Напольная акустика — Diapason ARES EXCEL

The Ares Excel is a very slim two-way floorstanding loudspeaker from the Italian maker Diapason, founded by violin maker Alessandro Schiavi, which has been handcrafting speakers since 1987. The front baffle is only about 13 cm wide while the cabinet reaches 94 cm in height. A European list price of EUR 2,900 per pair has been published for it, and each cabinet is finished by hand in Italy, where all Diapason speakers are made.

Key specs that matter

Everything below the tweeter band is reproduced by a 110 mm Diapason woofer with a polymer cone, and a 26 mm silk dome tweeter covers the upper band. Diapason quotes a frequency response of 50 Hz to 20,000 Hz, sensitivity of 88 dB at 1 W and 1 m and a nominal impedance of 6 ohm, which falls to a minimum of 3.3 ohm at 250 Hz. The tweeter joins at 4,400 Hz, which leaves the small woofer covering almost the entire midrange as well as the bass. Each speaker has single-wire binding posts. Overall dimensions including the base are 166 mm wide, 190 mm deep and 940 mm tall, and each speaker weighs 9 kg.

Engineering and use context

Diapason builds the cabinet from high-density fibreboard veneered in Canaletto walnut with a natural wood finish. Tuning is bass reflex via a rear-facing vent, so the speakers need some space from the wall behind them. The woofer uses the Direct Drive approach that Diapason applies across its range, meaning it is fed without a conventional low-pass filter, which the company links to faster transients in the bass region. The high-pass network is hardwired with silver-plated copper cable from Van den Hul and uses 1% tolerance parts with polypropylene capacitors. Both drivers come from the Norwegian specialist SEAS, built to Diapason requirements. The tall, narrow cabinet places the tweeter at a seated listening height despite the small woofer, and the small footprint suits a room of about 20 m2 where floor space and visual impact matter.

Pairing

The low minimum impedance near 250 Hz and the moderate sensitivity call for a transistor amplifier that copes well with 4 ohm loads and delivers current freely, rather than a low-power valve design with a high output impedance. Perforated metal grilles can be ordered separately, and the warranty covers components for two years and the cabinet for life.

Alternatives

The Diapason Dynamis is the only other floorstander in the catalogue, a far larger and more costly design.