Напольная акустика — Gauder Akustik ARCONA 100 SD

Among the four passive models of the Arcona SD family, the ARCONA 100 SD is the only true three-way design, and it is also the tallest and heaviest tower of the series. Gauder Akustik positions Arcona as its entry range, built to carry ideas from the company's reference loudspeakers down to a lower price level. Below it in the same family stand the 2.5-way Arcona 60 SD and 80 SD towers, the Arcona 40 SD monitor and the Arcona Center SD. A German pair is listed at EUR 8,896, and the US price is USD 16,975 per pair. Production takes place in Germany.

Key specs that matter

The driver complement numbers four. Two XPulse woofers handle the bass together, a third XPulse cone is assigned purely to the midrange, and a silk soft-dome tweeter covers the top octaves. Gauder specifies a nominal impedance of 4 ohm and a power rating of 270 W. Height is 114 cm, width 21 cm and depth 39 cm, and one speaker weighs 29 kg. Buyers choose a black or a white high-gloss piano lacquer, and the fabric front cover as well as a spike extender set are ordered as separate options.

Engineering and use context

Giving the midrange its own cone is what separates this model from the smaller Arcona towers, where one driver has to cover both bass and midrange duty. The XPulse diaphragm pairs a thin aluminium skin with a light honeycomb backing, an approach meant to keep moving mass low while holding the cone stiff. Gauder fits a symmetrical crossover populated with Mundorf parts and cuts each band with slopes of 50 dB per octave, so adjacent drivers overlap over only a narrow range. The reflex port vents through the underside of the cabinet rather than the baffle. The enclosure follows a teardrop plan cut from 22 mm MDF, a shape intended to limit internal standing waves. A Bass Extension circuit gives six levels of low-frequency lift, set by jumper or by modules bought separately. Internal cabling is by Clearwater, the input terminals are WBT NextGen, and the original owner receives a 10-year warranty on parts and labour.

Pairing

Gauder builds no electronics, so an external amplifier is always needed. With a low nominal load and a double woofer section, a transistor stage that keeps its output stable into low impedance is the logical choice, and extra headroom helps when the higher Bass Extension settings are active because they raise the demand for power in the lowest octave.

Alternatives

The Gauder Akustik ARCONA 80 SD is the next tower down, a 2.5-way design standing 105 cm tall with a 170 W rating.