Напольная акустика — Lawrence Audio CELLO

The CELLO is a floorstanding loudspeaker from the Lawrence Audio Instrument series, built by the Taiwanese maker that Lawrence Liao founded in 1996 and that names its models after stringed instruments. It is a 3.5-way vented design, and its American price was USD 18,000 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Four drivers share each enclosure. Two 200 mm (8 inch) woofers handle the low range, an Air Motion tweeter with a 25 x 120 mm field-replaceable diaphragm covers the upper midrange and treble, and a shielded ribbon tweeter of purified aluminium, 60 x 8.5 x 0.01 mm, fires from the rear. Lawrence Audio specifies 35 Hz to 40 kHz, 90 dB sensitivity at 2.83 V and 1 m, and a nominal 4 ohm impedance with a 3.2 ohm minimum. Recommended amplifier power is 50 to 200 W. The cabinet stands 1245 mm tall, 280 mm wide and 470 mm deep, and each speaker weighs 40 kg.

Engineering and use context

Each woofer has an aluminium frame, a sandwich cone of carbon fibre and cell material, a 50 mm copper clad voice coil and a Y30 ferrite magnet. Crossover points are listed at 700 Hz, 1.7 kHz, 2.6 kHz and 9 kHz. Filter slopes are 12 and 18 dB on the woofer sections, 24 and 12 dB on the front tweeter and 12 dB on the rear ribbon, which enters only above 9 kHz. The network uses M-Cap Supreme MKP capacitors, inductors wound with OFC and military-standard resistors of metal oxide film, and OCC conductors with Teflon insulation run inside the box. Four WBT connectors at the bottom of the rear panel allow bi-wiring. The MDF enclosure has a grooved front baffle intended to reduce diffraction, and it is offered in natural rosewood or cherry veneer, with lacquered rosewood and black paint also documented for the model. Nickel-plated copper spikes and floor protection cups are included. The height and weight make the CELLO a permanent fixture in a 20 m2 room rather than a model to move around often.

Pairing

Its demanding impedance minimum requires an amplifier that remains stable into a demanding load and can deliver generous current, which points toward solid-state designs rather than low-powered tube units. The moderate sensitivity still means the lower end of the power window produces usable levels. The four terminals also let owners run separate cable sets to the low and high filter branches.

Alternatives

The Lawrence Audio DOUBLE BASS is a second floor-standing design that Lawrence Audio lists within its Instrument series.