Полочная акустика — Gato Audio FM-15

The FM-15 is a passive stand-mount speaker with two drivers, part of the FM series from Gato Audio, a Danish company based in Herlev near Copenhagen. Of the two FM bookshelf designs it has the bigger cabinet, pairing a single mineral-cone bass and midrange unit with a ring radiator tweeter in a vented cabinet, and each pair ships with two grille sets, two foam plugs for the bass ports, four pads and the printed manual.

Key specs that matter

Gato rates the frequency response at 40 Hz to 35 kHz and the sensitivity at 86 dB for an input of 2.83 V. Nominal impedance is 4 ohm, and the recommended amplifier output runs from 50 to 200 W. The tweeter is a 38 mm ring radiator with a ferrite motor and a purpose-shaped rear chamber. Below it sits a 170 mm mineral cone driver with a low-loss suspension, a motor fitted with shorting rings and an optimised voice coil. The enclosure measures 205 mm wide, 355 mm high and 305 mm deep.

Engineering and use context

Every FM model uses what Gato calls a FusedMass cabinet. The walls are built from high-density fibreboard joined to a layer of vibration-damping material, some panels combine up to six layers of mixed materials, and heavy internal bracing stiffens the box. The PurePhase crossover network is assembled on a fibreglass circuit board with heavy-gauge coils, low-resonance capacitors and non-inductive resistors, and Gato says the network was designed around the phase, resonance and impulse behaviour of the two drivers. Cabinets are finished in handcrafted veneer or paint. The grilles use a small close-fitting frame covered in fabric and are held in place by magnets that line up with the driver fixing screws. Two rear switches, labelled Focus and Detail, each have three positions, from Low through a middle setting to High. Gato covers the product with a warranty of at least two years.

Pairing

A double set of gold-plated copper binding posts accepts 4 mm plugs and separate cables for the high and low sections, which allows a bi-wire or bi-amp connection after the copper shorting plates are taken off. Gato advises using the same kind of cable for both sections when bi-wiring and identical amplifiers when bi-amping, and the speaker cable must be connected only while the amplifier is switched off.

Alternatives

The Gato Audio FM-8 is the more compact FM bookshelf design, using a 150 mm mid-bass driver in a 180 x 300 x 260 mm cabinet.