I actually needed for this room. They carry quite a bit of low-end and I had a little bit of trouble working around that, but some of the issue was the stage I was on and the room I was in — neither of which helped much. The room is very low-end heavy itself and at a point I was hearing more of the a-15s from the stage and in the microphone. That would normally be due to other user-error type issues but the fact of the matter is that I only had to crack on the monitor send about a sixth of what I normally have to for the house monitors which are dual-15 deep stage monitors. The a-15 cabinets are very well designed and really do pack a punch that is as smooth as silk.
I used the a-12s as mains for my initial test. My jaw dropped when I turned them on; I realized that they had some fight in them. Granted, the corporate room that the show was in was not that big, but they held up very nicely with a six-piece corporate dance band that I use as guinea pigs for testing new gear on a regular basis. They were more than enough to support the band and cover the designated area as they each sat upon an 18-inch subwoofer. I equalized the mid frequencies a little bit because of the musical style. Once again, VUE provided an exceptionally smooth speaker that I was very pleased with, and so was the band. They could not believe that the a-12 cabinets were actually pushing out that much sound and not distorting it in any way. In fact, the a-12s could have taken much more of a beating and kept going before even thinking of cracking.
My next gig for the a-12 system was also for mains, used for a church service in a 250-seat theater. Yes — two 12-inch speakers for a 250 seat theater, and again, they did not disappoint. In fact, I was not entirely sure they were on at first. I had to actually push the main slider to make sure I had not lost power to the amplifiers. Nope! The a-12s kicked in with a defiant growl of extremely rich and crisp sound. The a-12 is a very well designed system, and you can tell a lot of thought went into all aspects of trying to achieve a new standard in audio reproduction. I did not get a chance to use them as floor monitors, but I would certainly not have a problem having six of them around for a monitor rig. There are quite a few passive 15-inch wedges that I would pass up in order to have the opportunity to use the smaller but wonderfully precise and powerful a-12s.
When the a-15s were used as mains for another corporate-type production, I was able to get a glimpse at the true ability of what they were intended for. All of the VUE lines were developed with the intention of creating a natural sound while delivering it in what would be considered utmost quality. You could hear the hairs from a bow run across the fingerboard of a violin, hear the subtle breathing of the vocalist into the microphone and also hear when you have hit the speaker’s crossover point while EQ-ing. I say all of that in a good way, because these speakers will do exactly what you are looking to do and tell you when you are doing something wrong. Such as when you should be using a Beta-58 instead of a regular SM58 to go for that extra sibilance and tighter pattern on the low-end of the source.
I liked the overall look of these cabinets and the fact that they weren’t really that heavy. They’re easy to move around and rugged enough to handle some road travel. The heavy-duty mode switch for changing from full range to bi-amped mode is quite nice, and it is tucked up in the back plate of the cabinets to prevent the risk of having them rip off or snap.
The a-12s and a-15s I tested were delivered in the custom-built VUE road cases that let users put two speakers per case with a snug fit. The option of buying either set as a pair in a road case is a big plus. Adding a VUE system to a rental inventory would be one addition for which you’d certainly thank yourself for later. My ideal system would be two a-15s, two as-115s and five a-12s. If you needed to have a killer drum wedge, then plop an a-15 on top of an as-115 and watch the drummer head for the door. You’d never run into another “More kick! More kick!” situation with that setup.
I highly respect what the VUE team has done with the a-Class systems and can see exactly where they were going for during the development stage. I can say with some confidence that you would not regret picking up a VUE system of any size. If this sound is any indication of the continued quality that VUE will uphold, then I cannot wait to see them put it into a line array system.
Pros: Flyable and arrayable; cabinet shape can floor wedges; rugged; fairly lightweight; passive or external crossover-capable; great sound with minor EQing.
Cons: Slight harshness in the 2k to 2.5k range; unpowered.
How Much: (MSRP): a-12, $1,995; a-15, $2,495; as-115, $995.
