Напольная акустика — Tune Audio AVATON

The Avaton is a three-way, all-passive, fully horn-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker from Tune Audio of Greece, which made its debut at the 2017 High End show in Munich after a development project that took five years. Tune Audio describes it as a horn loudspeaker without compromise, aimed at large listening rooms. Each enclosure stands 210 cm tall, 102 cm wide and 210 cm deep, which makes it a design for large spaces where the maker asks for a listening distance of more than 4 m.

Key specs that matter

System sensitivity is 105 dB with a nominal impedance of 8 ohm, and Tune Audio gives the recommended amplifier power as more than 3 W. The crossover points are 120 Hz and 1,100 Hz. Bass comes from an 18 inch woofer that by itself weighs 27 kg, the midrange from a 5 inch driver developed and built for this model, and the top octaves from a 1 inch compression driver. Each finished speaker weighs 75 kg, a large share of it in the bass section, and customers can order any paint colour or a natural wood veneer.

Engineering and use context

Low frequencies are horn loaded using what Tune Audio calls Virtual Mouth technology, which lets the bass horn keep a flat response down to 32 Hz without a mouth of full physical size. The mid-bass horn is asymmetrical and has a mouth area of 10,000 cm2. Its walls use a triple-layer construction with damping material between the layers, and the throat and start of the horn are coated with an epoxy and carbon nanotube compound for rigidity. The treble horn is cast from a compound rather than built from wood. All three ways use first-order filters whose components are chosen by hand, hard-wired rather than mounted on boards, and located away from magnetic fields. Inside, the signal runs on custom OFC copper cable with a waxed cotton jacket, and the support feet carry a graphite coating. Owners can adjust midrange and treble levels and change the aim of the high-frequency horn toward the seat.

Pairing

The maker recommends amplifiers of modest power, naming single-ended triode valve designs and Class A transistor designs with little or no feedback, so a few watts per channel are enough to drive the Avaton. Placement near a wall or in a room corner is preferred, with more than 2 m between the two speakers.

Alternatives

The Tune Audio Anima is a smaller three-way fully horn-loaded floorstander from Tune Audio, built around a down-firing 15 inch woofer.