Floorstanding loudspeakers — Final Audio Model 5

The Model 5 is an electrostatic floorstanding loudspeaker from Final, a Dutch company based in Bloemendaal that first appeared in 1991, was bought by Philips in 2004 and was restarted in 2015 by its original founders with a range designed from scratch. It belongs to the Resoné series alongside the Model 3 and Model 7, and Final calls it the top seller of the range and the middle option in size and cost. Two versions exist - a panel-only speaker and a hybrid with a woofer in the base, and every pair is built to order in the Netherlands.

Key specs that matter

The hybrid version is rated from 45 Hz to 23,000 Hz within 3 dB, while the panel on its own starts at 100 Hz. Sensitivity is 88 dB for 2.83 volts at 1 m, and the published impedance is 4 ohm, falling to 3 ohm at 20 kHz. Final asks for 20 to 200 W per channel and states compatibility with 4, 5 and 8 ohm amplifier outputs. The panel is 137 cm tall and 28.8 cm wide and stands on a footplate of 31.7 by 29.7 cm, and the hybrid weighs 20 kg per speaker. Horizontal dispersion is given as 20 degrees. The newer Model 5+ revision lists 42 Hz to 23,000 Hz, 6 ohm and a 50 to 150 W amplifier range, and comes in aluminium or black matte with an optional wall mount.

Engineering and use context

In the hybrid the electrostatic panel covers the midrange and treble and a 10 inch long stroke woofer with an aluminium cone handles the bass. The handover sits at roughly 400 Hz with a second order filter, and the bass section is a semi-closed box driven by a Seas unit rather than a reflex design. The stators are made of PMMA plastic, which stays dimensionally stable and lets the diaphragm sit closer to them. The membrane is Teonex, a development of Mylar, coated with conductive indium tin oxide for an even charge, and Final says it resists UV and does not need replacing. Earlier units used a custom wound C core transformer, polypropylene capacitors and air coils, while the Model 5+ switches to a UI48 audio transformer with film type capacitors and air core inductors of reduced loss. Final also offers an active variant with a built-in 2 x 125 W nCore amplifier and DSP, with AES, optical, coaxial, RCA and XLR inputs.

Pairing

Because impedance drops in the treble, the passive version suits a solid-state amplifier that handles low impedance loads with ease. Connection is through custom two-way terminals, and the active version removes the need for a separate power amplifier.

Alternatives

The Final Model 7 is the taller Resoné floorstander at 153 cm, with its hybrid version reaching down to 38 Hz.