The Kudos Audio Story, how it all began.

First and foremost before buying a product we like to know a little something about the company we are going to be buying from.
We as the customer want to know what kind of reputation the company has, what reviews the companies products have received, how long has the company been going for? etc, by gathering all these little facts together we start to form an opinion on a company and it helps us to decide whether or not we want to invest in one of the companies products or not, because lets be honest we all want good value for money, but above that we want a good sounding hifi systems don't we? You do? well let us read on a find out a bit more about just who are Kudos Audio and what they have achieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Kudos Audio

Kudos Audio was born in 1991 by Derek Gilligan, Derek is a true audiophile who demands the very best, when the company's first product, the S100 loudspeaker stand, was launched. This quickly became a reference support for many audio reviewers across the world and is still used and respected today. Later Kudos Audio introduced the lower-cost S50 speaker stands, they firmly established the company's reputation for top-flight performance and very high quality engineering. The S50 continues to win awards, many years after its introduction, a true testimony to just how right this product is and how the Kudos S50 stands out from the crowd. Recently, Kudos Audio has taken a new direction with the introduction of its new line-up of high performance hifi loudspeakers.
Using the very finest components and the highest standards of construction, these new models are already establishing themselves as some of the best sounding loudspeakers available. Many od the most respected audio magazines are singing the praises of Kudos cardea range of loudspeakers? Have you heard them for yourself? What are you waiting for, check them out.The Kudos range of loudspeakers currently consits of five stunningly good sounding loudspeakers which use some of the best drivers found on the market today. This range range simply called Cardea consists of the Kudos C1 and C2, then moving up the range the gain even greater performance we have the Kudos C10 and C20, finally the icing on the cake is the superlative C30, need we say more?

Kudos Cardea Loudspeakers

The Kudos Cardea range of loudspeakers has been designed using traditional, well-proven techniques and the highest quality components to offer the best sound quality at prices considerably lower than most of the competition.

It would be very easy and certainly much cheaper for Kudos Audio to source mass-produced, pressed-steel drivers from the Far East as many of our competitors do; there are plenty of “sourcing companies” who could find or can have made any unit we like. However, from experience, Kudos Audio have found many of these units to be poorly engineered and very inconsistent in quality.

Kudos Audio have an excellent working relationship with Seas of Norway which means that we can draw on their vast knowledge of drive unit design.
Seas can customise units for any application, thus ensuring that we always have the right driver for the right job! For example, although all the Cardea models use 18cm main drivers, the units we use in the compact stand mount models is different from those used in the larger floorstanders. These two units were each designed to work in different cabinet volumes and we use units appropriate to the size of the speaker. For economic reasons, many loudspeaker designers are forced to use an identical drive unit throughout their range, compromising the overall performance.

The tweeters Kudos Audio use throughout the range are of exceptionally high quality.
The “Crescendo” used in the KudosC10 and C20 is almost certainly the finest treble unit available.
It is also one of the most expensive!

The treble unit Kudos use in the C1 and C2 is a variant of the Seas Excel tweeter. This is another high-end device and is rarely found in loudspeakers at this price level. It is remarkably detailed, dynamic and harmonically accurate with excellent dispersion characteristics and a very even response.

We are firm adherents to the belief that minimalist, low-order crossovers are the most advantageous types in a two-way loudspeaker design. The bass drivers we use have very smooth and predictable roll-off characteristics and match the treble units so well that only minimal electrical compensation is necessary. Low-order crossovers have the benefit of lower phase distortion and energy storage so they are better at preserving the harmonic structure with less time-smear and “ringing” (the storage and subsequent release of energy within the components).
Our crossover components are of true audiophile quality; our capacitors are made specifically for us by Clarity Caps and those in the C10 and C20 are silver-wired.

All Cardea cabinets are solidly constructed from high-grade 18mm MDF and finished to furniture standards maintaining a timeless, elegant appearance to blend in with any environment.

Lets take a closer look at the Kudos Audio Range of loudspeakers

 

A new star is Born, the X2.

Not a company to just sit back on their laurels and reap the benfit of the success of the Cardea range of loudspeakers further work was still needed to be done. A few years later at the end of 2009 a new star was born, the Kudos Audio X2.

 

 

Kudos Audio Reviews

 

Kudos C2

Sound Quality
Sometimes you know straight away that you're dealing with something just a little bit special, and that is very much the case here. The C2 just sounds so 'right' straight from the off, demonstrating a neutral balance, wide dynamic range, fine coherence, good stereo image, and a reassuringly 'ballsy' bottom-end.

 

Clean Sweep for Kudos at the Hi-Fi Choice '2008 Hi-Fi Awards'

London, October 2008. Kudos; proprietor and designer, Derek Gilligan was delighted to receive three highly coveted awards at Hi-Fi Choices The 2008 Hi-Fi Awards ceremony. The Hi-Fi Choice Editor, Dan George, presented Derek with the three prestigious product of the year awards, incredibly, every Kudos product that Hi-Fi Choice have reviewed won one of the prestigious awards.

The Cardea C1 won the Silver Award for the 'Best Loudspeaker between £1,000 and £2,000’, the only stand mount speaker to win an award in this category.

The legendary Kudos S50 loudspeaker stand won the Silver Award for the ‘Best Speaker Stand’.

Kudos new flagship loudspeaker, the amazing Cardea C30 won the top award possible for a loudspeaker, the ‘Gold Award for the Best Loudspeaker over £5,000’ beating world renowned competition from Bowers & Wilkins and Monitor Audio.

The baby Kudos X2 was awarded a Hi-Fi Choice magazine Recommended logo in the October 2010 issue for an exceptional performance amongst a group of loudspeakers ranging from £1350 up to £2095. Being the smallest floorstander, and the lowest cost loudspeaker in the group did not hold the X2 back. Its overall score was only very slightly behind that of the group winner, which cost nearly twice as much. Praised for an 'impressively lively demeanour, vibrant open and coherent sound', the baby Kudos X2 was very nearly the best performer and by far the best value loudspeaker in this test.

Please contact us here at eden audio to book your demo of all the Kudos Audio loudspeaker range, we believe it will be a very pleasent surprise.