Напольная акустика — Alexandria Audio Gaius

Gaius is the name Alexandria Audio gives to a three-way tower. The firm behind it was founded in 2019 in Bali, Indonesia, by Kenneth Lin and Henry Kristanto. According to the maker it is the firm's first mid-size three-way tower, and it was premiered together with the Prince horn speaker and the Purya streamer at the IHEAC AV Show in 2023. The suggested retail price was set at USD 14,800 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Every cabinet holds four drivers. A pair of 220 mm woofers takes the bass, a 170 mm neodymium midrange handles the centre of the band, and a 45 mm dual piston tweeter looks after the top octaves. The published frequency range is 25 Hz to 45 kHz, with a sensitivity of 91.5 dB and a nominal impedance of 4 ohm, with a maximum output of 108 dB. Each tower measures 260 mm wide, 1,375 mm high and 432 mm deep, which gives a tall but narrow front profile.

Engineering and use context

The Gaius works as a ported design with side firing bass drivers, so the two woofers sit on the cabinet flanks rather than on the front baffle. That arrangement is what allows the baffle to stay narrow while still carrying a large total cone area for the low range. The woofers use a proprietary high-sensitivity paper cone, chosen by the company for its transient behaviour, and attention was also paid to minimising diffraction around the drivers. The midrange and the tweeter are mounted in a short waveguide that controls dispersion, a controlled directivity approach intended to keep dispersion even across the listening area. Both upper drivers were selected for high sensitivity and high power handling. According to the company, development involved an extended cycle of evaluation, tuning and rechecking, during which the crossover parameters and internal damping were adjusted repeatedly before the design was finalised.

Pairing

Because the nominal load is low while sensitivity is moderately high, the Gaius can manage without a huge power reserve, but it should be driven by a solid-state or valve design that remains stable with this Gaius load and can supply current comfortably. Alexandria Audio also builds the Legatus monoblock amplifier and its own Zeus speaker cable, which gives owners an in-house route for completing the system around these towers.

Alternatives

Within the same brand, the Praetoria is a larger two-way floorstander built around a 15 inch neodymium woofer and a compression driver on a horn.