Floorstanding loudspeakers — MAGNAT Transpuls

The Transpuls 1500 from MAGNAT is a passive 3-way tower speaker built around a 38 cm bass driver and a horn-loaded tweeter, launched in 2019 under the company motto Back To The Future. It pairs a retro-styled cabinet with drivers developed using modern measurement tools, and it was priced at EUR 799 per speaker.

Key specs that matter

The frequency band is split between three kinds of driver. The 15 inch woofer with a paper cone and a double-folded cloth surround covers the bottom range, a 17 cm paper-cone midrange with a cloth surround takes over at 920 Hz, and a horn tweeter section starts at 4,800 Hz. The stated response runs from 16 Hz to 35,000 Hz, sensitivity is 95 dB and impedance lies between 4 and 8 ohm. Power handling is 250 W RMS and 500 W peak, and the maker names 30 W to 500 W as the suitable amplifier range. Each speaker is 51.4 cm wide, 100 cm tall and 38.5 cm deep and weighs 37 kg.

Engineering and use context

The treble section is what MAGNAT calls a Double Compression Horn, or DC-Horn. Instead of a single compression driver it places two 25 mm silk fabric domes inside one rectangular slotted horn. The domes sit at an angle in the throat of the horn, and running two of them together raises the load capacity of the high-frequency section. The low end uses a Controlled Reflex Alignment tuning with twin bass reflex ports that both open on the front baffle. Driver motors, magnetic frames, voice coil heat removal and airflow inside the enclosure were optimised with Klippel laser-assisted measurement and digital simulation. The MDF enclosure is covered in dark wood veneer with a black front baffle, rests on solid MDF feet and comes with a removable cloth grille. The line also includes the Transpuls 800A, an active bookshelf model that works without a separate amplifier.

Pairing

The high sensitivity means modest amplification can drive the speakers to normal levels, whereas the wide recommended power range also accepts powerful transistor amplifiers. Because the impedance dips low, any amplifier used ought to be stable into 4 ohm loads.

Alternatives

The MAGNAT Transpuls 1000 is the smaller tower of the line, using a 26 cm woofer, a single-compression horn tweeter and 92.5 dB sensitivity in a 79 cm tall cabinet.