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SUPER 20A

We’ll always have a soft spot for the Super 20A here at Kudos. The Kudos brand was launched with the Cardea series, and the Super 20A is the topmost development of the series. Think of the last time you met somebody who was so fascinating, so entertaining and so utterly engaging, and who had a voice so captivating, that you could happily listen to them forever. That’s the feeling you get on meeting a Cardea Super 20A. In short, it’s a brilliant communicator and it knows how to hold a room. It’s also incredibly insightful, probing into the depths of each recorded musical performance in order to faithfully expose everything that’s in there.

“The sense of occasion was electric, like being hard-wired into the original performance with so much texture and detail, fiery virtuosity, and drama,” says Hi-Fi Plus magazine. “Beautifully clear, open and lively… revealing every last layer of fine micro detail.” “Deliciously authentic,” adds Hi-Fi News. “It’s a loudspeaker that is indeed a little bit special.”

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EXCEPTIONAL, CUSTOM-MADE DRIVERS

Kudos’ one-of-a-kind drivers are custom designed in collaboration with leading European experts, SEAS. All four Cardea series models feature our Crescendo K2 fabric dome tweeter, a development of SEAS’ superb (and justifiably costly) Crescendo unit re-engineered exclusively for Kudos. The mid/bass drivers are unique to each model.
The drivers are precisely matched and seamlessly aligned to work together, as one, delivering an effortless ‘just right’ sound. You’ll know it when you hear it.

 

LOW-ORDER CROSSOVER AND MINIMAL
DESIGN FOR A PURER SOUND

The purer the signal, the truer the sound. A Kudos loudspeaker preserves a clean and clear audio signal by favouring a minimal design with our trademark, low-order crossover. The Cardea Super series’ superior quality components are tailored specifically for Kudos to stringent tolerances. They include Mundorf’s MResist Supreme resistors and air-core inductors, and ClarityCap’s unique CopperConnect technology capacitors.

 

FIXED BOUNDARY BASS REFLEX LOADING

Since bass plays such a powerful role in how we hear music, our floorstanding Cardeas pay particular attention to delivering superior sound at the all-important lower end. The Super 20A’s fixed boundary bass reflex loading is key to a more agile, nuanced, textured and detailed bass reproduction.

 

INTERIOR DESIGN

The Cardea series’ modernist aesthetic looks elegantly simple on the outside, yet the inside is reassuringly hard-working. In a true marriage of form and function, design and materials combine to effectively manage unwanted vibrations while leaving the natural dynamics of your music blissfully undisturbed.

 

ACTIVE CONFIGURATION (UPGRADEABLE)

Like the Titan series, our ‘Super’ Cardea models are configured to allow simple by-passing of the internal crossover for active operation with leading electronics including Linn Exakt, Devialet Expert, Naim SNAXO and Exposure VXN. Upgrading to active operation enables a variety of performance and personalisation enhancing capabilities.

What others say

"The Super 20 really grabs your attention"
"Uncompromising in revealing the strengths and weaknesses of recordings"
"Moreover, its vivid clarity tends to shine a spotlight on musical performance too"
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Hi-Fi News

"the Super 20A could be the fulfillment for a lot of music lovers who do not want to or are not allowed to listen too loudly in smaller living rooms. Kudos means "kudos". That is exactly what we want to say here."
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Low Beats

"The result is one of the most viceless speakers I have tested at or anywhere near the price."
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Hi-Fi Critic

"There is a fluency to how the Kudos performs that is simply outstanding"
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AV Forums

"The Kudos Super 20A have the flexibility and resolution to deliver a special musical performance for a lifetime. I absolutely love them and would recommend them unreservedly."
Read More

HiFi and Music Source

Specifications

Type

  • 2-way
  • Bass reflex
  • Floorstander

Nominal impedance

  • 8 ohms

Mid/bass driver

  • SEAS-Kudos 180mm cast chassis unit hand-treated papercone, 26mm voice coil with copper shorting ring and aluminium phase plug

Recommended amplifier power detail

  • 25W - 300W

Frequency range

  • 30Hz – 30kHz AIRR (average in-room response)

Sensitivity

  • @1W
  • 1m
  • 88 dB

Tweeter

  • SEAS-Kudos Crescendo K2 29mm fabric dome

Finishes

  • Black Oak
  • Red Tineo
  • Satin White
  • Tineo
  • Walnut

Speaker Dimensions

  • 925mm (h) x 200mm (w) x 270mm (d)

Plinth Dimensions

  • 270mm (width) x 340mm (depth)

Weight (per loudspeaker)

  • 22 kg

USEFUL DOCUMENTS

Super 20A Instruction Manual
Naim Active Configuration Guide
Loudspeaker Set-up Guide

Explore the Cardea Series

C10

C20

SUPER 10A

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

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What others are saying

  1. Gary jones

    Kudos S20A. Truly Involving.

    –

    My S20A’s were recently bought to replace a pair of C10s. Nothing wrong with the C10s except the forced siting either side of French Doors in front of curtains, meant it was impossible to optimise the lower frequency range, though upper frequency performance and musicality was superb.

    The S20As were similarly sited, and the difference was immediately evident. Fed by my Linn DSM streamer, these speakers are nothing short of a revelation. My go to test pieces:
    @ Peter Hurford – Bach’s Toccata & fugue in D on organ: Yes, controlled bass extension, attack, no booming, just mid and very low frequency organ notes as they should be.
    @ Joan Armatrading – Love and Affection: Female voice, guitar, staging, placement, presence. Superb.
    @ Neil Diamond – Hot August Night – Prologue. Presence, ambience, portrayal, drama. All presented faultlessly.
    @ Queen – A Kind of Magic – Who wants to live forever. I leave that up to you not to be moved.
    Now I’m not a reviewer, just a listener with eclectic tastes. I still have a way to go with Linn’s room optimisation algorithms to see whether I can be even further impressed, but the S20A’s are not going to be returned. I can only sdvise: read the S20A descriptions, professional reviews and specifications and go audition them. Close your eyes, and you’ll be there. These are seriously capable, well designed and constructed, producers of detailed musical performances. And they look great in black oak!

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  2. David Hebden

    "It's in the detail"

    –

    I bought these speakers to replace a pair of absolutely superb Linn 320A speakers which had, disappointingly, failed after fifteen years of memorable listening, The Kudos speakers are paired with two Exposure amplifiers, on the recommendation of Clive, my Linn dealer. The Kudos speakers were his recommendation too; he was clearly aware that I did not wish to experience a drop in the quality of listening. I have not! For me the acid test is to close my eyes…….and if the musicians are in the room with me, and I am listening to them, rather than a hifi system, then the test has been passed.
    The speakers, amplifiers and cables are still “bedding in” and there is more to come; but the speakers and amplifiers match the Linn 320A’s. Yet they are significantly different, The sound is ‘brighter’, though the the base and mid range sound is very impressive. These speakers pick out the detail far more than the Linn speakers. Every instrument can be heard as part of the whole. A friend of mine, after listening to Dvorak’s 9th, remarked that “it was like hearing it for the first time”. After Beethoven’s 9th he said that he was hearing things that he hadn’t heard before in the music.
    I am still getting used to the different sound, but is the equal of before and it is very exciting.

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  3. Stephen Condliffe

    Kudos Super 20

    –

    These speakers replaced a pair of Cardea C20s and brought a noticeable improvement to sound quality. The rest of my system comprises a Sugden Masterclass Fusion CD player and a Sugden Masterclass Integrated Amp plus various Chord cables. I congratulated myself on owning a very nice sounding audio system; one that I didn’t feel needed upgrading even after listening to some very expensive systems at shows. My room, however, wasn’t brilliant. This was fixed with some acoustic panels and the speakers really began to show what they could do. My system responded very nicely to better Chord interconnects and especially speaker cables. A separate mains spur and screened mains cables brought further improvements. Various other small tweaks brought improvements to the stereo image and focus. The fact that these speakers are transparent enough to reveal even small changes to other parts of the system is an indication of their excellence. If you have heard these speakers and thought they merely sounded very good, they are in need of a much better system and some TLC.

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  4. John Cornelius

    Sorry no more upgrades

    –

    It is a fact – HiFi follows the laws of diminishing returns, it’s a subjective experience and all the places we listen to music are unique.
    For me I want a faithful to the music, as the artist would want, experience (no emphasis in any area), without turning our modest room into a ‘recording studio’ i.e. an unpretentious suite of truthful equipment.
    After 40 years of changing systems (obviously not every year), I’ve conclusively arrived.
    I have a classic separates line up and finally, approximately four years ago, I bought my Kudos Super 20’s.
    I will listen to anything which captures my attention.
    I have listened to many very, very expensive systems (Far more than mine; which is not cheap). Would I change? not a chance!
    I now finally listen to the music, not the system and I don’t leave the room, if I do, it calls me back.
    Our room hasn’t been rearranged to ‘optimise’ the speaker performance: We still have a living room, not a HiFi room.
    To conclude – I’m sorry to all HiFi manufacturers, especially Kudos and their outstanding Super 20’s; I will not be changing my system, especially the Super 20’s, I have what I want: I’m just listening to the music and I’m obviously very, very happy.

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  5. David Tymm

    Versatile & superb performance

    –

    My living room is a very difficult environment: large room, high ceilings, suspended wooden floor, blinds instead of curtains…Nothwithstanding this and having to sit the speakers on neoprene hemispheres to decouple them from the floor, they still sound superb paired with even ‘entry level’ Naim 202/200 and ND5XS2 streamer. Detailed highs sound almost etched and lots of very tightly-controlled low-end. Upgrades in terms of cables and Naim power supplies are all instantly appreciable indicating they really do respond faithfully to what is being fed into them. Lovely to look at too and beautifully made.

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  6. David King

    Kudos Super 20a

    –

    My wife was attracted by their appearance. Bought to replace Linn Keilidhs in a Linn Akurate Exakt system. Thanks to the Linn “Space Optimisation”, they hard hard against the back wall and look great. Sound fabulous; base is more structured and tight. Female voices are fabulous. Whilst initially a bit bright this has softened with use (or have I got used to the greater detail?)
    If I haven’t listened to them for a while, I am stunned by their performance. Thoroughly recommended for anybody with a similar system. Being only 2 way speakers, they saved a lot in amplification costs so good value as well.

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  7. stephen waters

    Speakers

    –

    Super by name, super performance

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