Напольная акустика — Stenheim Alumine Three SE

The Alumine Three SE is an upgraded Special Edition version of the passive three-way Alumine Three floorstander from Stenheim, made in Switzerland. It keeps the cabinet and drivers of the standard model and changes what sits inside, with custom internal wiring from a boutique supplier and a crossover built from upgraded components. The SE also gains the doubled binding posts used on the Stenheim Reference models.

Key specs that matter

Stenheim fits two 20 cm woofers, a 13 cm midrange driver and a 2.6 cm soft dome tweeter. Stenheim quotes a frequency response of 32 Hz to 35 kHz and a sensitivity of 93 dB SPL measured in half space. Nominal impedance is 8 ohm, with a minimum of 4 ohm. Power handling is 150 W RMS and 300 W peak, and the smallest recommended amplifier delivers 10 W. The speaker is 105 cm high, 25 cm wide and 33 cm deep, and weighs 70 kg.

Engineering and use context

Stenheim forms the whole enclosure from aluminium and splits the interior into two independent chambers, so the pressure inside the bass volume does not act on the back of the midrange driver. Bass loading uses a front laminar port, so the reflex opening faces the listener and the rear of the speaker can sit nearer a wall than with a rear-ported design. The crossover is a phase coherent network, and for the SE version the component suppliers are Jupiter, Mundorf, Audyn, Jantzen and Myflex. Twin terminal pairs make bi-wiring or bi-amping possible, which the single posts of the standard Alumine Three do not. Standard finishes are metallic light grey or dark grey, both combined with a black baffle and back, while full black, ivory or mocca can be ordered. Registration of the product extends the warranty to five years. With its small footprint, the speaker fits living rooms of around 20 m2.

Pairing

The high sensitivity and the benign nominal load open the choice to low-power designs, including single-ended valve amplifiers and class A transistor amplifiers of modest output. The lower minimum impedance still requires an amplifier comfortable with lower loads in parts of the range. Owners who want to use the doubled terminals can bi-amp with two identical stereo amplifiers, one driving the woofers and one the upper section, or run separate cable sets from a single amplifier.

Alternatives

The Stenheim Reference Ultime Three is a much taller floorstanding model with four 32 cm woofers, a ribbon super tweeter and a 1000 W RMS power rating in its passive version.