Напольная акустика — Audes Llc. Blues

From the Credo range comes the Blues, a three-way tower speaker by Audes LLC, an Estonian company descended from the RET radio works of 1935, which has made hi-fi loudspeakers and drive units since 1984 at its factory in Jõhvi. According to Audes, the model has been on sale internationally for nearly two decades, and the company describes the enclosure as a three-way chamber built on a dual-step layout. The maker positions it both for music listening and for home theatre, and the Grand Blues is a larger version of the same concept.

Key specs that matter

Four drive units are fitted. Audes builds the 8 inch paper cone bass driver to its own design, two 4.5 inch polypropylene cone midrange units cover the middle band, and a 1 inch fabric dome tweeter takes the top. The crossover points sit at 200 Hz and 2,100 Hz. Audes specifies a frequency range of 45 Hz to 20,000 Hz within 2 dB, with the minus 6 dB corner at 38 Hz. Sensitivity reaches 90 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m, and nominal impedance is 4 ohm. Power handling is listed as 130 W long-term and 200 W short-term maximum. The cabinet is 1,210 mm high, 210 mm wide and 396 mm deep, and each speaker weighs 35 kg.

Engineering and use context

The woofer fires from the side of the cabinet rather than from the front baffle. Speakers are supplied as mirror-imaged left and right pairs, and the woofers can be set up to face either inward toward each other or outward toward the side walls. Each cabinet has four gold-plated five-way terminals, so the bass section and the upper drivers can be fed by separate cables or separate amplifiers. The cabinets are not magnetically shielded for use next to a CRT television. Like other Credo models, the Blues is offered in mahogany, black ash, cherry or walnut veneer, and burl wood or other exotic surfaces can be specified in matte or piano polish. Cabinets, drive units and crossovers for Audes speakers are almost entirely hand-built in Estonia, and the internal wiring of the Blues comes from DH Labs.

Pairing

With its low nominal impedance the Blues suits amplifiers specified for loads of that value. The same load and sensitivity apply when the Blues works as the main left and right pair of a home theatre, the second role Audes names for it. For a single-brand chain, the Audes catalogue also lists valve amplifiers and mains power conditioners.

Alternatives

The Audes Grand Blues is the larger Credo floorstander, using two 8 inch woofers in a 1,565 mm tall, 60 kg cabinet with 91 dB sensitivity.