Полочная акустика — Fleetwood Sound DeVille

The DeVille, a two-way speaker for stands, comes from Fleetwood Sound Company, a division of Oswalds Mill Audio, and it is built in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania. Prices range from USD 15,600 to 20,950 depending on configuration, and Fleetwood gives a lifetime warranty and a two-week home trial with a refund less shipping, which does not apply to custom orders.

Key specs that matter

An 8 inch paper-cone woofer with a high-efficiency neodymium magnet works with a 1 inch neodymium compression driver, loaded by a solid-wood conical horn 152 mm thick with a proprietary phase plug. The bass-reflex cabinet has two downward-firing ports. Sensitivity is 94 dB at 1 W and 1 m, nominal impedance is 8 ohm, and Fleetwood recommends 10 W or more. Bi-wiring and bi-amping are not supported. The speaker is 610 mm high, 460 mm wide and 254 mm deep, and it stands about 1220 mm tall on its stand. Each cabinet weighs about 16.3 kg without the stand. Fleetwood does not publish a frequency response or a crossover frequency for the model.

Engineering and use context

Horn loading makes the compression driver far more efficient than a dome tweeter, which is why the DeVille has its high sensitivity and works with low-powered amplifiers. The phase plug guides sound from the diaphragm into the horn throat so that the paths from different parts of the diaphragm are equal in length. Firing the ports downwards towards the stand spreads their output so the distance to the rear wall matters less. The cabinet is sustainably harvested solid Pennsylvania ash, torrefied, or heat-treated, which changes the structure of the wood and its stability, and the rear panel is solid phenolic composite, chosen for its anti-resonant behaviour. Finishes include natural ash, light, medium or dark torrefied ash, black and Farrow and Ball paints, antiqued leather, Japanese indigo denim and Japanese washi paper. Stands come as Stand A or Stand B in light or dark torrefied ash, reclaimed hickory or black or grey cast iron. Grilles in Honeycomb, Ming and Fleetwood styles cost USD 350 to 450.

Pairing

Single-ended and other low-powered valve designs suit the high sensitivity. The Fleetwood Fundamental subwoofer can extend the bass.

Alternatives

Fleetwood Sound also offers the Helios, another bookshelf loudspeaker in its range.