HECO Aurora 300 Bookshelf Loudspeaker Review

[shadyJ]

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In our review of the HECO Aurora 1000 floor-standing speakers, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a real gem from a low-cost brand that I had not heard of. The brand was unknown to me, the packing was cheap, and much of the exterior evidenced a loudspeaker that was pretending to be more expensive than it was. However, the listening experience, as well as objective testing, showed a speaker that was designed to take sound quality seriously, and it ended up being one of the very best tower speakers in its price class.

I was left deeply impressed by the Aurora 1000s, and I wanted to see what else HECO brings to the table at such affordable pricing, and that leads us to today’s review of the Aurora 300 bookshelf speakers. Can HECO sustain the same level of sound quality in their lower-cost stand-mount speaker? Some other brands have been known to phone in their efforts in the simpler and less expensive speakers and subs within the same series; would HECO do the same? And how do the Aurora 300s compare to other competing bookshelf speakers in its class? Read our in-depth review to see what we found...

READ: HECO Aurora 300 Bookshelf Speaker Review

 

[ryanosaur]

Interesting to see. As you say, a very good price, especially on sale. Not the prettiest graph for those shopping by "curve," but looks to smooth out significantly by about 15º off axis. Worth considering if on a budget, for sure.

Thank you, @shadyJ !

 

[davidscott]

Nice review. This would be a speaker I'd definitely consider if I wanted to downsize from my Infinity P363s in my condo.

 

[TLS Guy]

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In our review of the HECO Aurora 1000 floor-standing speakers, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a real gem from a low-cost brand that I had not heard of. The brand was unknown to me, the packing was cheap, and much of the exterior evidenced a loudspeaker that was pretending to be more expensive than it was. However, the listening experience, as well as objective testing, showed a speaker that was designed to take sound quality seriously, and it ended up being one of the very best tower speakers in its price class.

I was left deeply impressed by the Aurora 1000s, and I wanted to see what else HECO brings to the table at such affordable pricing, and that leads us to today’s review of the Aurora 300 bookshelf speakers. Can HECO sustain the same level of sound quality in their lower-cost stand-mount speaker? Some other brands have been known to phone in their efforts in the simpler and less expensive speakers and subs within the same series; would HECO do the same? And how do the Aurora 300s compare to other competing bookshelf speakers in its class? Read our in-depth review to see what we found...

READ: HECO Aurora 300 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Those designers know what they are doing. That is two high value for money speakers you have reviewed from HECO. They won't be receiver busters either. There are no crazy phase angles.

It continues to amaze me how incompetent so may designs actually are. Many high priced speakers measure little better than these and often worse. Then you get low impedances and amp busting phase angles.

I bet many will be very happy with those speakers over extended periods of time.

 

[shadyJ]

 

[dmit2k]

Thanks for the excellent review (as always)!

Recently I was looking for a budget bookshelf HiFi speaker and went through tons of reviews, user feedback, and measurement data. In the end, my shortlist came down to the Heco Aurora 300 and the Polk ES20. I was leaning toward the Polk ES20 (since I already have ES15s in my bedroom and they sound fantastic), but my local dealer offered me a 20% discount on the Heco Aurora XT 300, which became the deciding factor.

However, after a month of listening, I’m left with mixed feelings and honestly a bit disappointed. The speakers just don’t seem to “open up”: there’s no airiness, female vocals sound muffled, and the overall presentation feels somewhat unclear. I tried them in different rooms and setups, both on-axis and off-axis, with largely the same results. Interestingly, some tracks do sound really good, while others feel like they’re coming from under a blanket. At moderate-to-high volumes they perform better, but at lower levels (I usually listen at conversational volume) they lose even more clarity.

At first, I thought it might just be a matter of break-in, but after a month that excuse feels unlikely. Then I suspected the source or amplifier — but I used the same custom SSM3582 USB DAC amp that works fantastically well with my Polk ES15/ES20 and with other speakers I tested (I even carried it around to friends’ setups to confirm). Also tested with other Class-D amps I have and results are pretty similar. Don't have AB class handy at the moment to test though.

What really surprises me is that the Aurora has higher sensitivity than the Polk and uses lightweight paper cones, so on paper I expected them to be at least as lively, if not more so. This is so different from most of the reviews (including this one) that I’m starting to wonder if the new Aurora XT 300 has significantly different characteristics compared to the “original” Aurora 300.

According to the manufacturer, the new “XT” line features additional bracing to reduce resonances, a “smoothed” frequency response, and a slightly shifted crossover. Could these changes really have degraded the sound so much? Has anyone here had a chance to listen to the new XT version and compare it with the original Aurora 300? I haven’t been able to find any measurements or detailed tests to check.

 

[TLS Guy]

I managed to find and FR of those XT speakers.

So there is a nast dip between 100 and 200 Hz. So I would put your sub next to a speaker, a sub by each would be best and cross at 200 Hz.

There is a rather pronounced and extended BBC smiley which will make them sound a little retiring.

They are essentially 4 ohm speakers, which might stress a receiver.

 

[dmit2k]

I managed to find and FR of those XT speakers.
So there is a nast dip between 100 and 200 Hz. So I would put your sub next to a speaker, a sub by each would be best and cross at 200 Hz.
There is a rather pronounced and extended BBC smiley which will make them sound a little retiring.
They are essentially 4 ohm speakers, which might stress a receiver.

Wow! Thank you for sharing the graph! That looks terrible and definitely kicks off XTs (and probably the whole new Aurora line) out of HiFi scene! Now I clearly see the reason for the lack of "bass body" I didn't mention in my post and why female vocals are dimmed! Where did you get it from? Maybe there is some more info as well?

Regarding the Ohms - my amp feels comfortable even with 2Ohm car speakers which is also stated in the SSM3582 chip datasheet.