Aurai Z 165 Loudspeaker

A Must Listen For Lovers Of Music

Tweek Geek is the distributor and listening studio for Aurai Loudspeakers in the US. Our Dripping Springs studio has the Z165 loudspeakers available for audition. We encourage you to schedule an appointment to listen if you are seriously considering any speaker in this price range. By scheduling an appointment, you will have private, uninterrupted listening time outside of regular store hours.

We love these speakers. So much so that we have partnered with Aurai to allow US based audiophiles an opportunity to hear these without having to travel to France. Make an appointment to listen to the Z165, and your ears (and soul) will thank you. Seriously, you NEED to hear these if you are looking for loudspeakers. Everyone who comes to our studio and hears them is amazed at the sound and value the Aurai speakers represent. We simply want to share our discovery with fellow music lovers. We could make a lot more profit selling another brand, but our hearts wouldn't be in it.

About Aurai & The Z165

Alain Pratali has been designing loudspeakers and audio components for over 35 years. He is a music lover, who loves recreating the soul of the event. He has invented a unique, polymer membrane high frequency driver with a mass of less than .12g. It has a unique floating system that minimizes mass by avoiding glue and screws. The custom machined Acetal wave guide (with 1 micron tolerances) around the HF driver ensures even dispersion without frequency lobing.

The woofer has the basket and motor sourced from Supravox of France. Alain then incorporates a custom machined magnetic pole piece, phase plug, paper cone and rubber surround to achieve his sonic goals.

The enclosures are made of very stiff Birch ply which greatly reduces resonances. Bespoke crossover parts come from Jupiter Condenser, Jantzen and Mundorf. Finishes are satin or gloss walnut, maple, piano black and piano white. Custom finishes are also available.

The Story

Sixmoons " Discovered" Aurai loudspeakers and I learned about them through Srajan's rave reviews. I have been on a years long search for speakers that were ultimately musical and efficient. 

After reading all of the reviews, I ordered a pair of Z165 and Z215 site "unheard". Taking a chance on Srajan's high opinion of the speakers. Needless to say I was not disappointed. Quite the opposite. This began my relationship with Alain (with the help of Google Translate). Since then we have collaborated on the redesign of the Z165 (the version you are reading about now) with a new woofer, simpler crossover, and enclosures made in the USA.

Time Alignment

The Z series speakers are time-aligned, with bespoke drivers, and relatively high efficiency. Their unique high frequency driver is mated in this case to a 165mm (6.5") Customized driver with a rubber surround, paper cone, ferrite magnet, phase plug and Supravox chassis. The tweeter rides on top of the enclosure and is precisely set back from the front baffle, aligning it with the woofer's output.

Read more on what makes Aurai speakers different

Custom Paper Cone Midbass

The 6.5" midbass driver is custom made in house with parts from Supravox and AAC of France. It uses a basket from Supravox, 16mm Nomex coil, paper cone, phase plug and rubber suspension from AAC France. Alain states that this is his finest driver yet.

On an extended playlist of well-recorded and musically gourmet tracks, I routinely noticed an effect I'll call beam forming. Solo vocals or instruments seemed so materialized that I felt physically singed as though by sunlight through a magnifying glass. Hence beam forming. The sensation was that these virtual center images (not the two speakers!) projected radiation so focused that I felt it on my skin. I'd previously and only rarely encountered this extra intensity with large Single-driver widebanders. Granted, it took premium recordings to come off again. Nonetheless, my spontaneous reaction was "what a fantastic midrange". - Srajan Ebaen, Sixmoons.com

Horn Loaded Tweeter

For the high frequencies, all of Aurai’s designs revolve around the proprietary and extremely low-mass .12g dome tweeter, loaded in a donut style horn/waveguide. It’s based on a Western Electric 555 motor with a floating Altec diaphragm. The tweeter’s origins date back nearly 50 years. There is no glue, the coil heat-seals directly with the membrane for no loss of energy or the finest signal. The assembly nests in a support optimized for performance, bandwidth and finally, a custom horn/waveguide machined out of Delrin.

"First impressions? "What an incredible tweeter!"...This was one hellaciously fast and responsive HF unit. It dug deep into the finest upper harmonics...This unknown French tweeter was superior to the far heavier but famous Mundorf AMT in our regular monitors. It was superior to the inverted ceramid Accuton dome in our Albedo Aptica Two-way towers. It most reminded me of a Raal ribbon, albeit with a higher energy density and more color...I thought this dome tweeter to be second only to Michael Borreson's high-tech, ultra-costly ribbon which I'd heard in this room the year prior..."  Srajan, Sixmoons

Birch Plywood Enclosure

The enclosure for the midbass driver is birch ply. This was chosen for it's stiffness, and the alternating grain direction of each layer of plywood helps to disperse energy in a more optimal way. The US version of the Z165 has enclosures built by Joshua Miles of JWM Acoustics. His knowledge of speaker design and craftsmanship are just what this speaker needed to look it's best.

The Z165 incorporates a slotted port in the rear. This helps the speaker reach lower into the bass frequencies. For small to medium rooms, this may be all the speaker you need, as the bass output is shockingly tight, deep and fast. For larger rooms you may want to pair with the forthcoming Aurai Thor Subwoofer.

Ultra Premium Crossover

The crossover has 3 components to it.  This simplicity not only protects the signal quality, but allows us to invest in our design with very high quality parts. We use Jupiter Wax, paper and oil capacitors, and 12 awg Jantzen wax paper inductors. 

Reviews

• Sixmoons (first generation Z165) This is an earlier review of the Z165, and where my collaboration with Alain started. Initially, we worked on a new crossover for the Z165, but Alain ended up reworking the midbass driver, changing the magnetic pole piece and adding a phase plug to eliminate a driver resonance.

Our Take On The Sound

Placement

The Z165 is very special. It's not terribly fussy on placement, but you do want to get them out into the room for in order for them to achieve their spectacular disappearing act.

Soundstage

The width and depth of the soundstage is immense, and with the right recordings, the soundstage literally immerses/wraps around you.

Tonally, they are not hot in the high frequencies and not tuned for exaggerated bass in the lows. They are very balanced. Wood sounds like wood, metal like metal. Applause is rendered with immense detail and articulation, but again, no exaggeration of high frequencies.

Bass

Bass resolution, and depth are shocking. I know we are so inundated with hyperbole these days that descriptive words are almost meaningless. But I was literally shocked with the depth, punch and finess of this speaker in the lower frequencies. In a small to medium room you really don't need a subwoofer unless you want to vibrate your listening chair.

Midrange

Midrange is just like all other aspects of the Z165. Incredible. The woofer covers the entire vocal range, so you can expect rich clarity, layering, separation, OMG this is good...

Highs

Very few speakers can do highs like the Aurai's. Ultimate clarity, delicacy, subtlety. I guarantee you will hear things with an Aurai speaker that you will not hear with many other speakers.

Coherance

 The speakers actually do a good job nearfield, so yes the drivers do blend well and in a relatively short distance.

Dynamics

No disappointment here. Transients were sharp and without edge. Bass punch is sharp without overhang. and midrange attack is on point. They are easy to drive, and even a lower listening levels, you still get a good dynamic performance.

Conclusion

The Aurai Z165 is simply a class leading loudspeaker at this price point. They have a magical capability to project the energy and emotion of the music into the room in a natural, realistic and captivating way. As far as equipment pairing goes, they are easy to drive, and a 30-40 watt class A amplifier would be wonderful in most cases, as would tubes, or any amp with a refined sound. Their level of resolution will reveal any weaknesses in your system for sure, but the flexibility of attenuating the tweeters by simply adding (supplied) magnets to the tweeter magnet can help offset any brightness i upstream components.

As far as scalability, I have these running in my store, where the lower level is near 2000sf. There was plenty of output to fill this space, but I would be lying if I said they wouldn't need a subwoofer. In my home, they are all I need for my 15'x25'x10' room.

For me and for my needs, the Z165 is my stopping point, unless Alain improves upon this design.

Specifications

• Design: 2-Way, time aligned, Rear slot ported speaker
• Crossover: 3.3kHz first order using Jupiter capacitor for the HF network, and 12awg Jensen Wax paper inductor for  the LF portion
• Frequency Response: 50Hz-20kHz
  
  
• Sensitivity: 91dB @ 2.83 volts
• Dimensions: 34.2h x 24.2w x 50.2d cm
• Weight: 25 pounds
• Stand dimensions: 55.88h x 24.2w x 50.2d cm