Floorstanding loudspeakers — German Physiks PQS-302

The PQS-302 belongs to the Reference Series of German Physiks and is designed for medium to large rooms. It is derived from the bigger PQS-402 and keeps that model's pair of DDD drivers, combined here with two separate bass cabinets that each carry an 8-inch long-throw woofer.

Key specs that matter

German Physiks lists a response of 26 Hz to 24,000 Hz, 87.7 dB sensitivity for 1 W at 1 m and a 4 ohm impedance. The DDD pair covers 170 Hz upward, which is also the crossover frequency. In passive form the DDD section uses 12 dB per octave electrical and 21 dB per octave acoustic slopes, and the woofer section 18 dB electrical and 24 dB acoustic. Power handling reaches 400 W nominal and 700 W short term, and maximum output is 112 dB. Each speaker is 530 mm wide, 1,400 mm high and 730 mm deep, and weighs 115 kg. The suggested room size is 25 to 100 m2, and the warranty runs 5 years. Buyers can choose polyester lacquer in black or white, carbon fibre, and macassar, walnut cluster or pappel cluster high-polish veneers, with custom colours to order.

Engineering and use context

Because the DDD drivers reach down to the crossover frequency, the design has no crossover point in the midband. They sit in small cylindrical aluminium enclosures with non-resonant MDF end-caps and internal damping, so there is little panel area to vibrate. The two bass reflex cabinets are stacked vertically, with a base plate below and a cap plate above. None of these parts is screwed together - interlocking collars hold them, and each element has a different weight, which reduces shared resonances and makes such a heavy speaker easier to move and assemble. Bass cabinet walls are non-parallel and braced, Hawaphon sheet with steel-shot cells is applied to each panel, and precisely cut 1 cm felt lines the interior. Angled front faces let the speaker stand relatively close to the rear wall. Rear jumpers trim treble by -2, 0, +2 or +4 dB at 8,000 Hz and lift bass by 0, +5 or +10 dB around 58 Hz. Each unit is measured, burnt in for at least 12 hours and measured again before packing.

Pairing

The passive version asks for at least 150 W into the nominal load per channel, and two sets of WBT nextgen posts allow single or bi-wire connection. An active version omits the internal crossover and ships with the Emperor Extreme DSP crossover, pre-configured at the factory, and then needs two amplifiers per channel of at least 140 W each.

Alternatives

The German Physiks PQS-402 is the larger Reference Series floorstander with two 10-inch woofers and four 8-inch passive radiators.