Text: Olaf Adam; Photos: Avantgarde Acoustic
This article originally appeared in 0dB - The Magazine of Passion N ° 3
With the unusual concept of the ZERO 1, Avantgarde Acoustic caused a sensation and amazement in the hi-fi scene a few years ago. But that was just the beginning.
Only now does it become clear how future-oriented the ZERO 1 concept was back then. The two minimalist monoliths, only available in black or white, are not only an elegant way to house the horn speaker technology typical of Avantgarde, but also a complete hi-fi system with numerous inputs, a DAC, active amplification and wireless connection between the two units. Maximum sound quality with minimal visible technology - today that is the definition of modern Hi-Fi, in 2014 the idea was downright revolutionary.
The history and even more so the success prove Avantgarde right. This is proven by numerous test wins and awards in the relevant trade press, but we are particularly proud to have caused a stir with the ZERO 1 outside of the hi-fi scene. With the RED DOT Award and the iF Design Award, the latter even in the rare golden version, the ZERO 1 was awarded two of the most coveted international design prizes, followed by a German Brand Award, also golden, and an invitation to the German Design Council.
While the quality of the technology is immediately apparent to anyone who has heard it, it is above all the timeless and ultramodern exterior with which the ZERO 1 attracted international design juries. And numerous new customers who place the highest demands on sound quality and for whom the hi-fi components piled up in the living room and the associated tangled cables are out of the question. The Munich industrial designer Tobias Adami is responsible for the successful exterior, and has been helping Avantgarde Acoustic products with design for years.
With the ZERO 1, however, Adami has undeniably delivered his masterpiece, at least when it comes to avant-garde acoustic. It was not just a matter of integrating the horn, which was predetermined in shape and size for acoustic reasons, in an elegant housing, the entire electronics for control, conversion and amplification also had to be accommodated in a technically sensible way. In the end, numerous discussions, concepts and experiments even resulted in a completely new production process for loudspeakers of this size: The housing of the ZERO 1 consists of two polyurethane parts that are manufactured in huge molds using the die-casting process. Only in this way could the complex three-dimensional shape of the housing be realized in an economically viable way, and the material also has excellent acoustic properties due to its high level of self-damping.
The ZERO 1 is now available in two versions. As an XD version with the latest digital technology including room correction and as a partially active ZERO 1 TA that can be connected to conventional systems like a normal loudspeaker. Good design is also characterized by the fact that it does not age. And so the ZERO 1 is still brand new.
