Напольная акустика — Göbel High End Epoque Aeon Fine

The Epoque Aeon Fine is a floorstander in the Epoque Aeon series, the range on which Oliver Göbel's Bavarian company built its name. The series is built around his patented flat-panel bending-wave driver, which covers seven and a half octaves on its own, supported by cone woofers. The Aeon version is a thorough redesign of the earlier Epoque Fine.

Key specs that matter

Each speaker carries a Göbel Carbon Excellence Aeon bending-wave driver, two 18 cm aluminium long-throw woofers and four 18 cm aluminium long-throw passive radiators. The crossover sits at 160 Hz. Frequency response is 28 Hz to 31 kHz, sensitivity is 86 dB and nominal impedance is 4 ohms, with a minimum of 2.8 ohms at 160 Hz with single wiring. Dispersion covers 180 degrees at the front across the band and extends to the rear up to 4 kHz. The plinth measures 43.6 x 55.7 cm, total height is 125 cm and weight is 105 kg.

Engineering and use context

The bending-wave driver is a flat, rectangular panel about the size of a tablet, reproducing everything above the crossover without a crossover in the midrange or treble. For the Aeon, Göbel redesigned the motor units for better linearity, lower losses and better thermal behaviour, improved the coupling of the membrane and the airflow through the rear basket, and retuned the membrane's resonances. The woofers' Thiele-Small parameters, centering, voice coil former and surround were reworked to match. The bass array is impulse-response compensated, and the passive radiators give extension without port noise. The top section is machined from a solid 60 kg block of aluminium, the baffle is 15 mm aluminium and the enclosure is a multilayer composite. The plinth houses the crossover, which uses Mundorf Supreme silver-gold-oil capacitors and coils and Duelund silver bypass capacitors and resistors. Feet are stainless steel with silicon nitride ceramic balls. Finishes are white or black piano lacquer with anodised aluminium. Single-wire terminals are standard and bi-wiring is optional.

Pairing

The impedance minimum, though higher than the earlier model's 1.6 ohms, still calls for amplifiers that deliver current into low impedances. With modest sensitivity, the speaker favours solid-state designs of 140 W into 4 ohms or more, in rooms of 20 to 40 m2.

Alternatives

Göbel High End's Epoque Aeon Reference is the larger model of the series with upgraded bending-wave drivers, woofers and crossover.