Floorstanding loudspeakers — Audes Llc. Excellence 5 AMT

Audes LLC places the Excellence 5 AMT at the top of its Excellence AMT line, a series named after the Air Motion Transformer tweeter it uses. The Estonian maker, whose factory in Jõhvi produces drive units, crossovers and cabinets for around 40 current models, calls it the loudspeaker with the fastest transient response it has built. The product archive of the company also lists Excellence 1 to Excellence 5 models without the AMT suffix.

Key specs that matter

High frequencies go to an AMT tweeter, which works on the Air Motion Transformer principle devised by Dr. Oskar Heil. Two 5 inch paper cone SEAS Excel drivers cover the midrange, and two 8 inch paper cone woofers of Audes design look after the bass, giving five drive units per cabinet. Crossover frequencies are 150 Hz and 4,000 Hz. Audes quotes a frequency range of 35 Hz to 30,000 Hz within 2 dB, a sensitivity of 89 dB with 2.83 V at 1 m and a nominal impedance of 4 ohm. The cabinet is 1,360 mm high, 227 mm wide and 524 mm deep, stands on a base measuring 310 mm wide by 551 mm deep and weighs 55 kg.

Engineering and use context

Both woofers are mounted on the sides of the enclosure rather than on the front, so the baffle only carries the tweeter and the two midrange drivers. That front panel is more than 50 mm thick, and a complex arrangement of internal bracing is used to suppress cabinet resonances. The walls are not parallel to each other, a shape Audes chose to reduce standing waves inside the box, and the enclosure is vented as a bass reflex design. On the rear panel a control knob changes the output of the AMT tweeter, and according to the maker this adjustment introduces only minimal change to the phase response. The default finish combines black piano lacquer with side panels in real Makassar ebony veneer, and other finishes can be arranged to order through Audes distributors.

Pairing

A recommended power window starting at 30 W and reaching 250 W means Audes specifies the Excellence 5 AMT for modest amplifiers as well as large ones, provided they are rated to drive its low nominal load. Audes also produces its own valve amplifiers and power conditioners, so the speaker can be combined with electronics from the same Estonian maker.

Alternatives

Also floorstanding, the Audes Orpheus from the Reference line is a three-way design using a 10 inch side-firing woofer, a 6.5 inch mid-woofer and a 1 inch fabric dome tweeter in a 65 kg cabinet.