Напольная акустика — Burmester B28

The B28 is a 3-way bass reflex floorstanding loudspeaker from Burmester, a company that has been making high-end audio gear by hand in Berlin since 1977. All drivers face forward from the front baffle, and each one works inside its own housing chamber so that the units operate independently without interacting. The pair carries a price of USD 27,000.

Key specs that matter

The tweeter is an Air Motion Transformer, whose flexible yet stable foil diaphragm has optimal internal damping according to Burmester. A 17 cm midrange with a lightweight, torsionally stiff fibreglass cone is driven by a powerful motor with a large voice coil. Below it, two 17 cm woofers of long-stroke, flow-optimised design use a powerful magnet system and were developed to Burmester's own specifications. The crossover divides the band at 150 Hz and 2,400 Hz. The rated response runs from 39 Hz to 31,000 Hz within plus or minus 3 dB, and sensitivity is 87 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m. Nominal impedance is 4 ohm, and the nominal load capacity is 180 W according to DIN EN 60268-5. Standard matt finishes are white, middle grey, black and American walnut, custom finishes can be ordered, and the front plate comes in black, silver or polished chrome. Each cabinet stands 1,144 mm high, 223 mm wide and 433 mm deep, and weighs 37 kg.

Engineering and use context

Stiffening elements are integrated systematically into the enclosure to reduce vibration and unwanted resonance. The reflex loading uses two bass reflex tubes that Burmester describes as flow-optimised and highly rigid. The crossover network is placed in a separate chamber of its own, a measure intended to eliminate microphonic effects on its components. Internal signal routing uses fine core Burmester cables with large cross sections to keep transmission losses low. The woofers also have fibreglass cones, so all three cone units share one diaphragm material as well as one diameter, and what sets the two woofers apart from the midrange is their long-stroke build and the magnet system behind them. The tweeter is the only driver in the B28 that does not use a cone, relying instead on its foil diaphragm.

Pairing

Its impedance and load rating suit a partner amplifier with ample current reserve. Being a passive design with its crossover built into the cabinet, it connects to a conventional stereo power amplifier or integrated amplifier.

Alternatives

The Burmester B38 is a larger 3-way floorstander with a side-firing 32 cm paper sandwich woofer and a 225 W load rating.