Напольная акустика — Burmester B38

The B38 is a three-way reflex-loaded tower from Burmester, the Berlin maker that has built high-end audio components by hand since 1977. It was announced in February 2021 with further models promised for later that year, and reached the United Kingdom in 2021 at GBP 16,800 per pair. Its layout is unusual for a slim tower, because the bass driver fires sideways rather than forward, which keeps the front of the cabinet to a width of 210 mm.

Key specs that matter

An Air Motion Transformer is used for the treble, which uses a folded foil diaphragm in place of a dome. A 170 mm fibreglass cone handles the midrange, and the bass is produced by a 320 mm woofer with a paper sandwich cone and a neodymium magnet, mounted on the side of the cabinet. The crossover works at 150 Hz and 2,400 Hz. Burmester specifies a range of 37 Hz to 33,000 Hz within plus or minus 3 dB, a sensitivity of 86 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m, a nominal impedance of 4 ohm and a rated load capacity of 225 W to DIN EN 60268-5. The cabinet is 1,165 mm tall and 460 mm deep, and one speaker weighs 51.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

The side walls are double-layered and reinforced with stainless steel rings, and the internal bracing was optimised with the finite element method. The baffle is an extruded aluminium front, integrated with the cabinet and free of visible screws. A spring-mass damping system decouples the enclosure from the floor. A removable porous foam cylinder can be placed in the bass reflex tube, and a two-stage switch on the rear of the housing trims the level of the low range in two steps. Cabinets are finished in silk-matt white, black, American walnut or middle grey, each combined with a silver or black front. Because the woofer is mounted sideways, the tall narrow front carries only the tweeter and the midrange, while the woofer works from the cabinet side below them.

Pairing

The terminal panel is fitted with two sets of heavy-gauge binding posts with gold plating, joined by gold-plated copper bridges, so the B38 can be run from a single amplifier or bi-amped with separate channels for the low and upper sections. The partner amplifier has to cope with the modest impedance rating.

Alternatives

The Burmester B28 is a smaller 3-way floorstander with all drivers on the front baffle, two 17 cm woofers and a 180 W load rating.