Напольная акустика — Burmester B18

The B18 is a floorstanding loudspeaker from Burmester, the Berlin company that has hand-built high-end audio equipment since 1977, and it belongs to the brand's All Lines series. Burmester states that the B18 is handmade in Germany. It is a 2.5-way bass reflex design pairing a 25 mm ring radiator tweeter, developed exclusively for Burmester, with two identical cone drivers. In the United Kingdom the pair was listed at GBP 7,500 in September 2017.

Key specs that matter

Both 170 mm units use a glass fibre diaphragm, one working as the midrange driver and the other as the bass unit. The crossover points sit at 400 Hz and 2,300 Hz. Burmester rates the B18 at 120 W to DIN EN 60268-5 and gives a nominal impedance of 4 ohm. Sensitivity is 88 dB, measured at 2.83 V and 1 m, and the upper limit of the response is 30,000 Hz within plus or minus 3 dB. Finishes listed for the pair include high gloss black with black anodised front elements, high gloss white or light walnut with silver anodised front elements, high gloss dark walnut and a high gloss makassar laminate.

Engineering and use context

Inside the cabinet the mid-bass driver has a sealed enclosure chamber of its own, and the crossover network is also housed in a separate chamber. The front panel is 48 mm thick and was analysed with the finite element method for torsional rigidity, and its aluminium and MDF sandwich construction is intended to cut cabinet resonance. Beneath the enclosure sits a base of sandwich construction that uses a high-molecular-weight thermoplastic polymer as part of a spring-mass damping system that isolates the cabinet from vibration in the floor. Mechanical damping inside the enclosure relies on a plastic foam cylinder. A switch for bass level is fitted, and foam bungs for the reflex port come in the box. The front is screwless, leaving no visible fixings on the baffle. The ring radiator is a tweeter design made for Burmester alone rather than a catalogue part, and it is the only high frequency unit in the cabinet, sitting above the two cones of identical size and material.

Pairing

Its modest impedance rating means the partner amplifier must handle low-impedance speakers comfortably, and the power rating indicates how much continuous power the B18 is built to accept. The loudspeaker uses a conventional passive crossover, so any stereo amplifier of suitable power can drive it.

Alternatives

In the same range the Burmester B28 is a 3-way bass reflex floorstander with a 180 W rating and two 17 cm woofers.