Напольная акустика — Gauder Akustik DARC 500 MK II

The DARC 500 MK II from Gauder Akustik of Renningen, Germany, joins two ideas already present elsewhere in the DARC MK II family. From the DARC 240 it takes the column of four woofers in a narrow aluminium tower, and from the DARC 250 it borrows the combined midrange and high-frequency module with its pair of diamond diaphragms. The result is a four-way floorstander that costs EUR 299,998 per pair on the German market, three times the price of the three-way DARC 240.

Key specs that matter

Gauder lists the model as a 4-way quadruple bass reflex loudspeaker with a diamond mid-high unit. Its rated load is 4 ohm, and it accepts 1,250 W. Height is 197 cm, width 30 cm and depth 45 cm, so the footprint matches the DARC 240 while the weight rises to 156 kg per speaker. The driver complement consists of hand-selected black XPulse bass units, a ceramic bass and midrange cone, a diamond midrange and a diamond tweeter. Owners can order the Double Vision package, which replaces the gold-plated terminal links with solid rhodium-plated copper bridges, and a MusicLight lamp in the base and a VU meter are also on the option list. Gauder does not quote sensitivity or bandwidth.

Engineering and use context

The upper module is where this tower departs from its three-way sibling. Gauder specifies a 17 cm ceramic cone that works from 143 Hz and passes the signal at 1,200 Hz to a 50 mm diamond midrange, with a 20 mm diamond dome above it. All three units share one aluminium flange, so their spacing is fixed, and each sits in its own housing made by 3D printing, which gives every driver a defined rear volume that enters the calculation of the transfer function. The crossover belongs to this module yet is tuned to each cabinet. The small diamond midrange takes over before the ceramic cone starts to beam, which Gauder says keeps dispersion wide. Gauder's tweeters use a voice coil glued so it stays perfectly round, allowing a 0.9 mm magnet gap instead of the usual 1.4 to 1.8 mm and a flux density of 1.8 tesla. Around the drivers, the cabinet is built from stacked aluminium ribs with dampers between them, divided into two vented chambers and one closed chamber.

Pairing

Driving this many cones from a low-impedance crossover points to a high-current solid-state power amplifier. Separate WBT terminals for the bass and the mid-high sections make bi-amping possible, and the tower rests on a Big Foot base with adjustable spikes.

Alternatives

The Gauder Akustik DARC 750 MK II uses the same four-woofer layout but fits a wider 90 mm diamond midrange that starts working from 600 Hz.