Estelon AURA Floor-standing Loudspeaker Review

The AURAs are no less exceptional than their bigger siblings.

I have been shadowing Estelon for several years on LinkedIn. Hand-built in Estonia, I can’t say that all the designs of their speakers have appealed to me, but I do admire their interesting curvaceous lines and jaw-dropping colors. When I got the call to review their newest most affordable speaker yet, I jumped at the chance. Sure, almost $20K/pair is not chump change, but it does place them in closer reach to serious upper middle-class audiophile types like me. Plus, the AURAs look amazing! (Especially if you own a Sony Play Station- there, I got that out of the way).

Estelon has been making award-winning luxury high-end speakers since 2010. Their top-of-the-line models are priced well out of my reach, but there is a lot of designing and hands-on manufacturing that goes into making them. I am pleased that they decided to make a speaker that borrows design and speaker tech from their more costly siblings and distills it down into these new AURAs. If they can make a speaker this good for $19,900, I can only imagine how amazing their other speakers sound!

The AURAs are a three-way design with a sealed cabinet. There are two five-inch mid-woofers whose cones are made from Egyptian papyrus. The single one-inch tweeter is a Scan-Speak textile dome “Illuminator” that sits between the mid-woofers. The tweeter resides at ear level and the spiked feet can be adjusted if you need to tilt the AURA forward or back a bit. From my seating position nine feet away, the tweeter was at my ear level. To cover the bass duties, each tower has a 10-inch down-firing Faital hard-pressed paper cone driver, mounted to the very bottom of each speaker.

The spikes are the sharpest pointed spikes I have seen on a speaker. Disks are supplied to protect your floor, but you better watch your fingers when you install them! The spikes are vital in giving the AURAs the clearance needed to not impede the woofer’s bass reproduction. The arched base still needs the spikes for sufficient clearance. If the AURA is going to be placed on a thick carpet, be sure it has an inch or two of ground allowance.

The internal wiring is Kubala-Sosna cabling. (I had to read up on them as they were new to me). Though I had no trouble driving these speakers, it is recommended that you not drive them with a valve amplifier. I found that the more power I had available, the better if I really wanted to make the AURAs sing.

The beautiful lines of the cabinet are made from a thermoformed composite material. It reminded me of Corian which is used in countertops. Very strong and rigid, yet despite their size, I was able to carry them upstairs to my media room. (I was reminded that my heavy speaker-carrying days are numbered, though). The shape is designed to reduce internal standing waves as well as to provide an aesthetically appealing look. When playing music loudly, I could not feel the slightest cabinet vibration.

My review pair came in white with black magnetic grilles and they looked amazing in the front of my room. I listened to music with the grilles on and off and heard no sonic difference but left the grilles on most of the time because they really make the AURAs look perfect in my setting.

They blended well with the shiny white piano finish on my console and the 77-inch OLED TV. Of course, all this eye candy doesn’t a speaker make, so after a few days of adjusting and tweaking, I had the AURAs nine feet from my main seating with them spaced about eight feet apart and 20 inches from the back wall with a toe-in that crossed them just eight inches behind my head. For this review, I will be powering them with a Benchmark AHB2 amplifier, AudioQuest Rocket 33 speaker cables, a Marantz SR 6015 receiver, and a PS Audio DirectStream DSD DAC streamer for hi-rez music via Qobuz.

Though I generally use two subwoofers when listening to music, I felt that the AURAs had enough bass energy reproduction to stand alone, so most of this review is based on my impressions without bass augmentation. I did use the subs when watching movies.

I tend to listen to mostly classical music, which I of course did when reviewing these speakers, but I decided to add some more unusual genres (for me anyway). I found these forms of music really test the fidelity, power, and general sonic prowess of a speaker that is designed to produce full-range sound.

For movies, I will just mention that the AURAs blended in well with my 7.2 system consisting of Revel surrounds and center channel and I enjoyed reviewing Chinatown and The Crow with them. To be honest, buying the AURAs just for a home theater is overkill. These speakers are meant for music reproduction but if you have a media room designed for both, go for it. The AURAs will not disappoint.

The Estelon AURA Loudspeaker is a sleek design that fits perfectly in premium interiors providing elegance, style, and decent value with masterful sound reproduction.

Though the AURA Loudspeakers are part of Estelon’s entry-level line, they still outperform many other excellent speakers I have reviewed over the years. They are not inexpensive, but their composite cabinetry, custom drivers, high-end internal wiring, generally excellent design, and form factor make them a “forever” speaker for many of us. As I mentioned before, the AURA whets my appetite to hear the bigger siblings in Estelon’s arsenal. Putting it into perspective, I can’t afford a Lamborghini either, but I’d still like to test-drive one.