Напольная акустика — Venture Audio Grand Extreme

Venture Audio calls the Grand Extreme the flagship of its Quantum Series of active loudspeakers, the line that started with the Quantum 8 in 2016 and continued with the Quantum Signature a year later. Unlike the passive Ultimate Series models, it contains its own digital processing and amplification, so a source or preamplifier connects to it directly.

Key specs that matter

Each cabinet carries thirteen drivers. A 32 mm beryllium tweeter, rated for a level of up to 100 dB at 2.83 V, sits with two 4 inch AGC upper midrange units and four 7 inch underhung CFGC midrange drivers on the front baffle. Six 10 inch AGC woofers are mounted at an angle on the sides and take over below 200 Hz, reaching 20 Hz at the minus 6 dB point. Each woofer is rated at 200 W RMS, giving 1200 W RMS and 2400 W peak for the bass section. The amplifier section uses four channels of UMAC Class D modules, with a maximum of 2500 W listed for the woofers and another 2500 W for the front drivers. Inputs are balanced analog and AES/EBU digital on XLR. The cabinet measures 195 cm in height, 62 cm in width and 75 cm in depth, and one speaker weighs 270 kg.

Engineering and use context

A SHARC processor running at 300 MHz replaces the passive crossover and works at 192 kHz with 40 bit floating-point arithmetic, with asynchronous rate conversion at its inputs. The converters in and out of the digital domain are 24 bit. Every driver chassis is measured before assembly, and the DSP program for each speaker is written around those results so that time alignment and frequency response match the actual units. The same processor acts as a guard, tracking RMS power, peak level and temperature so that no driver is pushed into overload. Venture's cabinet construction for this line uses bonded layers of different materials that resonate at different frequencies, and the Grand Extreme wears hand-picked rosewood veneer laid as mirror-matched panels under polyester high gloss. Other finishes can be ordered.

Pairing

The only partners needed are a source and a volume control. A preamplifier or DAC with balanced outputs feeds the analog input, and a digital transport or streamer with an AES/EBU output can connect directly. Given the weight of each speaker, access routes and floor load deserve checking before delivery.

Alternatives

A smaller active tower from the same Venture Audio range is the Quantum Signature, with four 8.5 inch AGC woofers in a 157 cm tall cabinet.