Floorstanding loudspeakers — Charney Audio The Companion Moderno

The Companion Moderno is the plainer of the two Companion horn loudspeakers made by Charney Audio, the American single-driver company founded by Brian Charney. Both versions share one cabinet design and identical acoustic performance, and Charney describes the Moderno as the Companion in its most streamlined and contemporary form, with a restrained front plate and a clean architectural plinth. The Companion line is positioned below the larger Concerto and is scaled to fit into ordinary living spaces.

Key specs that matter

The rated range is 32 Hz to 22 kHz, with 104 dB sensitivity at a nominal 8 ohm. Each cabinet stands about 117 cm high on a 30 by 64 cm footprint and weighs about 29.5 kg including the stand, a little heavier than the Excalibur version. A tractrix horn about 2.7 m long is folded inside. A pair costs USD 15,200 with Voxativ AC 1.6 drivers, USD 18,200 with the Voxativ AC 2.6 and USD 23,200 with the AER bd-3b, and all three prices include a veneer finish chosen from the custom options.

Engineering and use context

A single 8 inch wideband unit per cabinet drives the horn directly, with no crossover components in the signal path. The entry driver, the Voxativ AC-1.6, is specified by its maker at 20 Hz to 20 kHz, 10.3 ohm, a Qts of 0.49 and an efficiency of 94 dB at 60 Hz rising to 100 dB at 3 kHz. It combines a ferrite magnet system with an underhung voice coil and a paper cone, measures 19 cm across and 8.1 cm deep, weighs 3.6 kg and handles 50 W nominal or 100 W music power. Loading that driver with the long horn is what lifts the system rating above the bare unit. The horn mouth is set at a 45 degree orientation to the room, and Charney targets medium to large listening spaces and asks for clearance behind the cabinet. Jena Labs supplies the internal wiring. An earlier Companion shared the same cabinet but used a 6 inch Lowther DX55 as standard, with the DX65 as an option, and was rated from 45 Hz at about 23 kg per speaker.

Pairing

The efficiency means a single-ended valve design of a few watts can drive the Moderno, and Charney makes 300B amplifiers of its own for its horn range. Charney states that the Companion needs no subwoofer, so one stereo amplifier covers the whole band.

Alternatives

The Charney Audio Companion Excalibur keeps the Moderno's cabinet and horn but adds a sculpted plinth and more ornate front plate at a lower price per pair.