What are Artcoustic speakers?
Artcoustic was started in 1998 by two Danes, Kim Donvig and Patricia Ljungberg, who wanted to know why serious loudspeakers could not look as good as they sound. The company is based in Copenhagen, says its speakers are hand-built in Europe, and sells them in more than 35 countries. Its answer is a slim cabinet with a removable front screen, and almost every Artcoustic range is built around that idea.
The current line-up falls into four series:
- SL Series: slim on-wall speakers in many sizes, from the small SL Mikro to tall Evolve arrays, plus the SL soundbars and the shallow SL Architect models for ceilings and walls.
- Spitfire Series: line-array speakers aimed at dedicated cinemas, including the Spitfire Q models and the Spitfire Cloud, an overhead speaker on an angled baffle for Dolby Atmos height effects.
- CPH Series: all-round speakers for wall or stand, with active versions, Bluetooth and optional Wi-Fi.
- Subwoofer Series: bandpass subwoofers that take deep bass away from the slim main speakers.
A small outdoor range completes it. The SL Evolve 1 IP and Evolve 1 Array IP are sealed, IP66-rated versions that fix to an outdoor bracket or a ground spike in a lawn or planting bed.
Why choose a speaker that hangs like a picture?
With most architectural speakers the aim is to disappear. Artcoustic takes the opposite route: the speaker stays on the wall and its front becomes a design surface. Cabinets can be painted in NCS or RAL colours, and the screen can match the wall, match the cabinet or carry a digitally printed image. That image can come from the Artcoustic Art Gallery, where invited artists create exclusive designs, or from a picture the owner supplies. Screens fix magnetically and can be swapped later, so a pair of speakers can change with the decoration.
That suits houses where cutting into walls is unwelcome: a drawing room that has just been redecorated, a newly finished London apartment, or a listed interior where a picture hook is easier to justify than a chased channel. It also suits owners who want real output from a cabinet only a few centimetres deep. Artcoustic builds for high sensitivity, so its speakers reach cinema volume from modest amplifier power, and it hands deep bass to separate subwoofers so the slim cabinets do not have to produce it.
The trade-off is plain: these are visible objects. If the brief is a bare wall with nothing on it, an invisible speaker is the better tool.
Planning Artcoustic: colour codes, bass and future screens
- Specify colours in Artcoustic's own systems. SL and CPH cabinets are made to RAL Classic, NCS 1950 or NCS 2050 references, and Artcoustic asks for paint-brand codes to be converted to one of these first. It also warns that one colour can look different on a wall, a cabinet and a fabric screen, so we would ask for a sample before committing a whole room.
- Size by distance, not by look. Artcoustic suggests compact models for close listening and larger enclosures or line arrays where the seats sit further back. Its free Audio Analysis Service can model a room before anything is ordered.
- Budget the subwoofer from the start. The slim cabinets are designed to pass bass to a subwoofer, and Artcoustic recommends one for films, especially in larger rooms.
- Plan the ceiling for Atmos. Artcoustic speakers are included in Dolby's Atmos Room Design Tool, and the Spitfire Cloud and SL Architect models give overhead options. The Dolby Atmos layouts guide shows where overhead speakers would go.
- Allow for change. Screens are interchangeable, so a client who redecorates later can replace the artwork instead of the speakers. Recording each model and screen size at handover makes that simple.
