Напольная акустика — Mordaunt-Short Aviano 8

Mordaunt-Short placed the Aviano 8 at the top of its Aviano series. The London loudspeaker brand was founded in 1967 and belongs to Audio Partnership. It sits above the Aviano 6 floorstander and a family of stand-mounts, a centre speaker and two subwoofers. In North America it carried a list price of USD 1,495 per pair. It was offered in dark walnut, black and rosewood.

Key specs that matter

Mordaunt-Short wires four drive units in a two-and-a-half-way arrangement. Its 1 inch aluminium dome tweeter is paired with three 6.5 inch aluminium CPC units, one working as a mid-driver and two as bass drivers. Mordaunt-Short fits a damped second-order crossover with DVP, and the stated response is 35 Hz to 22 kHz. Sensitivity is 88 dB into a nominal 4 to 8 ohm, and Mordaunt-Short recommends 15 to 200 W of amplifier power. The cabinet is 950 mm tall, 205 mm wide and 320 mm deep, with a weight of 18.5 kg each. Magnetic shielding covers the area within 50 mm of the enclosure.

Engineering and use context

In this arrangement all three cones play the lowest frequencies together, while the bottom pair is rolled off above roughly 200 Hz and the upper unit continues alone up to the tweeter crossover. This adds cone area for bass without stretching the mid range over a wide vertical spread of drivers. The cones have a dished CPC profile intended to keep piston motion at low frequencies and controlled break-up higher up, and Y30 magnets drive the woofers. The tweeter housing was computer modelled for dispersion. The crossover is isolate-mounted to limit vibration and uses high-saturation inductors, DVPC capacitors and oversized resistors. A curved front baffle stiffens the front panel, internal bracing ties the cabinet and drivers together, and dense wadding fills the enclosure. A removable grille covers the baffle, and the reflex opening faces backwards. Twin sets of terminals permit bi-amping as well as bi-wiring, and the installation guide shows metal spikes fitted to the base for levelling. The cabinet is 22 mm deeper than that of the Aviano 6 at the same height and width.

Pairing

With moderate sensitivity and a load that can drop low, the tower suits integrated amplifiers or receivers that are comfortable with lower impedances, and the generous upper power rating also accepts stronger amplifiers. Owners with two stereo amplifiers can split the bass and upper sections through the dual terminals. For surround use it pairs with the Aviano 5 centre and the Aviano 9 subwoofer with its 12 inch driver.

Alternatives

The Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 8 moves to a three-way layout, adding a 5.25 inch midrange in a separate internal enclosure, 1072 mm tall and 23.8 kg.