Audience was formed in November 1997 by John McDonald and the late Richard Smith, as a design and production company focused on building the best possible audio and video equipment. To pass the Audience test, each product had to make a significant contribution to the reproduction of audio and/or video. Today, Audience offers loudspeakers, electronics, cables, power conditioners, high-resolution capacitors, and other components and accessories.
The Bellare loudspeaker project is the company’s latest and most ambitious endeavor, aiming to deliver a new level of musical realism. The impressive large-format design uses two identical 3” wideband high-resolution drivers that cover the entire frequency spectrum from 120Hz through the midrange and treble. As Audience details, this foundation eliminates the need for a crossover or different types of drivers in the critical midrange and high frequencies, resulting in improved sonic coherence, imaging, and dispersion.
The bass below 120Hz is handled by Bellare’s built-in 300-watt active bass module with DSP that offers remote control of its volume. This bass module powers both a woofer and a mid-woofer, allowing for effective automatic room correction. The inclusion of this built-in bass unit enables driving the Bellare speakers with lower-powered amplifiers such as Class A or single-ended tube amplifiers, since they are only driving the midrange and high frequencies.
The full response of the Bellare covers frequencies from 28Hz (-3dB) up to 22kHz, with 105dB continuous output without driver compression and 88dB sensitivity. The whole system is easy to drive thanks to its well-behaved impedance curve with minimal phase shift and integrated bass augmentation system, with a nominal impedance of 9.5 ohms that does not drop below 8.5 ohms.
According to the company, this design is at the heart of the Bellare’s performance, allowing for absolute tonal purity, without phase anomalies, discontinuities in frequency range, or disruptive changes in radiation pattern. “The result is a loudspeaker that offers a seamless, natural musical presentation with remarkable spaciousness, presence, dynamic impact, and tonal truthfulness. The Bellare achieves a level of sonic realism undreamed of until now. It is one of the finest loudspeakers ever produced by Audience – or anyone,” the company states.
The Audience Bellare loudspeakers will be available in March 2026 at a suggested US retail price of $36,000 per pair. The premiere is scheduled for T.H.E. Show New York 2025 at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights/Meadowlands, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey (October 24 – 26, 2025), and shortly after at Capital Audiofest at the Hilton Hotel Rockville, Rockville, Maryland (November 14 – 16, 2025).
The new speakers will be demonstrated also as part of a complete high-end system including an all-new Audience equipment rack, Audience cables, and power conditioners: Audience Adept Response aR6-T4 6-outlet reference power conditioner ($6,900) with optional FrontRow Reserve HP powerChord ($7,600); and Audience Forte V8 8-outlet power strip w/Forte F3 power cord ($980). The demo system also includes a Atma-Sphere MP-1 vacuum tube balanced line stage ($7,850), Atma-Sphere Class D monoblock amplifiers ($6,100/pair), Exemplar Audio eXpression DUAL ES9028PRO DAC with outboard power supply ($5,500), with a Sony UBPX-1100ES disc player ($700) as a source.
www.audience-av.com
