Floorstanding loudspeakers — Wolf von Langa SON AUDIO FRAME WVL 33221 BERLIN

The AUDIO FRAME WVL 33221 BERLIN is a three-way column loudspeaker from Wolf von Langa, made by hand to order in Neunkirchen am Brand, Germany. The maker quotes roughly 60 days of work for each system before delivery, and the listed price is EUR 116,200 per pair. It combines field coil and compression driver technology in an open, modular frame.

Key specs that matter

The BERLIN covers 30 Hz to 30,000 Hz at a sensitivity of 96 dB for 1 W at 1 m, with a nominal impedance of 8 ohm. Power handling is 450 W continuous and 3,000 W as a 10 ms impulse. Standing assembled, each column measures 571 mm wide, 1,728 mm tall and 419 mm deep, and weighs 106 kg with its bass grilles fitted. Buyers choose white or black, each in a high gloss surface, and the maker labels it a fully passive system despite the powered field coils.

Engineering and use context

The column is stacked from modules - three bass and midrange modules, each 482 x 417 x 300 mm, plus one mid and treble module, set on a solid base that resists warping. Three field coil drivers run as an open baffle dipole with a combined cone area of 2,412 cm2 and a revised magnetic field geometry. Above them, two ultra-linear compression drivers sit on Rösch waveguides moulded from polyester resin reinforced with aramid fibre. These spherical horns follow a 1940 patent by Rösch with a curved cylinder profile, shorter than a classic exponential horn. The midrange compression driver has a low lower cut-off, and the asymmetrically placed treble driver offers adjustable time alignment toward the listening seat. Panels are dense fibreboard with PMMA on both sides, held in an aluminium carrier frame with aluminium bracing. A current source power management system feeds the field coils over two 3 m cables, so the speaker needs no mains lead of its own. Wolf von Langa makes all its drivers in house. The Audio Frame range, described by the maker as FC and DC technology in an open construction, also includes the smaller WVL 23216 LONDON at EUR 75,300 per pair.

Pairing

The crossover separates bass, midrange and treble sections, using only selected and strictly screened parts. Four WBT nextgen copper binding posts on each speaker let owners bi-wire or bi-amp it, with internal bridges for a single two-pole cable. The high sensitivity lets modest amplifiers drive the BERLIN, while a pair of stereo amplifiers can divide the bass modules and the horn section across separate channels. Grilles for every side come in the box, and each column is delivered with its field coil supply cabling.

Alternatives

Within the same Audio Frame family, the WVL 23239 CHICAGO is listed at 95 dB and 300 W with a response reaching down to 25 Hz.