With Piega and Inakustik, Livet Audio brought two very good names to the Dutch audio event. Both brands focus on the latest technologies and materials. But, as we discovered at Veldhoven, they never lose sight of the most important thing: good sound.
Leo from Livet Audio brought in two international guests to provide information and explanations about Piega and Inakustik respectively. Always nice, because you can get information straight from the source and ask questions.
Daniele Saloppo was present at the Swiss loudspeaker manufacturer, responsible for sales in Belgium and part of Switzerland, and therefore someone who drives a huge number of kilometers. Inakustik in turn sent Sven Schulz to Veldhoven, the commercial director who knew absolutely everything about many of the German manufacturer’s cable and accessory products.
Different from what you expected
A very cool thing about Piega is that the brand is truly convinced that you can build the best speaker cabinets using aluminum. In a show full of speakers made of MDF with veneer or some type of wood, creating a setup with these minimalist music makers is a bold thing indeed. Especially since some hi-fi enthusiasts immediately think of aluminum as “hard” sounding. However, this bias is completely wrong, because as visitors can discover, Piega’s speakers are a bit warmer and more inviting.
It was great to listen to the thin Coax 611 floorboards controlled by a T+A system which in turn is suspended from an Inakustik AC-4500 power conditioner. What you can’t see at Veldhoven, but you can hear: Piega’s remarkable TIM2 technology, in which the aluminum shell is mounted under controlled tension – mechanical, not electrical – to counteract reverberations.
However, the Coax 611 was a good choice for the room in the DAE. They’re not the best speakers Piega has to offer, so you’ll have to move up to the powerful Masterline family. Even within the slightly lower pivot line, this pattern is not the largest or strongest. But with soundbars, it’s mainly about matching the speakers to the size of the room, and that’s done excellently here. Visitors can discover that a lot of high-quality sound can be achieved through a slim speaker that can be placed very subtly in the living room.
Why the name “persuasion”? This is thanks to a special coaxial driver located on top of the speaker, not with a domed tweeter like most coaxial drivers, but with a folded ribbon.
Effortless and without cables
Another special aspect of Piega is that she believes in both passive speakers and active models. If you look at the range, you will also see that the Swiss consider both types to be complete. They do offer some active models for consumers who no longer want cables and hi-fi components. No, they have multiple families with multiple models. The ACE line is accessible and equipped with several inputs, including HDMI. It uses WiSA, a wireless technology that transmits high-quality audio.
In the Livet Room, you can admire the ACE 30 wireless speaker placed on a bookshelf, just like other models of this series. ACE speakers also support surround sound, for example from an LG OLED TV or a WiSA hub. With the ACE 30 floor stand, ACE 50 floor stand, ACE hub and sub, all the elements are there to build a true surround setup without cables.
Passive versus active
The step up is the Premium Wireless Gen2 models. There are three: the 701 and 501 floor standing speakers and the Premium 301 Wireless Gen 2 bookshelf speaker. These active speakers also work with wireless technology, in this case Kleernet. This connects it to a Piega Connect Plus box to which you can connect your TV, for example. There are also several streaming options and even room calibration via an app.
It’s quite the complete package, and it plays well too. A DAE visitor was even able to discover whether he preferred the more active or passive approach, as he constantly switched between the Coax 611 pair with the T+A combo and the Premium 701 Wireless Gen 2 speakers. Nice, because you had pros and cons in both camps They walk around Veldhoven.
Air is better
René van Es already discovered that Inakustik is no ordinary cable manufacturer during a visit to its factory at the end of 2022. The hand-made and especially expensive cable structure is really something special. DAE followers can spot this with their own eyes, because Sven had several cut cables that you can examine. Very cool, partly because Inakustik believes that classic wire insulation can have a dramatic effect on the screen resulting in a beautiful, complex structure. Among other things, the company builds Reference Micro Air cables in a specific way to ensure that air is used as an insulator.
Would you like to bring the complete range of Inakustik to Veldhoven? This wouldn’t be an option, given that the company has an estimated 22,000 products in its range. This may seem unlikely, but due to the many types of cables (divided, for example, into different lengths) and the broader focus of audio, the number of products is growing rapidly.
We found it interesting that the German company is putting its energy products in the spotlight at DAE. Not only the reference power cables, but also the AC-4500 Reference Power Station (in the coaxial kit) and the AC-3502 Reference Power Station. In its most expensive version, the AC-4500 has a separate filter section for each jack, where you can choose a filter optimized for a digital or analogue device for each plug. It’s a smart solution designed specifically for your audio system.
