We’re delighted to announce that Kudos Audio are participating in Sommer Hub in Jessheim near Oslo, Norway, from August 22 – 23 2026!
This exciting event opens up the opportunity for listeners to step inside Hifi Hub – a stunning villa-turned-audio-paradise – for just one weekend, and enjoy some of the most exciting brands in HiFi.
Our participation in this event comes hot off the heels of our new partnership with Multirom, Norway’s leading high end audio distributor. Find out more about that exciting new partnership on our previous blog.
Kudos Audio’s MD, Derek Gilligan, will be in attendance to demonstrate Kudos Audio listening to dedicated Norwegian music lovers, and answer questions.
A pair of Kudos Audio Titan 707 loudspeakers will be driven actively alongside our SIGAO DRIVE unpowered active crossover. Electronics are set to be announced closer to the event!
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to tour the Hifi Hub villa – usually an appointment-only experience, it’s well worth seeing this beautiful showroom facility for yourselves.
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Details for the Sommer Hub are as follows:
Dates: 22 – 23 August 2026
Times: Sat 22 – 10am – 5pm | Sun 23 12pm – 4pm
Location: HiFi Hub, Trondheimsveien 55, 2050 Jessheim, Norway.
To reserve your tickets, we recommend calling or emailing HiFi Hub directly:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +47 63 97 63 97
Kudos Audio is delighted to announce that Multirom, the highly-respected audio specialists from Norway, have partnered with Kudos to become our official new Norwegian distributor.
We’re incredibly pleased to add Multirom’s expertise, insight, and passion to our distributor base, and to find a partner that has a track record for servicing Norwegian music lovers with truly world-class HiFi.
Mulitrom are one of Norway’s most prestigious and recongnisable HiFi distributors, representing a suite of incredible brands – we’re very proud to add Kudos Audio to their impressive roster. Multirom share our passion for British-engineered audio, and music-led HiFi design, making it a perfect partnership.
Multirom had this to say upon the announcement of our new partnership:
“…With 40 years combined HiFi-industry experience, Stuart and Isak from Multirom take over distribution of Kudos Audio in Norway. Sharing a passion for music and engaging British sound with extra focus on pace, rhythm and timing, they are proud to represent Kudos in the country of origin for their world-class, SEAS-built drivers. Get ready to experience Kudos Audio with selected dealers in Norway the coming months.”
Kudos Audio products will soon be available in hand-picked, trusted HiFi retailers throughout Norway – and we’ll be sure to supply more information on that as we have it. In the meantime, we’re so pleased to welcome Multirom to the Kudos Audio family, and we’re excited for what comes next!
You can visit Multirom’s dedicated Kudos Audio page here.
Welcome back to ‘Meet The Titans’. In this series, we’re taking a deep dive into each of the four Titan loudspeakers to find out more about how they’re built, how they sound, and who they’re made for. In this edition, we turn our attention to the award-winning Kudos Audio Titan 606; the smallest floorstander in the Titan range, a speaker made to combine immense musicality with true practicality.
In precision audio design, a classic conflict often persists. The desire for an authoritative, full-scale musical performance versus the practical boundaries of the modern living space. Listeners have often been told that true low-frequency extension and panoramic scale require massive cabinets that dominate a room. At Kudos Audio, we have consistently attempted to challenge this notion.
Positioned directly above its sister speaker, the Titan 505 stand mount (featured in our last edition of meet the Titans), the Kudos Audio Titan 606 floor stander represents a calculated effort to bring the elite engineering of our flagship designs into a form factor that has been tailored for real-world domestic environments. The Titan 606 is built to deliver for all kinds of listeners, and all kinds of systems – a floor standing loudspeaker that can remain in a music lover’s household system for the rest of their lives.
At first glance, you’ll see the Titan 606 as a compact and handsome floorstander, standing 95cm high, 25.6cm wide, and 32cm deep. Yet, the weight of these speakers reveals its serious engineering pedigree underneath an unassuming exterior. The physical footprint is intentionally modest, making it highly accommodating for standard domestic spaces. That doesn’t mean we’ve compromised on the internal design, however. If we venture beneath the surface, you’ll find a technically sophisticated, high performance loudspeaker at work. Let’s consider what makes the 606 special.
As with the Titan 505 we covered in our last edition, the 606 stands apart from its contemporaries through its use of isobaric loading. Instead of utilising a single conventional low-frequency transducer, Titan loudspeakers use two identical 180mm drivers, positioned back-to-back within an enclosed internal space. Only the front-facing driver can be seen by the listener, while its counterpart remains hidden inside the cabinet structure.
By doubling the driver components and locking them in phase, the speaker requires a considerably smaller cabinet volume than a single driver would normally need to hit the same level of low frequencies. Furthermore, because the internal driver regulates the air pressure directly behind the front cone, mechanical distortion is drastically minimised.
If you read our 505 piece, you’ll recall that we rarely rely on off-the-shelf components. Instead, we maintain a close development alliance with a select group of specialist manufacturers, including the legendary Scandinavian brand SEAS, who construct our drivers directly to our specifications.
The mid/bass drivers utilise a reed and pulp paper cone, paired with a 39mm voice coil with a copper shorting ring. The visible external driver is completed with a central aluminium phase plug bearing our logo.
For the high frequencies, you’ll also find the exact same elite tweeter featured on the Titan 505: the custom SEAS-Kudos Crescendo K3. This 29mm soft fabric dome is a direct descendant of the driver made for the top of the line Titan 808. To ensure its delicate dome remains safe from accidental damage, it sits in a recessed mount behind a protective metal lattice grille.
While mass damping is the traditional method used to prevent a loudspeaker cabinet from becoming an unwanted secondary sound source, it comes with a major drawback: it traps and retains unwanted, vibrations-induced energy inside the structure.
Kudos takes a far more effective approach. By combining panels of varying HDF thicknesses with a series of compliant membrane pads, the 606s cabinet avoids trapping that energy. Instead, it effectively dissipates the unwanted energy out of the enclosure in a highly controlled manner.
Instead of venting through a basic plastic tube on the rear panel, the twin mid/bass drivers vent through the bottom of the speaker enclosure. Here, a fixed boundary gap reflex port exhausts low-frequency energy in a controlled manner and serves to make speaker placement far less demanding than conventional rear-ported designs.
The crossover itself is a testament to our ‘masterfully simple’ methodology, keeping the signal pathway short and pure. We implement a minimal, low-order internal crossover network using best-in-class components throughout. And should you like to make the leap to active listening, the Kudos Titan 606 is fully compatible with SIGAO DRIVE, our unpowered active crossover. More on that in a bit.
The immediate sensation when listening to the 606 is often a profound sense of disbelief regarding its physical size. The isobaric driver system behaves with immense muscularity, delivering impressive in-room low-frequency extension.
Take, for example, relatively uncompressed live recordings with a big, thumping low end extension. Here, the lower registers are rendered with real weight and tonality. The bass is texturally precise, full-bodied, and deeply moving, avoiding the unnatural bloating or single-note drone commonly heard in classically ported floorstanders.
The transition from the upper bass to the midrange is designed to be seamless and organic. The K3 fabric dome tweeter means the 606 delivers a lightness and open airiness that easily sidesteps the clinical, fatiguing nature of some modern hard-dome designs. This is particularly apparent on intricate pieces like classical arrangements, where the higher frequencies maintain a strong presence, without overpowering the listening experience.
Crucially the Titan 606 does not impose a particular sonic signature of its own; instead, it behaves like an open window to whatever amplification philosophy you prefer to implement in your listening. Whatever signal you choose to put its way, the 606 delivers.
More than being another big, hulking, high-end floorstander, the 606 is designed to be a highly targeted solution for serious music enthusiasts wishing to draw the absolute best out of their music listening experience, regardless of how much space they have to play with.
This speaker is tailor made for listeners who inhabit typical or modestly sized rooms but still desire the unrestrained authority, scale, and low-end delivery of a floorstanding loudspeaker. The isobaric design enables a heavy-hitting personality from a cabinet of modest dimensions, giving listeners a full-range acoustic foundation without physically overwhelming the room.
Furthermore, because its fixed-boundary bottom port configuration exhausts downwards rather than backwards, it integrates into real-world living rooms with far less placement challenges than traditional rear-ported models.
For the audiophile who values long-term flexibility and a built-in upgrade path, the Titan 606 is an exceptional investment. Much like the Titan 505, it allows you to start out with a high-quality, single-cable passive integrated amplifier and enjoy a world-class experience right out of the box.
When you’re ready to upgrade your system, you can easily move to active with our SIGAO DRIVE crossover. SIGAO DRIVE is built to work with virtually any amplifier combination you choose to use, meaning you get full control over where your listening goes next.
Finally, the 606 appeals directly to thoughtful listeners whose musical tastes span a broad, unpredictable spectrum. This speaker does not favor a single genre; instead it has the musical and technological capabilities to deliver a genuinely jaw-dropping sonic experience – wherever or however you choose to use it.
The Titan 606 therefore represents the long-sought-after “forever loudspeaker”. A mature, vice-free, and profoundly musical investment built to deliver lifelong listening pleasure.
The best way to experience the Titan 606 is to demo it for yourself! You’ll find Titan 606 loudspeakers on display at retailers across the UK, Europe and beyond – all of our dealers are experts in Kudos Audio, and are perfectly placed to help you find the right Titan for you and your system.
Find your nearest dealer here!
We’re excited to be making our way to North West Audio Show 2026 at De Vere Cranage Estate, Cheshire, from June 27-28 2026!
Kudos Audio will be exhibiting alongside our friends at Ultrafide Audio, with a system that celebrates the very best of precision British hi-fi.
NWAS has become one of our absolute favourite events in the British hi-fi calendar in recent years. Free to attend for visitors, it features over 75 leading brands, as well as an excellent record fair, lectures and presentations, and much more.
While tickets are free, we highly recommend reserving yours in advance of the day.
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Centering the exhibition are Kudos Audio’s critically acclaimed Titan 505 loudspeakers, as well as our SIGAO Drive active crossover. Titan 505s are known for their ability to deliver exceptional scale, realism, and deep musical engagement from a footprint that fits comfortably into real-world living spaces, the stand-mount Titans are set to anchor the demonstration.
For this year’s showcase, the Titan 505s will be driven by the newly launched Ultrafide Audio ENSO (INT125) music-first integrated amplifier. Ultrafide are a company with deep professional-audio heritage, designing the ENSO as a flexible, scalable amplification platform engineered to grow alongside an enthusiast’s evolving setup.
Together, the Kudos and Ultrafide pairing aims to demonstrate a highly accessible, streamlined pathway into genuine high-end domestic hi-fi.
To ensure every link in the chain performs at its absolute peak, the system will rely on a premium roster of source and support components:
Digital Source: An Innuos music streamer handles the high-fidelity digital delivery.
Cabling: Kudos Audio KS-1 Speaker cables and AudioQuest high-performance interconnects throughout.
Infrastructure: The entire electronics system will be structurally isolated on a Quadraspire equipment support rack.
Visitors to the room will have the opportunity to explore the unique engineering potential behind Kudos Audio’s proprietary upgrade path.
The team will be highlighting our SIGAO Drive unpowered active crossover. Developed specifically to match the internal acoustic profiles of Kudos loudspeakers, the SIGAO Drive allows listeners to effortlessly bypass standard internal passive networks.
By facilitating a seamless transition to active multi-amplification operation, it unlocks heightened levels of driver control, pinpoint musical insight, and raw dynamic performance without needing to replace the core loudspeakers.
While tickets and parking are both free of charge, it’s strongly advised that you reserve your in advance, to avoid any disappointment! You can do so here:
Towards the end of 2025, we learned our flagship Titan 808 Loudspeaker has been awarded a highly-coveted Stereo Sound Grand Prix Award, by Japanese audio magazine Stereo Sound!
It’s an award we were humbled to receive. Stereo Sound is an iconic publication in world HiFi – with decades of leading audio journalism that has fastidiously represented the passion and unique culture of Japanese music lovers for many years.
Last week, we received the physical award through the post, and it’s taken pride of place in our demonstration room!
This great honour follows on from last year’s Stereo Sound Grand Prix Golden Sound Award for the Titan 707 – Stereo Sound’s highest honour.
The 2024 award for the Titan 707 was made even more special by the fact that it represented the first time a speaker already in production had been awarded the Grand Prix – as it has always previously been reserved for brand new products.
Our deep and sincere thanks to the team at Timelord ltd. in Japan, for their tireless support and belief in our products.
Interested to hear a pair of Titan 808 Loudspeakers for yourself? Find your nearest dealer!
Kudos Audio is delighted to be heading to High Performance Audio Show 2026 in Odder, Denmark, and we’d love you to join us.
Across the 14th and 15th March 2026, leading Danish hi-fi retailer High Performance Audio will take over the Montra Odder Parkhotel in Odder, Denmark, for a weekend filled with the very best high performance listening. And it’s free to attend!
Kudos Audio’s participation at this show comes as a result of our exciting new distribution partnership with Sound Life, one of the highest regarded audio specialists in the region.
FIND OUT MORE
Join us for Jutland’s premier high-end audio exhibition, a dedicated weekend where music and engineering take centre stage. This free-entry event transforms the entire hotel into a multi-room sound experience, showcasing a curated selection of the world’s most innovative audio technology.
Kudos Audio Titan 505s are set to feature in a system complemented by full suite of Cyrus Audio 40 electronics – it’s not to be missed.
The Main Exhibition: Explore numerous rooms featuring elite sound systems, designed to demonstrate the pinnacle of modern acoustic performance.
The Nordic Head-Fi Fair: Visit Scandinavia’s largest dedicated headphone event to audition flagship personal audio gear in an intimate, focused setting.
Expert Insights: Meet industry professionals and innovators available to provide technical advice and guidance on system optimisation.
Vinyl & Accessories: Browse a dedicated vinyl market, attend lectures on analogue sound, and discover specialised solutions for home acoustics and décor.
Whether you are a lifelong audiophile or simply curious about high-fidelity sound, we invite you to bring a friend and immerse yourself in a weekend defined by passion, community, and pure audio.
There’s no need to register attendance – simply come along and join us for a fabulous weekend of high fidelity listening!
Our attendance at this exciting event comes as a result of our new partnership with Sound Life; Denmark’s foremost distributor of precision audio products – we’re delighted to have Sound Life join the Kudos Audio family.
Sound Life’s foundation was laid over 40 years ago, fuelled by a lifelong fascination with the power of music and the technical precision required to deliver it. What began as a deep-seated interest evolved into a decade of professional artistry, as the founder transitioned from an amateur DJ in the late 1980s to a prominent figure in the Danish club circuit by the early 90s.
In 1991, the founder launched NightLife, a venture born from the realiSation that superior equipment directly enhances the audience’s emotional connection to music. Over nearly three decades, NightLife became a cornerstone of the professional audio industry, spanning roles from Front of House (FOH) engineering and touring to complex system installations.
The transition to the high-fidelity industry began in 2019, sparked by a pivotal visit to Naim Audio in Salisbury. Witnessing the intersection of meticulous craftsmanship and musical integrity reignited a fundamental passion for sound. This experience shifted the company’s focus from large-scale professional rigs to the intimate, high-end home audio experience.
Today, Sound Life operates as a dedicated distributor and brand ambassador in Denmark. Guided by decades of technical experience rather than mere commercial trends, the company prioritises brands that mirror their own values: uncompromising build quality and an authentic musical soul.
We are delighted to announce that, on Friday 20th – 21st March, we’ll be at Glasgow Audio for an extra-special event alongside our good friends at Ultrafide Audio.
Over two days, listeners will have the opportunity to experience the very best of Kudos Audio and Ultrafide Audio, across a range of systems throughout Glasgow Audio’s stunning showroom.
GET TICKETS HERE
Hear our flagship Titan 808 loudspeakers, taken active with the help of SIGAO DRIVE, and brought even further to life by an absolutely stunning selection of Ultrafide Audio’s power products.
Across the event, visitors will be able to explore multiple systems featuring Kudos loudspeakers, Ultrafide amplification, and Atlas Cables, demonstrated across three dedicated listening spaces within the Glasgow Audio showroom.
11:00am – 7:00pm
Friday focuses on dedicated one-hour listening sessions, pre-booked in advance and limited to small groups of four. These sessions allow uninterrupted time with the main reference system, while the rest of the showroom remains open for you to enjoy at your leisure.
10:00am – 5:30pm
Visitors are free to drop in on Saturday and enjoy extended listening across all demonstration areas.
While there is no requirement to book a specific time, we kindly ask all attendees to register in advance. This helps us plan the day effectively and ensure we have appropriate refreshments available throughout the event.
Three systems will be on display throughout the weekend.
Main Demo Room Kudos Titan 808 SIGAO Drive Ultrafide U4PRE Ultrafide U500DC Ultrafide U500DC Ultrafide U500DC Atlas Cables
Second Demo Room Kudos Titan 505 Ultrafide ENSO Atlas Cables
Main Shop Floor Kudos Titan 606 Ultrafide U4PRE Ultrafide SP500 Atlas Cables
For tickets, and more information, head to this link:
It’s no secret that we’re living in challenging times for the retail sector. Rising business rates, a lingering sluggishness to the economy, and cost of living concerns have left many businesses on the high street well and truly feeling the pinch.
But there’s still success stories to be found, if you know where to look. In fact, one such good news story happens to dovetail intriguingly with our Listeners series – where we meet the people whose lives and listening are shaped by Kudos Audio.
You see, for this edition of the series, we’ve made our way north, to the irrepressibly wonderful city of Glasgow. We’re here to meet Jesse Stuhr, General Manager at Glasgow Audio. In the face of troubling times, Jesse and his team have ensured that business has thrived – with footfall up and listeners fully engaged in Glasgow Audio’s prospects and product lines.
From their beautifully assembled showroom on Great Western Road, Glasgow Audio have created an enclave of precision listening – a true love letter to the art of music appreciation, and great music reproduction. Their customer base bucks trends for the HiFi industry as a whole – with a young demographic of engaged music fans as enthusiastically represented as the older, traditional HiFi market with deep pockets and years of listening experience. And at a time when more and more of the retail experience – of our lives in general – is moving into an artificial space, Glasgow Audio is compelling music fans of all ages to engage in a more inherently human experience.
It’s an exciting prospect. One we’re keen to understand better. Not least because Jesse, and the whole team at Glasgow Audio, are passionate advocates of all things Kudos Audio. We met with Jesse on a rainy morning in February to find out more about how and why Glasgow Audio continues to set a benchmark for HiFi retailers nationwide, and how and why their deep love of Kudos Audio loudspeakers fits into this broader philosophy.
Jesse’s journey into the world of high-fidelity audio is a recognisable one – weaving together his family’s diverse talents. “I grew up with a very musical family,” Jesse recounts. “My gran was a piano teacher, a dance teacher, musician, artist. So from a very young age, we had a passion for music drilled into us – that was going to happen.” This early immersion in music created a foundational appreciation for sound and artistry.
Complementing this artistic influence was a strong technological current from his grandfather. My granddad was a computer scientist with MIT and Strathclyde University,” Jesse explains. “So between them, I had the influences from a very early age. I had one teaching me about music and one teaching me about technology.” This unique combination set the stage for Jesse’s eventual career, where the worlds of music and technology would artfully converge.
His formal entry into the industry began almost accidentally. “I was in my 20s, I was looking for work, and found a Hi-Fi shop. I still didn’t really know that much about the industry on a technical level, but I had a passion for music and technology, so I went in and applied, and they took me on as a Saturday boy.” This initial step proved to be pivotal. “That was 12 years ago. And since then, I’ve worked my way up, upgrading to part-time, and then full-time, and now I am the General Manager for Glasgow Audio.”
As many will be aware, Glasgow Audio operates as part of a larger family of high-fidelity stores. Jesse clarifies the relationship: “Holburn Hi-Fi is the original shop. It’s the same owner; it’s family-owned. They started in 1973 and then they acquired Glasgow Audio, which I think was a Hi-Fi shop at the time, but they came under the Holburn umbrella in 1992. And now Holburn Hi-Fi and Glasgow Audio are sister shops, essentially just two different locations.” While Holborn Hi-Fi is situated in Aberdeen, Glasgow Audio serves its namesake city, maintaining a shared ethos under a common ownership.
Glasgow Audio is more than your average Hi-Fi retailer; it’s a testament to a fresh, customer-centric approach that has garnered national recognition. Jesse proudly shares their recent Retailer Of The Year award news: “That’s the second time we’ve won it, the Scottish Independent Retailer Awards. The second time that we’ve come first for that.”
What sets them apart, according to Jesse, is their dynamic team and philosophy. “We are a relatively young team in this industry,” he notes, acknowledging that this marks a point of difference in the industry as a whole. “I like to think that we shake things up a bit. We’re a bit of a disruptor in that sense.”
The team comprises Jesse himself, installer Alan, and sales colleague Anna. “Anna’s 24 and me and Alan are 35,” he explains. “As far as things go, we are very young in the industry, but we have a very no-nonsense approach…we put our customers’ needs first. We listen a lot, and we tailor our systems based on the customer’s needs.”
It’s an approach that is appreciated by the many music lovers who frequent their store on a regular basis. “We never really push or hard sell stuff,” Jesse emphasises. “We get a lot of good feedback from customers saying it’s just a more relaxed experience. They don’t feel pressured. You can come and talk to us, and we actually listen to you without just trying to push you towards the most expensive thing.” Ultimately, this builds lasting relationships: “We’ll quite frequently get a lot of customers who’ve been shopping around elsewhere who end up becoming very loyal to us because of the advice that they get.”
The store’s commitment extends to its product selection. “Everything that we stock, we stock because we think it’s a good product, it’s good value, it’s good performance. We’re not beholden to a brand or any big manufacturer.” This independent spirit allows Glasgow Audio to champion quality, regardless of brand prestige. “It’s a formula that’s worked really well, and we’ve seen really, really good customer growth and customer loyalty.”
In a challenging retail climate, Glasgow Audio has found innovative ways to connect with new generations of music lovers, leveraging an exciting industry trend. “I think a lot of people are discovering a love for quality and music again,” Jesse observes, noting a shift from the recent past. “We’ve had this couple of decades where things were going the opposite way, and people were moving into MP3 players and in-ear headphones and little smart speakers.”
The undeniable force driving this resurgence, particularly among younger demographics, is vinyl. “You can see it in vinyl…massive resurgence, especially for younger kids and teenagers. None of them have anything to play it on, but they’re buying the vinyl. They’re going out there and they’re playing it on the wee Crosley briefcase turntables.” To some of our older readers, this will sound pleasingly familiar – a reminder that, even in times of unprecedented technological change, the habits of young, passionate music lovers remains unchanging.
Glasgow Audio has strategically positioned itself as a leader and an educator for this new audience. “We stock vinyl. We have a large selection of it. We get lots of student traffic coming in to browse the vinyl.” This serves as a natural entry point for conversation. “We just talk. We just start conversations with them: ‘What’s your system like? What are you using to play this back on? Here, come listen to it on one of ours.’ This is something you can aspire to.”
Jesse’s team offers practical advice that resonates with these burgeoning enthusiasts. “Like an entry-level turntable is about £300 for a Rega Planar 1. We tell them, that’s the cost of six or seven vinyls. Maybe think about saving your vinyl money and then come get a proper turntable and start that journey with us.” This approach transforms casual browsers into informed, engaged audiophiles. It’s a simple, but powerful model – one that has stood the test of time for generations.
Still, digital listening is hugely influential, but neither are mutually exclusive, Jesse argues. “There’s absolutely room for both,” He affirms, referring to the coexistence of physical and digital formats. “I think we’re seeing the younger generations really embracing vinyl and getting into that side of it. And then on the flip side, your older generations, who were brought up with vinyl and that’s what they know, they’re looking for the convenience factor, and they want to dip their toe into streaming.”
The introduction of Kudos Audio loudspeakers to Glasgow Audio’s carefully curated product roster was a significant moment, driven by a shared belief in exceptional quality. “Kudos was introduced to me by the owner of the business, who said, ‘This is a speaker we should explore. This has got some real pedigree within the industry.'” Jesse immediately recognised the raw talent behind the brand: “The designer, mad genius that he is, clearly knows his stuff.”
This initial assessment quickly led to conviction. “We got to listen to things and decided that 100% this is a product that we wanted to be involved with.” The timing was also opportune. “At the time, there weren’t that many retailers for Kudos, however. So it was a unique opportunity to get behind this brand and support something that we really, really liked.”
Kudos’ philosophy aligned perfectly with Glasgow Audio’s own independent spirit. “It resonated with our message as a company…that we were not beholden to big brands; we will jump on board with slightly smaller brands if we think this is something special that we need to share.”
This willingness to champion more artisan, high-quality manufacturers is a hallmark of Glasgow Audio’s approach. “Kudos just became that for us, and it just very nicely slotted into our two shops and it became an instant hit with all the staff. It’s a clear favorite.”
Jesse holds the Kudos Audio Titan range in incredibly high regard. “We love the full range. It’s probably one of the loudspeaker best ranges we’ve heard at that level for the price.” His personal experience with the Titans further solidifies his appreciation. “I was living under the impression that nothing was going to beat the Titan 808 for me. And then Derek came out with the SIGAO Drive and just blew my mind as to how much better they could actually get.” More on that in a moment.
So what makes Kudos Audio stand out amidst Glasgow Audio’s product lines? Jesse points to a blend of unconventional design philosophy and cutting-edge technology. “From design, Derek’s philosophy towards building these is very different to major manufacturers,” he explains. “He leads by listening to music. That’s where he dials these things in. He tunes them based on his own ears, his own listening. It’s not all graphs; it’s not all measurements.” This empirical approach, guided by a once-in-a-generation ear, is a rare and valuable commodity. “He’s got really, really good ears for doing this, and that’s an interesting thing. It’s incredibly rare to get that kind of talent.”
Beyond the subjective tuning, Jesse admires how Kudos Audio loudspeakers incorporate seriously innovative engineering. “Some of the technology that goes into the speakers is very interesting; isobaric loading on the drive units, segmented cabinets on the Titan 808, things like that,” Jesse details. “There’s lots of really cool tech that’s going into these decisions in the design. They’re just quite unique in what they’ve achieved.”
Another significant advantage is their upgradeability. “Being able to wire them actively as opposed to passively is always a bonus and a game-changer for people who want to pursue that. So it’s nice to have the upgrade path as well. For a lot of brands, you buy a speaker and that’s it, that’s what you’re stuck with. But Kudos has got this incredible upgrade path.”
While Kudos Audio remains a precision product, Jesse believes they possess a broad appeal within their target segment. “I think Kudos is fairly universal,” he states. “Obviously, there’s a cost of entry; it’s a premium product, it’s high-end. So it’s got to match up with a person’s expectations of budget and what they’re spending on the full system.”
For customers operating within this high-end territory, Kudos offers remarkable versatility. “I’ve paired Kudos speakers with lots of different electronics for lots of different reasons, because different pairings produce slightly different sounds. But it’s a very flexible operator. It can work well in a variety of different rooms.”
The range itself caters to various needs. “They’ve got various models in different sizes.” Jesse concludes that while there isn’t a singular “catch-all customer,” the common thread is a deep love for music. “Generally, you’re going to love music. You’re going to love listening to your music on Kudos speakers, and you’ll need to be in that sort of high-end bracket. It’s not an entry-level speaker, but if you’re in the high-end market, there’s not much bettering Kudos.”
The introduction of SIGAO Drive marked a profound leap in performance, even for an already stellar product line. Jesse vividly recalls his initial experience: “I had extensive listening experience to the full Titan range before SIGAO Drive and loved it. The Titan 808 is right up there as one of my favourite speakers ever designed. And then the SIGAO Drive launched, and the difference that it made was just unreal.”
This wasn’t a subtle improvement; it was transformative. “I did not expect that amount of performance increase on an already really good speaker, because usually you start to get into that level of diminishing returns where you’re paying a lot of money for very, very incremental increases in quality.” SIGAO Drive defied this trend. “SIGAO Drive flipped that scale on its head and took an already good product and elevated it to astronomical heights for me.”
An event held shortly after its launch solidified this impression. “We did an event with the Sigao Drive just after its launch where we had the Titan 808 hooked up with the Sigao Drive and six Naim mono-blocks all driving it – something like £150k of electronics – and the system sounded unreal. We had manufacturers from Naim, from Atlas, from all the kinds of co-manufacturers who were part of that event, and they listened to a system where they’d never heard anything like it.”
The customer response was overwhelmingly positive. “Customers were just blown away. Unrivaled noise floor, just a vanishing scale of music is what you’re left with. None of the constraints and none of the technical aspects that would usually hold a system back. It just flew. The feedback we got was just resounding.” Jesse’s enthusiasm is palpable: “I have sorely missed having that whole system wired up in the shop ever since we’ve had it. I think our plan is now to do another repeat of that event this spring. “
While the Sigao Drive represents a significant investment, it also opens up exciting upgrade possibilities for customers and dealers alike. Jesse explains the unique position of the product: “SIGAO Drive by itself needs external amplifiers. It just sits in between. So if somebody is going to go down that road to build the full Kudos active system using SIGAO, they’re likely moving from just a two-channel amplifier or two mono-blocks, and they’re going to need to go up from there as well.”
This means SIGAO Drive often acts as a catalyst for a broader system enhancement. “You’re introducing SIGAO as the upgrade component, but also that’s going to combine with probably new amplification and new cables.” However, Jesse stresses that this isn’t merely about incremental financial gains; it’s about a profound experiential impact. “One that is, I would say, more psychologically impactful, because it’s not just those little tiny performance increases you’re getting. Usually, when you’re at that level, you know, you pay a lot of money and you get 2-3% incremental performance increase. This will radically shake up the performance of your Kudos system. It’s a huge performance net gain for the customer.”
When a customer is contemplating an investment in Kudos Audio loudspeakers, Jesse’s advice is simple, yet profound: trust your ears and your living space. “My rules here are pretty simple. Start by coming into the shop and listening to things. Use your ears.” The demonstration room is the first crucial step. “Listen to the speakers you want to hear in our demo room with the electronics you want to listen to.”
However, Jesse understands that a showroom environment, no matter how well-appointed, is only part of the equation. “If you’re not quite sure what’s next, the best bet is for us to bring the speakers out to you. Your room makes a huge amount of difference.” This in-home trial is key. “Let’s get a pair out, put them in place, get them properly installed and dialed in, and just let them exist there for a week or so and see how you get on with them.”
The ultimate test is emotional connection. “If you can live with the speakers for a week and you’re enjoying them, and every day you sit in front of them they put a smile on your face, that’s a pretty good indicator that they’re the right fit for you.” This pragmatic, experience-driven approach is fundamental to Glasgow Audio’s customer service. “Best bet is, honestly, use the shop and the resources we have here to narrow down the selection and then get a demo pair, stick them in the room that you’re going to be living with them, and see how you get on.”
The positive impact of Kudos on their clientele is undeniable. “The reception we’ve had with Kudos is over the moon. We’ve got many happy system owners, all on Titan level now, who absolutely adore and swear by their speakers. It’s been a success story, I’d say.”
Glasgow Audio’s success in a challenging retail landscape is a testament to their unwavering commitment to the customer, their passion for music, and their discerning selection of products like Kudos Audio loudspeakers. Jesse Stuhr and his team prove that the future of Hi-Fi retail lies not just in cutting-edge technology, but in fostering genuine human connection, education, and an unparalleled listening experience. They are not just selling equipment; they are cultivating a love for music that resonates deeply with every listener who walks through their door.
If this article piqued your interest in all things Glasgow Audio, then why not join us in Glasgow for a special showcase event?
From 20th – 21st March, Kudos Audio will be participating in an exciting event at Glasgow Audio, along with our friends at Ultrafide Audio. We’d love to see you there!
Find out more, and register for a free place, on this link:
Our warm thanks to Jesse Stuhr and Glasgow Audio for contributing to this piece. Article and interview by Lee Broderick.
Kudos Audio is delighted to announce its participation at this year’s Bristol Hi-Fi Show, partnering with Ultrafide Audio for a compelling “music first” demonstration system.
Taking place from 20–22 February, the Bristol Hi-Fi Show is the UK’s longest-running and largest hi-fi exhibition, attracting audiophiles, music lovers, press and industry professionals from around the world.
The showcase will feature Kudos Titan 505 loudspeakers, partnered with Ultrafide’s brand-new ENSO INT-125, which will be unveiled publicly for the very first time at the show.
Visitors can experience the system in Room 314 on the 3rd Floor.
Kudos Titan 505 loudspeakers
The Titan 505 sits at the heart of the Kudos Titan range, designed to deliver uncompromising musical engagement with exceptional control, timing and scale. A three-way floorstanding design, the 505 combines a dedicated midrange driver with twin bass units and a high-frequency tweeter, housed within a rigid, resonance-controlled cabinet.
True to Kudos’ design philosophy, the Titan 505 prioritises speed, coherence and rhythmic precision, delivering an open, dynamic presentation that remains faithful to the musical performance. The result is a loudspeaker capable of revealing fine detail and emotional nuance while maintaining authority and composure at all listening levels.
Find out more
Ultrafide ENSO (INT-125) integrated amplifier
Making its debut at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, the Ultrafide ENSO integrated amplifier embodies the brand’s “music first” ethos. Designed and built in the UK, ENSO focuses on signal purity, simplicity and drive capability, delivering a powerful yet refined performance without unnecessary complexity.
The ENSO (INT-125) offers generous power reserves and a carefully optimised analogue architecture, enabling it to control demanding loudspeakers with ease while preserving musical flow and tonal naturalness. Its understated design and engineering-led approach make it an ideal partner for high-performance loudspeakers such as the Titan 505.
There’s a phrase you’ll often hear on the lips of the Kudos Audio team. “There’s a Titan for every music lover.”
It’s a nice adage. But what does it mean, fundamentally, in practice?
While it admittedly makes an effective marketing pitch for our current generation of loudspeakers, there’s another, deeper meaning at its heart. It is, truthfully, the key driving philosophy behind the entire Titan range.
Designing the flagship Titan 808 was an exercise in putting aside the rule book, and the balance sheet, and creating a loudspeaker that delivered the absolute pinnacle of Kudos listening in every possible respect. Following on from the 808s critical and consumer success, the rest of the range was built to emulate as much of the flagship’s power and potency as physically possible, in a myriad of different ways, for a myriad of different listeners.
When we say “There’s a Titan for every music lover”, we mean it sincerely. If you love music, there is a speaker in this range that will fit your listening habits and your living situation.
And in this new journal series, MEET THE TITANS, we hope to demonstrate exactly that. Over the next few volumes, we’ll take each Titan in turn; look under the hood, consider its sonic characteristics, and ask ‘who is the perfect listener for this speaker?’.
We start our journey with the smallest speaker in the Titan range. A cult hero amongst bookshelf enthusiasts and beyond. The Kudos Audio Titan 505.
In the world of high-fidelity audio, stand-mount loudspeakers can often occupy a bit of a specific niche. Excellent performers, garnering a vast fan club of bookshelf aficionados; yet for some, representing something of a ‘compromise’ when compared to their floor-standing brethren, especially in the realm of deep, visceral bass.
Enter the Kudos Audio Titan 505, the lone stand-mount in the acclaimed Titan range. This pint sized sister speaker of the larger Titan 606, far from being a ‘compromise’, is a stealthy technological powerhouse, designed to deliver a ‘big speaker’ personality without dominating a living space. It’s a compelling proposition for the modern audiophile who demands engineering excellence and spatial efficiency in equal measure.
Derek Gilligan, MD of Kudos Audio, knew he was onto something from the start with the Titan 505. “It was loads of fun to design…it put a huge smile on my face from the moment we tried out the prototype. When we launched it, I wasn’t sure if it would have a limited market due to its price point for a bookshelf, but I think people see it more as an entry level Titan than a standmount. It’s got its own little fan club now.”
Let’s take a look at why this fan club finds the Titan 505 so special, by taking a glimpse…
Beneath the clean, modern aesthetic of the Titan 505 lies a quiet masterclass in acoustic engineering. While it presents as a compact two-way, rear boundary ported stand-mount, its true nature is far more complex, intelligently holding onto all sorts of flagship technology from its larger siblings in the Titan family.
As with the full range of Titan loudspeakers, the most head-turning technical feature of the Titan 505 is its isobaric bass reflex system. This is a relatively rare design approach in modern audio engineering; one that involves two identical bass drive units operating in tandem within the cabinet, wired in parallel. While only one 180mm mid-bass unit is visible to the listener, a second, identical unit is internally mounted directly behind it, firing into a shared internal chamber.
In the Titan 505, this arrangement adopts a back-to-back configuration before the reflex port. Isobaric loading effectively doubles the mass and motor system, allowing for a tighter grip on the behaviour of the air within the enclosure, allowing the cabinet to achieve a significantly deeper and more controlled low-frequency extension: the kind typically associated with a much larger speaker volume. This system is one of the reasons the Titan 505 offers the potential to deliver such resonant, well-handled bass from its relatively modest footprint.
Another no-compromise element of the Titan 505’s design comes in the form of its custom-designed SEAS drivers, designed by and built exclusively for Kudos Audio, and seen throughout the Titan range.
A 29mm SEAS-Kudos K3 fabric dome tweeter is designed for refined, extended, and balanced high frequencies, avoiding the ‘zing’ or exaggeration that can sometimes accompany stand-mount designs attempting to bely a bigger surface area than they actually have.
In the mid-bass range, two 180mm SEAS-Kudos units feature double-coated paper cones, a 39mm voice coil with a copper shorting ring, and a handsome aluminium phase plug featuring the Kudos logo. These drivers are not off-the-shelf; they are built only for use in Kudos Audio loudspeakers and painstakingly optimised for the demands of the speaker’s isobaric system.
The cabinet itself doesn’t just make a pleasing addition to your living space. It’s been meticulously constructed from varying thicknesses of high-grade materials; a process employing sophisticated resonance control processes, with the beautifully rendered external sides coupled to the inner cabinet structure at very specific points – this controls the flow and release of energy within the cabinet, reducing the storage of harmful energy inside.
Kudos speakers have become well-known industry wide for their low-order crossovers, built to our ‘masterfully simple’ design philosophy (read more about that here!). While this crossover ensures the Titan 505 performs beautifully in passive operation, they are also incredibly easy to bypass, allowing for seamless active operation alongside our custom-built unpowered active crossover, SIGAO DRIVE. More on that later.
“The Kudos Titan 505 is one of the most impressively well-balanced loudspeakers in its price and beyond.” – HiFi Plus Magazine
When hearing the Titan 505 for the first time, many listeners describe a wholesale recalibration of expectations. Don’t expect the sonic experience of a typical standmount; the Titan 505 takes you much closer to the feeling of a full-scale loudspeaker. However, the Titan 505 still manages to retain the intrinsic values so often loved by bookshelf enthusiasts – namely speed, coherence, and excellent point-source imaging.
The most immediately noticeable element of the Titan 505’s performance is, unequivocally, its bass. The isobaric loading provides a sense of power and drive that seems to defy the cabinet’s dimensions. It’s a foundation that is at once deep and taut. Whatever music you choose to press play on – from old-skool 90s dance to a Rachmaninoff piano concerto – the Titan 505 always maintains superb sonic control.
Above this deeply impressive bass is a nuanced and well-balanced mid range that is highly coherent and detailed, without straying into the overtly analytical. This is further elevated by the performance of the high end, which sits comfortably in an agreeably enjoyable space – neither aggressive nor noticeably rolled off. It’s an honest and natural high-end experience that manages to avoid aural fatigue, whilst providing superb detail to every arrangement.
The Kudos Titan 505 occupies a very specific, highly desirable sweet spot in the high-end audio market. If the following sounds like you, you may want to go and give the Titan 505 a try.
This speaker is tailor-made for the music lover who wants true high-end performance but lives in a modestly-sized living room, apartment, or secondary listening space where large floor-standers are simply not practical – making them kind of perfect for the standard British or European living space.
With dimensions of 45 × 25.6 × 32cm, the 505 is a true stand-mount, and by definition, something of a space-saver when compared to larger floor standers. Yet, its isobaric design means it does not compromise on the low-frequency girth and scale that makes its music reproduction truly thrilling. It’s the “big personality” loudspeaker that fits without dominating the décor.
Much like its flexibility in the home, the 505 is a true ‘all-rounder’ when it comes to sonic performance. It maintains plenty of detail and emotion at low volumes, while retaining the ability to really flourish when the volume gets cranked. Paired with good quality amplification, the 505 will soak in power and translate it into visceral and jaw-dropping musical performance.
This, above all else, is why the Titan 505 has garnered such a loving fan club. Whatever music you throw at it, it will deliver in spades. It’s a loudspeaker for those who wear their heart on their sleeve, and unapologetically love their music with every fibre of their being. If that sounds like you, you’re going to love this speaker.
For many, the Titan 505 won’t be the conclusion to their listening journey, but an exciting step into a new and thrilling sonic adventure.
The Titan 505 performs fabulously as a passive-driven loudspeaker. But introduce SIGAO DRIVE, and your listening experience transposes into whole new, previously untold levels of musical purity.
SIGAO DRIVE allows you to operate your Titan 505s in active configuration alongside almost any brand of amplifier you choose to use. Our unpowered active crossover is supplied with the correct plugs for both your Kudos loudspeakers, and your chosen power amplifiers. And when you change your speakers or amplifiers, all you have to do is swap out the plugs.
A bookshelf speaker the Titan 505 may be, but its appeal stretches far beyond the confines of bookshelf enthusiasts. This is a highly engineered solution for the modern music lover; a true Titan that delivers vast, controlled sound and unparalleled technological flexibility in a beautiful, manageable package.