The most expensive speaker system. The most expensive speaker in the world. Best open speaker system

Acoustics as the science of radiation and propagation of waves in elastic media is beautiful in its completeness. Its main equation was derived back in the 19th century, and at that time its solutions were obtained for many ideal and special cases. They, of course, find application in practice, but reality turns out to be much more complicated than theoretical schemes. An example of this is sound reproduction, or rather the development of acoustic systems capable of recreating those waves in the air that were previously recorded in one way or another on various types of media.

The flight of fancy in this matter at various stages was limited by the development of related industries: electrical engineering, materials science, machine tool building, etc. And devices were born that we now call speakers, which still amaze our imagination. Many have already passed into history, leaving behind, nevertheless, a bit of experience for the general treasury of speakers developers, and some of it is in memory or relevant to this day.

Altec A7 "Voice of The Theater"

If we start talking about legendary speakers, then we should start with these. Initially, they were intended for dubbing soundtracks in cinemas, which they did with success throughout their existence on the market from 1945 to the 1990s. At the time of their release, they were truly revolutionary speakers with an Alnico V permanent magnet in the engine. Over the years, several models with the letters A in the name have been released: A2, A4, A7, A5. In 1953, Voice of The Theater speakers were declared the world standard for use in cinemas, and in 1956, production of the 820A version for home use began. They can still be seen today in the audio tracks of fans of vintage equipment, as well as for sale on the secondary market. The most common combinations used in these speakers are Altec 288 drivers, Altec 515 woofers, 828 cabinets and 511 horns, but many other combinations exist. The sound of “Voices” is distinguished by the expressive and soulful presentation of vocals and instrument parts - this is typical of speakers with a horn design. At the edges of the range, things are not so good, which is not surprising given the thin-walled plywood cabinets, aluminum diaphragms of midrange/high-frequency drivers, as well as the limitations inherent in horns. Retro sound enthusiasts still share recommendations for bringing sound quality to modern levels. But is it worth the effort? The inherent signature of Altec speakers is their main asset, so it's best to leave everything as is and enjoy the acoustic journey through time.

BBC LS3/5

Perhaps nothing else has provided such impetus for improving speakers as the development of near-field monitors for the studios of the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC. By the end of the 50s, in connection with the advent of the stereo format, it became necessary to replace the bulky speakers that existed at that time with something more compact, leaving room for employees and other equipment in field studios. An order was formulated, and there were many engineers ready to work on this problem. Among them are the talented scientist Del Shorter, Dudley Harwood (founder of the Harbeth company), Raymond Cook (KEF), Spencer Hughes (Spendor) and others. As a solution, thin-walled enclosures and a new material - plastic rather than paper - for speaker cones were proposed. Later, D. Harwood found an even more suitable polypropylene, on the basis of which the membranes of many midrange/bass speakers are created to this day. The design of the BBC LS/5 speaker turned out to be so successful that it was produced under license by 11 companies over the years, and it also became the inspiration for similar solutions in their various variations. The assortment of Harbeth, Spendor, Graham Audio, Falcon Acoustics, Stirling Broadcast still has speakers in this already retro style, but quite modern in sound quality.

Tannoy Monitor Gold

The advantages of a coaxial (or coaxial) arrangement of the midrange/woofer and tweeter from the point of view of the theory of sound wave radiation are quite obvious (a full-range speaker is even more preferable, but also more difficult to implement). This design - Dual Concentric - was proposed in 1948 by Tannoy, a leader in the development of electrical technology in the middle of the last century. On a powerful cast frame, a compression HF head loaded on a horn and a low-frequency speaker were coaxially installed in it, and one magnetic system with two working gaps was used. The 12-inch model was released first, followed by 15- and 10-inch models. On their basis, studio monitors were built, which were widely used at that time. At one time, kits were also produced for self-building speakers, which included a coaxial speaker, a crossover/tuning unit and a panel with connectors for connection. Hobbyist enthusiasts around the world have created a true speaker culture with Monitor Gold speakers. And the Tannoy company offered many series of models, both for professional use and for home systems, but the most often mentioned body is the Lancaster and, accordingly, this is the best-selling bass reflex model with a 15-inch speaker in the 60s.

Klipschorn

This is the only speaker model that has been in continuous production since its inception in 1946 - only minor changes were made to it in 2005. It was developed by the company's founder, Paul Wilbur Klipsch, with the goal of most fully and accurately conveying the sound of a live concert performance at home. they are striking in their dimensions and body design, which perfectly contribute to the solution of the task and are quite acceptable for American music lovers, who, as a rule, have spacious houses. The speakers are designed for installation in the corners of the room - this is required by the acoustic design of the 15-inch woofer, which is a three-way exponential folded horn. An inch compression tweeter and a two-inch midrange driver of the same type are loaded onto exponential horns. These giants, created before the era of semiconductor amplifiers, have a high sensitivity of 105 dB, a flat frequency response and a low level of nonlinear distortion. They are able to fill huge spaces with high-quality and very loud sound, and therefore find fans all over the world.

JBL L100/4310

The cramped conditions in recording studios led to the development of the JBL 4310 monitor speakers, followed by the JBL L100 home speakers, the best-selling model of the decade starting in 1970. 43-series monitors were widely used in the 60s, but the growing complexity of mixing consoles led to an increase in the physical size of electronic equipment, and the “housing problem” was proposed to be solved by reducing the size of the speakers. The result was the 4310, which could be mounted on a cantilever bridge, control room window shelf, or ceiling mount. It quickly gained popularity and became widely used in the United States, particularly in Hollywood, and then in other countries. The owner of the company, which changed at that time, considered it promising to release a household version of the 4310s. A number of design simplifications were made, and in order to make the speakers recognizable, unusual protective grilles made of painted foam were invented for them - in a home interior, as a rule, grills are not removed. The name “The Century” was coined for the model, explaining its trade index L100. JBL recently released a modern version of its famous speakers - .

Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus

Unique and beautiful “” is a living legend. Created in 1993 based on the results of unrestricted research, they are still produced today, although not in large numbers. But it cannot be said that the funds spent on their development did not pay off, because the technologies used in them have found wide application in other, more mass-produced products from Bowers & Wilkins. The unusual shape of the speaker cabinets is a creative rethinking by the designers of the scientific principle of loading tubes. They allow the speakers to operate in near-ideal conditions - as if they were built into an infinite flat screen. In this case, the wave emitted by the back of the diffuser does not affect the sound. In conventional housings, absorbing materials are used for this, and in the load tube, in addition to them, the shape itself seems to take the back wave away, preventing it from affecting the membrane. The dimensions of the tubes are determined by the operating frequency ranges of the heads, so the especially long one, intended for the woofer, had to be rolled into a spiral. Nautilus speaker cabinets are cast from Marlan, a highly durable mineral-filled synthetic resin, and then hand polished and painted.

Waterfall Niagara Platinum

Lovers of high-quality sound and Hi-Fi equipment often disagree on how the living room in the house should look with their other halves. There is even such a thing as “women’s acceptability factor” (acceptability factor for women). The gallant French from the Waterfall company proposed a reasonable compromise in 1996 - making the speakers transparent. But what about internal standing waves, which are usually combated by filling the shells with sound-absorbing materials and lining the walls with heavy bitumen? It turns out that glass is not such an inappropriate material. If it is thick and rigid, then it is quite capable of coping with the resonances of the body. However, to work with it, you need to master special technologies, in particular gluing. Waterfall speakers also use speakers with proprietary acoustic design ADT (Acoustic Damping Tube), which prevents the waves emitted by the rear side of the diffuser from escaping into the cabinet, and the energy of low-frequency sound that does penetrate into it is absorbed by a passive radiator built into the base panel. It also helps create bass. Waterfall currently has three models of glass speakers in its assortment. with a horn-shaped tweeter - its flagship.

Quad ESL-57

Sound waves, when certain conditions are met, are created by oscillating objects (but don’t think that the wind is blowing, because trees are swaying). The requirements dictated by the laws of acoustics, however, are quite contradictory, which leads to the need to divide the frequency range between two or more speakers. But a very light film of large size can oscillate in piston mode within a very wide frequency range - provided that certain requirements are met, in particular, with a uniform application of driving force over its entire area, which is ensured by the design of the stators.

The Quad company managed to put this ideal situation into practice in 1956, and the following year the first electrostatic speakers Quad ESL-57 went on sale. Between two charged stators, under the influence of a musical signal, a thin film of plastic moved between two charged stators, creating a sound that was devoid of many of the disadvantages inherent in speakers with electrodynamic heads. Very fast response, no mismatch problems, low nonlinear distortion - all this provided unprecedented detail, transparency and dynamics. They were produced almost unchanged for 28 years, and their descendants are now present in the Quad range.

Revel Ultima Salon2

Almost every speaker manufacturer claims that their goal is to produce speakers that most accurately recreate recorded sound. However, few of them can boast that they use the most advanced scientific methods in their development. But Sidney Harman, one of the most famous people in the Hi-Fi world, founded the Revel company in 1996, whose engineers were tasked with making the best speakers, without limiting themselves with funds and without regard to the prospects for their sales. This was possible during that favorable period for the US economy. Well-equipped laboratories, advanced technologies, the use of psychoacoustics methods - everything was put into action. As a result, many excellent product lines have emerged, led by the flagship Ultima2 series, which was released in 2007. Its senior model, Ultima Salon2, is a four-way floor standing speaker with a rounded body made of nine layers of MDF, as well as a 2.5-inch front panel with a complex shape optimized for sound diffraction. The tweeter dome is made of beryllium, the RF emitter is placed in a shallow horn waveguide with an acoustic lens. The concave cones of the remaining speakers are titanium. Revel is part of Harman International Industries, and its products are widely used in many products from other brands.

Cabasse La Sphere

Coaxial radiators, combining a tweeter and a midrange speaker in one unit, have become widespread. Structurally, this is most often a dome HF head located in the center of the midrange cone diffuser. The French company Cabasse, based, by the way, in Brittany, in the same place where the navy with its hydroacoustics is located, has developed and produces coaxial modules with a flat ring, rather than a cone. The pinnacle of her engineering creativity is the La Sphere speakers, in which the idea of ​​putting a point sound source into practice is taken to its logical conclusion. The speaker is a four-way coaxial driver housed in a spherical housing with an inch dome tweeter in the center, two midrange drivers with ring diaphragms and a woofer with a concave 56-centimeter membrane. Matching the radiation of these components is a difficult task, so La Sphere is equipped with a separate active crossover and eight power amplifiers. The second, also four-way, speaker of the flagship series, L’Ocean, has similar electronics built in, and its weight is 120 kg - versus 98 kg for the larger La Sphere.

To be continued…

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Acoustic systems have become an integral part of modern life, and more than 50% of modern society cannot imagine their existence without them. Thanks to the speakers, you can listen to music not only at home, but also outdoors, in the car or in the country. And that is why we decided to tell you which of the currently existing speakers in the expensive segment are the best on the market.

Which speakers are the most expensive?

The world's most expensive acoustic devices have more than wide functionality. In addition to the main option - playing music, most models can be controlled via voice commands, answer asked questions and even work underwater.

Such speakers have the highest quality speakers that make the music sound perfect, regardless of the selected composition. In addition, all models are clad in a high-quality casing, and accordingly are reliably protected from damage, and will serve the owner for a long time. But which speakers are the best at the moment? Just study the material presented below.

Top 5 Expensive Speaker Systems

Classic option. This acoustics has an electromagnetic system for low-frequency woofers. The power is up to 1500 W, and the cost stopped at around 170 thousand euros.

Another model made like a horn. They will delight the owner with a high level of power and the clearest sound possible. The cost of this model is 170,000 euros.

This is the brainchild of a German company. The system is made in a unique shape and occupies a space of 1 m2. The sound produced by the speakers varies from 150 to 23 kilohertz. Despite the fact that the presented model was released back in 1993, the manufacturer is constantly improving it. And this suggests that at the moment the market offers exclusively modern acoustics, which have a classic look and the widest possible functionality. The cost of such a system will be 350 thousand dollars.

Acoustic system "Excalibur"

Another creation of German manufacturers. The presented installation combines a comprehensive sound system operating as a horn. It is recommended to place it in rooms larger than 40 m2 so that it creates the highest quality sound stage. The price of the model is 380 thousand dollars.

These speakers are a true work of art. They are equipped with diamond speakers designed for both high frequencies and midrange frequencies. The cost of this speaker model will be a considerable 572 thousand euros.

Top 3 most expensive bluetooth speakers

The company has always produced high-quality portable acoustics, and the presented model is one of the best Bluetooth speakers today. Thanks to its compact size, you can take it on a trip and always listen to your favorite music. The cost of the model varies from 30 to 50 bucks.

The device can be paired with both a smartphone and tablet, and personal computer. It has a built-in backlight, wide functionality, a mini jack connector and a built-in microphone. The cost of this model ranges from 100 to 120 dollars.

In terms of the ratio of cost and quality, this model is in a leading position. Its power is 16 W, and its battery life is 12 hours. The device has compact dimensions and light weight, and its cost ranges from 100 to 300 dollars. Today this is the most expensive Bluetooth speaker. Everything will depend on the functionality and the presence of additional elements.

We discussed it once - everything is very strange there. Exactly like in these expensive speaker systems. Does anyone know how much quality they cost?

This selection does not cover speakers produced on special order in quantities of several copies. We are talking only about those acoustic systems that are mass-produced.

German Physiks THE GAUDI MK II – 276,000 euros

Branded omnidirectional DDD drivers with carbon diaphragms, frequency response 16 -24,000 Hz, separate bass modules - all according to the canons of the genre. To drive, you will need three amplifiers for each band (200 - 350 W), then the speakers will be able to develop sound pressure up to 120 dB.

Zellaton Statement – ​​300,000 euros

Absolutely tolerant to housing resonances, special drivers. The weight of one speaker is 300 kg, 11’ low-frequency woofers are used, the frequency response starts from 20 Hz. The amplification requirements are gentle - only 50 W.

Goldmund Apologue Anniversary – $550,000

Don't confuse these speakers with Epilogue (the latter are cheaper). Goldmund Apologue is equipped with built-in 3,600 W amplification and can receive a signal via Wi-Fi. In general, everything is fine (if you don’t look at the price).

Tidal La Assoluta – 572,000 euros

485 kg of weight per speaker, diamond speakers are used not only on the high frequencies, but also on the midrange (unique drivers with a diameter of 135 mm are produced only for Tidal, with a circulation of only 20 pairs per year)! Frequency response in active activation from 20 Hz, low-frequency woofers 10’. A work of art, not a technique, that’s for sure.

Wilson Audio WAMM Master Chronosonic – from $700,000

keletonized housings made of proprietary X-Material and S-Material composites, an impressive set of drivers (paper diffusers!) and frequency response from 20 Hz. What more could you want?