Floorstanding loudspeakers — RossoFiorentino Florentia

The Florentia is the tallest tower in the Rosso Fiorentino catalogue from Italy, a multi-section tower that combines passive midrange and treble sections with powered bass modules. It stands more than 1.8 m tall, the US price is USD 140,000 per pair and the UK price GBP 108,000. The cabinet is divided into three parts stacked one above another, each tuned to a different job.

Key specs that matter

Every cabinet carries seven drivers - two 300 mm bass units with neodymium magnets, a 250 mm upper bass unit, two 165 mm midrange units, a 25 mm textile dome tweeter and a ribbon ultrasonic generator. Crossover points sit at 60 Hz, 300 Hz, 2.3 kHz and 30 kHz. Response is 25 Hz to 60 kHz at -3 dB, with extension to 20 Hz at -6 dB and to 100 kHz at -10 dB. Sensitivity is 89 dB SPL for 2.83 V at 1 m, and nominal impedance is 4 ohm. The recommended amplifier power is 100 to 400 W.

Engineering and use context

The upper and lower sealed sections hold the upper bass unit and the two bass units, while the middle section is an open baffle carrying the midrange drivers, the tweeter and the crossover. The bass units are driven by built-in digital amplifiers, and DSP adjustment is provided to fit the bass output to the space. The inner box is made of 19 and 30 mm solid high density fibreboard and birch plywood. Side panels are filled with marble chips, the front panels are 10 mm aluminium and the sides carry 8 mm glass. The upper bass unit and the midrange units have coaxial steel phase plugs for response tailoring, and the tweeter uses a large roll surround. Internal wiring is silver-coated high purity OFC by Van den Hul, and the terminals are Rosso Fiorentino BP-01R parts in pure copper with rhodium plating. Finishes include high gloss black, natural walnut, leather covering and personalised automotive paint.

Pairing

Any external amplifier here feeds just the passive sections above the lowest crossover point, so a stereo power amplifier or integrated within the recommended power window with stability into low impedance is the usual choice. Mains power is also needed at each speaker for the bass modules.

Alternatives

The Rosso Fiorentino Siena series 2 offers a shorter tower option within this Italian range.