Напольная акустика — Nola Concert Grand Reference Gold 3

The Concert Grand Reference Gold 3 is a two-tower floorstanding system by the Nola company, known formally as Accent Speaker Technology, and the maker states that within its catalogue only the four-tower Grand Reference VII Gold places above it. Each tower is an open-baffle short line source array holding 12 transducers, and the pair is built in mirror-imaged form. Nola has since moved it forward to a Gold 5 version with revised crossovers and midrange units, while the earlier Gold 2 edition had been paired in the catalogue with the Grand Reference VI Gold.

Key specs that matter

The quoted frequency range runs from 18 Hz to 100 kHz, and sensitivity is 91 dB at 2.82 volts. Impedance is 8 ohm nominal with a 4 ohm minimum. Including its bases, each tower measures 180 cm tall, 38 cm wide and 56 cm deep and weighs about 125 kg net. Grilles cover the left side, the right side and the rear. The standard finish is True Piano Rosewood on True Piano Black bases, and a piano black cabinet or other finishes can be requested as a special order.

Engineering and use context

Two 12-inch subwoofers, each in its own ported chamber, cover the range up to 40 Hz. Above them four magnesium cone bass drivers of only 4.5 inches handle 40 Hz to 400 Hz, and with a moving mass of just 7 grams they carry a quarter of the mass of typical woofers. They use heavy Alnico ring magnets and solid copper phase plugs finished in gold. Four further 4.5-inch midrange units with Alnico magnets and gold-plated copper plugs run from 400 Hz to 1000 Hz in an open dipole line. A 305 mm long true ribbon takes over above 1000 Hz, and a 2-inch ribbon super tweeter widens dispersion above 10 kHz and extends the top end. A 5-way Unison crossover, laid out on six separate hand-wired boards, blends the 12 drivers, and all internal wiring is Nordost silver mono-filament. One pair of solid copper binding posts is fitted, and every tower ships on its own two-level ball-bearing isolation base.

Pairing

With only one pair of terminals, one stereo power amp or two mono amplifiers feeds both towers, and the low impedance minimum favours amplification that holds its current into lower loads. Because the midrange and treble arrays radiate rearward as well, the towers want open floor behind them in a room of 20 m2 or larger.

Alternatives

A smaller Nola floorstander is the Baby Grand Reference Gold 3, with two 220 mm magnesium woofers and four ribbon tweeters.