Напольная акустика — Albedo Amira

The AMIRA is the smallest floorstanding loudspeaker in the range of Albedo Audio, an Italian company in Montelabbate whose operator is Music Tools & More srl. Albedo describes it as a two-way tower in curved wood with linear phase behaviour. The brand's approach dates from the early 1990s, when its engineers developed a mathematical description of transmission line systems, and the firm took its present name in 2008 after earlier models were sold as Apex Audio from 1995. The AMIRA was listed at USD 10,750.

Key specs that matter

Albedo uses only two drivers here. A 5.5 inch mid-woofer has a cone of CURV composite, and a 1 inch silk dome tweeter sits between DSD acoustic traps. A single crossover point at 2.2 kHz uses first-order acoustic slopes. Albedo quotes 84 dB sensitivity for 2.83 V at 1 m, a nominal impedance of 8 ohm and a response of 50 Hz to 22,000 Hz. The cabinet is 17 cm wide, 24.8 cm deep and 99.5 cm tall, and the net weight is 15 kg per speaker. The finish is black oak.

Engineering and use context

Even at this size Albedo keeps its trademark bass loading. The mid-woofer feeds a transmission line filtered by a Helmholtz resonator, the patented Helmholine System found in all of the company's speakers, and the line exits at the rear of the cabinet. The interior is lined with polyurethane of medium porosity. First-order filtering was chosen to preserve phase coherence between the two drivers, which is what the linear phase description refers to. Like the larger models, it has a hand-built crossover limited to Mundorf parts, and the brand's range uses Mundorf EVO Supreme Silver Gold Oil polypropylene capacitors, ZeroOhm OFC coils and shielded anti-inductive resistors. Albedo notes it prefers the line to pneumatic suspension or bass reflex loading. The tower rests on a steel plinth fitted with adjustable spikes.

Pairing

The sensitivity is low for a two-way tower, so an amplifier with a comfortable power reserve suits the AMIRA better than a low-output valve design, while the higher nominal impedance keeps demands on current modest. The slim cabinet and light weight make it easier to place in a smaller room of around 20 m2 than the heavy towers higher in the range.

Alternatives

The Albedo APTICA SG is another two-way floorstander in curved wood, fitted with ceramic transducers and a Mundorf crossover.