Ø Audio builds loudspeakers around a distinctive idea: a carbon-fibre compression driver on the company's Quad Vertex Sound Field constant-directivity horn, paired with large, ultra-linear woofers. The result is very high sensitivity — these speakers come alive on low-power tube amplifiers as readily as on conventional solid-state designs — with the scale and immediacy horn systems are loved for.
The range carries names drawn from Norse mythology — Frigg, Verdande, Ymir — alongside the Icon, a horn design now in its Icon 12 revision after eight years of continuous refinement. Drivers are developed in cooperation with SEAS, and cabinets are resonance-controlled sandwich constructions finished in matte paint or veneer.
Horns are a particular kind of pleasure, and they are difficult to judge from a specification sheet. This is a speaker to sit down with.
The range at Sound Sanctuary Austin
We carry the full Ø Audio line: the horn-loaded Icon 12 and Verdande, the Frigg 02, and the reference Ymir. They share the shop with Luxman and Audio Research electronics — including the low-power tube amplification horns are made for — and hearing the same record through a horn and then through a conventional floorstander from Sonus faber or Wilson Audio is one of the most instructive comparisons a showroom can offer. That sensitivity means a few honest watts do real work, which changes the amplifier conversation entirely — and makes the pairing question half the fun.
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