Напольная акустика — Lawrence Audio BULBUL

The BULBUL is a small two-way speaker made by Lawrence Audio, the Taipei company that Lawrence Liao established in Taiwan in 1996 and that began by building limited-edition custom-made speakers. It belongs to the Bird series in the maker's catalogue, which sits alongside the Instrument, Home Theatre and SkyLux groups, and it is supplied with its own matching stand so that the finished assembly stands on the floor.

Key specs that matter

Lawrence Audio built it as a 2-way vented box. Both drive units come from Accuton - a 1.2 inch cell ceramic tweeter and a 7 inch ceramic bass-midrange cone. Lawrence Audio lists a frequency response of 35 Hz to 40 kHz and a sensitivity of 91 dB measured at 2.83 V and 1 m. Nominal impedance is 8 ohm with a stated minimum of 6.4 ohm, while Lawrence Audio recommends amplifier power of 30 to 150 W. The speaker itself is 50 cm high, 20 cm wide and 30 cm deep and weighs 13 kg per piece. The stand measures 50 x 30 x 35 cm, plus a 3 cm spike, and weighs 1 kg.

Engineering and use context

Filtering uses a 4th order network, with the maker quoting 2800 Hz as the main dividing point and also listing 2500 Hz and 250 Hz frequencies, and both the woofer and tweeter slopes are given as 24 dB. The filter parts are MKP capacitors, high-purity OFC inductors and metal oxide film resistors built to a military industrial standard. Internal wiring is Teflon insulated OCC cable, and one pair of WBT terminals handles the input, so the model is wired once rather than bi-wired. The enclosure is built from 25 mm MDF, generous material for an enclosure of this size, which helps keep the walls stiff. Because the tweeter and the bass-midrange are both ceramic, the two drivers share the same family of diaphragm material across the crossover region. A pair ships in a wooden case of 52 x 116 x 62 cm with a gross weight of 40 kg, which is worth knowing when planning delivery or storage. The narrow front suits a 20 m2 living room where floor space near the side walls is limited.

Pairing

The fairly high sensitivity combined with a high minimum impedance makes this an easy electrical load. Modest tube amps at the bottom of the recommended power range can drive it, while larger solid-state integrated amplifiers stay inside the maker's guidance. Speaker cables should terminate in spades or plugs that fit WBT posts.

Alternatives

The Lawrence Audio VIOLIN is a larger 2-way stand-mounted design with an Air Motion tweeter, an 8 inch carbon fibre sandwich woofer and a rear-firing ribbon.