Напольная акустика — Pylon Audio Diamond 30 mkII

The Diamond 30 mkII heads the Diamond series from Pylon Audio and is the only three-way model among the range's floorstanders. Pylon is a Polish company with around 50 staff in Jarocin, where it makes key parts such as driver elements and crossover coils itself while buying drive units from Seas and Scan-Speak. The mkII update brought larger motors to the woofers, a new midrange cone profile and a steeper cabinet.

Key specs that matter

The bass is shared by two Pylon Audio PSW 18.8.CA/X woofers of 18 cm, customised versions of the Seas CA18RNX from the Norwegian company's Prestige line. A 15 cm Pylon Audio PSW 15.8.CA/P, derived from the Seas CA15RLY/P, runs as a dedicated midrange, and the treble goes to a Pylon Audio PST 19.TN, the Scan-Speak D2010/852100 textile dome of 19 mm. Response is rated at 30 Hz to 20 kHz with a 4 ohm impedance and 90 dB efficiency. Power handling is 130 W nominal and 250 W maximum. The cabinet is 196 mm wide, 1,090 mm high and 525 mm deep, the weight is 29 kg per speaker, and Pylon matches the model to rooms of 28 to 48 m2.

Engineering and use context

According to Pylon, the magnetic circuits of the new woofers are significantly larger than on the first Diamond 30, and their aluminium-copper voice coils grow to 38 mm in diameter, which gives more piston-like cone motion at higher excursion. On the midrange unit the dust cap has been swapped for a phase plug, shaped as a bullet, to remove a source of upper midrange resonance. The Danish tweeter gains a stronger neodymium magnet system, a lighter voice coil and a dual resonance chamber, and it no longer uses ferrofluid, while a black cellular rubber front plate surrounds the dome. Cabinet walls are solid MDF with internal bracing and extra rings, filled with natural sheep's wool and a specialised soundproofing layer. Pylon refined the structure with laser vibrometer scans and anechoic chamber measurements. Front and rear faces lean back at a steeper angle than on the previous version to improve time integration of the three frequency bands, and an anti-vibration plinth of new shape carries the column. A magnetic grille is included, and the finish list runs from 11 oil-waxed oak veneer shades through lacquered oak and American walnut to plain white or black lacquer and custom RAL colours.

Pairing

Although its efficiency is fairly high for a tower of this size, the low nominal impedance points toward transistor output stages with generous current reserves, since the low impedance matters more here than the raw wattage figure.

Alternatives

The Pylon Audio Jasper 25 mkII is a 31 kg two-way floorstander using a pair of Scan-Speak Revelator 18 cm woofers and a silk dome tweeter, rated down to 32 Hz.