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Authorized dealers for Airpulse A100

  • B&H Photo — online and in-store — New York, New York, United States (website)
  • Salon One Audio — in-store — Ormond Beach, Florida, United States (website)
  • WestCoast Hifi — online and in-store — Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia (website)
  • Wilbrand Acoustics — in-store — Nordhorn, Niedersachsen, Germany (website)
  • Yukimu — in-store — 41, Tokyo, Japan (website)
Airpulse A100 #1
Airpulse A100 variant 1
Airpulse A100 variant 2
Airpulse A100 variant 3
Airpulse A100 variant 4
Airpulse A100 variant 5

Airpulse A100

China flag

The Airpulse A100 brings a remarkably open, airy treble performance to compact active speakers, pairing its horn-loaded ribbon tweeter with lucid vocals, taut mid-bass and precise imaging. ecoustics highlights its spacious top end and excellent midrange resolution, while Hifi Pig found a wide soundstage and versatile desktop-to-TV appeal. Premium piano-lacquer cabinetry completes an unusually polished nearfield package.

View at Airpulse
Specifications6 reviews & sources

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90/100
Rating for A100

Nicely Roasted

Sound Quality

89/100

Build Quality

90/100

Value for Money

91/100

Pros

Horn-loaded ribbon tweeter delivers airy, detailed highs and an open, spacious presentation without sounding etched.

Clear, natural midrange with strong vocal timbre, convincing instrument tone and precise imaging.

Taut, punchy bass above 50Hz and flexible connectivity including USB, optical, Bluetooth and subwoofer output.

Substantial MDF cabinets and sophisticated piano-lacquer finish give the system a premium, well-made feel.

Cons

Deep bass rolls off below roughly 50Hz, so listeners seeking full-range weight may want to add a subwoofer.

Treble can sound slightly assertive for listeners who prefer a softer top end.

Bass and treble adjustments are located on the rear panel and cannot be controlled from the remote.

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What Reviewers Are Saying

"An almost perfect ‘HiFi-in-a-box’ starter system."

— Hifi Pig

SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 89/100

Reviews find the A100 unusually refined and spacious for a compact active speaker, led by an exceptionally open ribbon-tweeter presentation and clear, natural midrange. Bass is agile and well controlled rather than deeply extended, while output limits and a leaner bottom octave make a subwoofer worthwhile for full-range listening or higher-volume use.

Bass

83/100

For a 5-inch standmount, reviewers found bass above 50Hz taut, punchy, detailed and well defined. Deep bass is the clear limitation: ecoustics reports reduced punch below 50Hz, while Z Reviews found it somewhat anemic even with the bass control raised and recommended a subwoofer.

Mid

91/100

The midrange earns consistent praise for clarity, warmth and resolution. Hifi Pig enjoyed its warm, involving character, while ecoustics highlighted neutral balance, convincing instruments, and male and female vocals with strong timbral accuracy and presence.

Treble

94/100

The horn-loaded ribbon tweeter is widely regarded as a standout, delivering an open, airy and highly detailed top end without etched or fatiguing behavior. Ecoustics notes that listeners seeking a softer presentation may find it slightly aggressive, but both it and Z Reviews praise its clarity, extension and crystalline presentation.

Soundstage Imaging

92/100

Reviewers describe a surprisingly wide, deep and precisely organized soundstage for such compact speakers. Hifi Pig found instrument placement strikingly realistic, and ecoustics reports convincing width and depth with precise imaging, though desktop listening keeps performers mainly between the cabinets.

Dynamics

85/100

The A100 is described as fast, clean and lively, with strong transient response and good speed through midbass material. Hifi Pig found it satisfying from conversational levels to louder playback, although Z Reviews notes that it does not play super loud.

Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.

Build Quality

90/100

The cabinets use thick MDF, internal anti-resonance treatment and a rear vent designed to reduce wind noise. Both reviews praise the substantial feel and sophisticated piano-lacquer finish, with ecoustics specifically judging the finish commensurate with the asking price.

Value for Money

91/100

At around £700 or below $1,000 depending on market and finish, reviewers regard the A100 as a compelling all-in-one desktop, TV or standmount solution. Hifi Pig calls it good value with a very good sound-for-money ratio, while ecoustics says few desktop-oriented alternatives under $1,000 match its treble openness and midrange clarity.

Reviews & Sources

Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.

Online Reviews & Mentions

YouTube Reviews

Forum Mentions

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Specifications

Tweeter
Horn Loaded Ribbon Tweeter
Mid-Woofer
5 inch Aluminum Cone Underhung Design Neo. Power Mid-Woofer
Amplifier System
Digtal Amplifer With Xmos Processor
Power Output
L/R(Treble)10W+10W, L/R(Woofer): 40W+40W
Frequency Rang
52Hz-40KHz
Signal-Noise Ratio
L/R:≥90dB(A)
Input Mode
AUX, PC, USB, Optical, Bluetooth.
Sample Rate Input Sensitivity
AUX:450±50mV PC:550±50mV, USB:400±50mFFs, Optical:400±50mFFs, Bluetooth:500±50mFFs
Sub Out
1200mV(max)
Mains Voltag
100-240 V AC/50-60 Hz
Cabinet Size (WxHxD)
160x288x273mm
Net Weight
11Kg(24.2lbs)
Packing Size(LxWxH)
494x343x377mm
Gross Weight
13.5Kg(29.8lbs)
Bluetooth
Built-in DAC
Headphone Output

Manufacturer's Description — Airpulse

Active Speaker System

OVERVIEW

Following the successful launch of the A200 and A300, the all new A100 miniature bookshelf speakers with a 5” woofer now joins the AIRPULSE active speaker famliy. The perfect combination of Hi-Res digital audio processing technology and an aesthetic of understated elegance creates a High-Fidelity audio system with intoxicating sound quality and visual appeal.


The A100 has an exquisite piano lacquer appearance, inheriting the appearance and sound characters of our flagship model 7001 near-field monitor speakers designed by Phil Jones. Using the same XMOS core as its bigger brother A300, this unassumingly small cabinet delivers outstanding performance beyond your expectation.


The A100 continues to use AIRPULSE’s unique horn-loaded aluminum ribbon tweeter and a proprietarily-designed 5” aluminum chassis low-distortion bass and mid-range driver. They are housed in an 18-mm thick high-strength MDF cabinet finished with attractive piano black(or red) lacquer.


The well-known AmericanTRANSPARENT cable is used in A100 for internal connection to ensure minimum signal loss. The active speaker has a high efficiency Class D amplifier with digital signal processing (DSP) system, powered by an also efficient power supply.


The system in the A100 supports multiple inputs, including Bluetooth, AUX, PC, USB and fiber optic. Frequency response ranges from 52Hz to 40KHz. It supports Hi-Res high-quality audio playback, and has obtained a Hi-Res official certification.


Available in black, white or red

Be Bold

Stand out with the design of our speakers that speak to the modern-day sensibilities with its clean sleek angles. Choose from the striking black or stand out red and elegant white. The bold highlighted cabinet from AirPulse adds a modern day feel to the décor of the room.


SOUND

Cabinet Construction

The A100 cabinet is built WITH 18-mm thick high-strength MDF finished with attractive piano lacquer. To further reduce coloration, the cabinet interior is fully lined with professional waved sound absorption material.


The oval shaped vent tube in the A100 is carefully designed to minimize wind noise.


Horn Loaded Ribbon Tweeter

The A100 horn loaded ribbon tweeter inherits the mechanism of the tweeter in our flagship 7001 near-field monitor speaker. The thin aluminum ribbon diaphragm has high sensitivity, superb transient response, extended frequency range and well-defined resolution.


The meticulously formulated horn shape produces directional and optimized high frequencies from the ribbon tweeter, so they are aimed at the listeners, minimizing unwanted effect from room reflection. This also leads to a superior imaging of the speaker. The result is full and three dimensional sound with each detail well defined.


5” Aluminum cone Low-Distortion Mid-woofer

The Mid-woofer is a 5” unit with a hard anodized aluminum alloy cone suspended in a heavy, ultra rigid cast magnesium alloy frame.


The Proprietary Aluminum Alloy Cone (PAAC) of mid-woofer was designed from painstaking analysis of all types of cone geometry and materials using a Klippel Laser Doppler Interferometer.


The 35mm diameter voice coil is unusually larger than most loudspeakers of this size. It has been shown that larger voice coils have less power compression because they run at a cooler operating temperature. Sonically this means a more realistic dynamic representation of the music. It is dynamics in music that gives it emotion and exhilaration. The cooler running temperature of the voice coil also has the side benefit of a more reliable loudspeaker since cooler voice coil means much less chance of speaker failure.


Most loudspeakers use round copper wire in the voice coil but we use a far better single layer edge-wound copper clad aluminum ribbon. Ribbon voice-coil wire gives more electrical conductor in the magnet gap and increases efficiency, power handling and lowers distortion.


It features with a under-hung motor structure, a high power neodymium motor to provide a high magnetic flux to cover the whole voice coil of the loudspeaker. This type of magnet structure completely energizes the whole voice coil with allowance for extreme cone excursion giving far better bass and considerably less inter-modulation distortion.


For uncompromised performance, the A100 woofer uses a hyper-rigid cast-magnesium alloy frame. Its rigidity greatly reduces speaker coloration; and its material helps to dissipate heat efficiently from the voice coil much faster than a typical steel speaker frame, which all in combination leads to increased dynamics and power handling and ultimately, a satisfying musical experience rarely gained from a system of this size price range.


Internal Wiring Made By TRANSPARENT

The A100 cabinet is built WITH 18-mm thick high-strength MDF finished with attractive piano lacquer. To further reduce coloration, the cabinet interior is fully lined with professional waved sound absorption material.


The oval shaped vent tube in the A100 is carefully designed to minimize wind noise.


Full Digital Amplifier

The power amplification part is built with 2 pieces of TAS5754 Class-D amplifier from Texas Instrument. This component is one of a handful of Class-D amplifiers in the market which combines high input sample rate support and high output PWM carrier frequency. These two characters are essential to achieve low background noise and low distortion. The up-to 192 KHz input sample rate support guarantees the entire link of digital processing run without any change of sample rate of signal. Its 768 KHz output PWM carrier frequency, twice to 384 KHz of traditional Class-D amplifier, is even more suitable to drive the high sensitivity ribbon tweeter. One TAS5754 is connected in bridge mode for left and right channel woofer and the other amp is connected in bridge mode for left and right channel ribbon tweeters.


The analog front end uses top-of-the-line components from Texas Instrument. With special configuration, the chipset work at 96 KHz to offer a frequency response up to 40 KHz. The wide range input frequency response guarantees thorough signal acquisition with very low distortion. To avoid cross-talk between the two analog ports, A100 uses relay instead of semiconductor switch.


The SPDIF receiver PCM9211 is also from Texas Instrument, which supports input sample rate up to 216 KHz. With very low output jitter, the unpacked audio signal can be delivered to XMOS processor with zero loss.


The power amplification part is built with 2 pieces of TAS5754 Class-D amplifier from Texas Instrument. This component is one of a handful of Class-D amplifiers in the market which combines high input sample rate support and high output PWM carrier frequency. These two characters are essential to achieve low background noise and low distortion. The up-to 192 KHz input sample rate support guarantees the entire link of digital processing run without any change of sample rate of signal. Its 768 KHz output PWM carrier frequency, twice to 384 KHz of traditional Class-D amplifier, is even more suitable to drive the high sensitivity ribbon tweeter. One TAS5754 is connected in bridge mode for left and right channel woofer and the other amp is connected in bridge mode for left and right channel ribbon tweeters.


The Bluetooth audio receiver is built on Qualcomm’s Bluetooth chipset, which supports APT-X decoder, and offers a far better audio playback quality than what a traditional Bluetooth SBC codec can present.


The system reserves a sub woofer signal output in case of situation that needs low frequency rendering with strong bass. Volume of the subwoofer can be adjusted by the master volume control


AIRPULSE A100 Active Bookshelf Speakersystemis a perfect combination of uniquely designedconventional loudspeaker and digital systemofXMOS.Meticulous tuning work enables theA100to accurately reproduce any type of music. Its XMOS integrated USB functionmakes life much easier, you can play high-quality sound sources without compression andthenenjoy lossless music by simply downloading and installingthesoftware packages.


A100’s independent trebleand bass adjustment function can help the user to easily set thebrightness ofhighs-frequency andtheamount of bassaccording to size of the listening environment.


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Authorized dealers for Airpulse A100

  • B&H Photo — online and in-store — New York, New York, United States (website)
  • Salon One Audio — in-store — Ormond Beach, Florida, United States (website)
  • WestCoast Hifi — online and in-store — Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia (website)
  • Wilbrand Acoustics — in-store — Nordhorn, Niedersachsen, Germany (website)
  • Yukimu — in-store — 41, Tokyo, Japan (website)
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