Напольная акустика — Gauder Akustik DARC 250 MK II

The DARC 250 MK II was for a time the only four-way model in the DARC range of Gauder Akustik, and it takes over the role of the discontinued Berlina RC 9, a four-way that also combined diamond and ceramic drivers. Crossover, enclosure and drive units were all newly designed. In the United States the pair is priced at USD 249,975, and a VU meter or a MusicLight can each be added for USD 4,995.

Key specs that matter

Five drivers are stacked on the front in one vertical line - a 3/4 inch pure-diamond tweeter, a 50 mm pure-diamond upper midrange, a 7 inch black ceramic lower midrange and two 9 inch black back-coated aluminium woofers. Crossover points are 148 Hz, 1,200 Hz and 4,000 Hz. Gauder lists a nominal 4 ohm impedance, 810 W power handling, a height of 145 cm, a width of 30 cm, a depth of 45 cm and a weight of 105 kg per speaker. Finish choices are natural brushed or hand-polished aluminium, powder coat in black, anthracite, white or silver, and clear paint to order.

Engineering and use context

DARC stands for Dynamic Aluminium Rib Construction. Here the body is built from 31 oval aluminium ribs and 32 fibre damping ribs between a heavy aluminium top and base, pressed together by six threaded rods, three per side, that seal the volume. The baffle is a thick wood-based panel faced with textured black flagstone in a constrained-layer bond. Gauder derives its designs from mathematical models, and the driver makers build each unit to the Thiele-Small values he supplies instead of catalogue parts. The 12th-order symmetrical network holds 60 dB per octave slopes on every driver, uses 68 Mundorf and Intertechnik components and is spread over four circuit boards to keep magnetic coupling low. Two time-delay circuits hold back both diamond units so their impulses leave in step with the ceramic cone. Below the lowest crossover point the woofers load a 68 litre reflex chamber that vents through the base, and a second-order high-pass near 20 Hz blocks subsonic content while extending bass by an octave. Four threaded feet with a stepped scale set the height and port gap, and a bubble level sits at the rear. Jumpers trim the treble above 4 kHz and the woofer band by 1.5 dB either way, and four bass-extension modules plus a jumper give six levels between 30 Hz and 70 Hz.

Pairing

According to Gauder, the filter lowers the impedance of the reflex system so the speaker draws more energy from the amplifier, and he prefers a strong solid-state design, though several high-power tube amplifiers have driven it. Twin WBT NextGen terminal pairs accept bi-wire or bi-amp connection.

Alternatives

The Gauder Akustik DARC 500 MK II is another four-way DARC floorstander with four bass-reflex chambers and diamond midrange and tweeter.