Floorstanding loudspeakers — RossoFiorentino Elba 2

The Elba 2, listed by Rosso Fiorentino as the Elba series 2, is the entry-level floorstanding loudspeaker of the Italian maker, placed below the Arno 40, the Siena series 2 and the Florentia in the catalogue. It is a passive tower with a rear port, and its American price stands at USD 7,000 per pair. The series 2 label marks a revision of the original Elba, with new drivers, a revised motor system and a redesigned crossover.

Key specs that matter

The layout is 2.5-way, with a 26 mm tweeter and two 165 mm woofers. Rosso Fiorentino quotes a response of 40 Hz to 30 kHz at the -3 dB points. Sensitivity is 88 dB SPL for 2.83 V at 1 m. Nominal impedance is 6 ohm, with a lowest point of 4 ohm per Rosso Fiorentino. Each speaker measures 108.5 cm in height, 27 cm in width and 32 cm in depth, and weighs 27 kg.

Engineering and use context

A hand treated textile diaphragm with a wide surround forms the tweeter. The two woofers have coated fibreglass cones, a material chosen for its balance of stiffness and damping over membrane resonances, and their motor system was reworked to reduce power compression. In a 2.5-way design both woofers share the bass range whereas just one of them carries on into the midrange band, which keeps the vertical spacing between the tweeter and the upper woofer short. The crossover was redesigned to link the drivers for coherent output on both the vertical and horizontal axis. Its parts include audio grade capacitors made for Rosso Fiorentino by ClarityCap, inductors produced in Italy to the maker's own design and precision thick film resistors. The cabinet is made of solid HDF fibreboard and built from multi-layer panels of different materials to control resonance. Inside, damping elements combine three different absorbent materials, and the enclosure narrows slightly toward the back to reduce internal standing waves between parallel walls.

Pairing

Given its moderate sensitivity and the low impedance dip, solid-state integrated amplifiers of moderate output that stay stable into low loads are the natural match. Because the port sits at the back, some free space behind each speaker is advisable in a listening space of around 20 m2. A single pair of these towers can serve as the front channels of a larger setup, since the maker also lists the ARNOcc centre and the ARNOsub subwoofer in its catalogue.

Alternatives

The Rosso Fiorentino Arno 40 is a taller 2.5-way floorstander with four 5.5 inch treated paper cones, a neodymium silk dome tweeter and a rear and downward firing port.