Напольная акустика — Avantgarde Acoustic DUO SD

The DUO SD is a German horn speaker for floor placement built by Avantgarde Acoustic and presented together with the DUO GT in the renewed DUO line. SD stands for Single Driver, a reference to its one bass unit, and the pair was priced at EUR 32,360 before VAT at launch. In North America the price was USD 49,675 per pair in semi-active form and USD 66,350 per pair fully active.

Key specs that matter

In semi-active form the horn section reaches more than 107 dB per watt at 1 m into a nominal 18 ohm. The satellite covers 170 Hz to 28,000 Hz and the powered bass section 18 Hz to 350 Hz, with crossover points at 170 Hz and 3,500 Hz. Each speaker is 155 cm tall and weighs 94 kg. A passive NatureCap crossover is offered for EUR 2,190 per pair.

Engineering and use context

Horns for the upper two ranges are the same as on the larger DUO GT. The middle band is reproduced by the XM2 DUO Evolution driver with a 170 mm diaphragm and Omega technology, working between the two crossover points, on a spherical horn with a 670 mm mouth. The XT3 tweeter uses a 25 mm annular diaphragm with a dual-layer suspension on a 200 mm horn that is 176 mm deep. Below the horns sits one 12 inch XB12 driver in a direct radiating, non-horn bass enclosure. Its cone is a composite of long-fibre paper and carbon fibre, and its 152 mm voice coil is 480 mm long in a magnetic gap with a flux density of 1.15 tesla. It is driven by an integrated 500 W power module with processor-controlled active filtering. The same modular G3 crossover and circuitry options as the larger model are available, along with an Itron Activ Power bass amplifier and a wireless streaming module. In the fully active iTRON G3 version every section runs from its own internal amplifier, using iTRON current drive technology, and then it takes only a line-level input. The cabinet sides and top carry a glass paint finish, and the front of the bass section is covered by woven mesh.

Pairing

With the bass section powered, the external amplifier in the semi-active version feeds only the horns, and the high efficiency and high impedance let very small amplifiers do the job. Low-power single-ended triode and push-pull valve designs are an obvious match, while the fully active version takes a preamplifier or any source that offers level control. The optional streaming module allows a wireless source to be connected without extra boxes.

Alternatives

The Avantgarde DUO GT uses the same horns over two XB12 bass drivers with a 1000 W bass amplifier in a taller 173 cm cabinet.