Напольная акустика — Lockwood Loudspeakers Lockwood Academy 1

The Academy 1 from Lockwood Loudspeakers is a two-way floorstander of compact build. Lockwood is the British company founded in the 1930s by carpenter Stanley Timms. After production paused during the Second World War, Lockwood worked with BBC engineers on its monitor designs, and those monitors later went into studios such as Abbey Road and the Rolling Stones' mobile recording unit. Today every Lockwood speaker is hand-assembled in the UK from original designs dating back to the 1960s. The Academy 1 is listed at GBP 14,999 per pair and sits in the range below the LE1 and the Major.

Key specs that matter

A single 12-inch (315 mm) Lockwood Green HPD/SL driver covers the full band as a point source, with its two sections mounted on one axis in a dual concentric arrangement. Lockwood quotes a frequency range of 35 Hz to 20 kHz and a sensitivity of 93.6 dB, measured at 2.83 V rms and 1 m. The nominal impedance is 8 ohm, and the power rating is 65 W for integrated material. Each cabinet measures 447 mm wide, 260 mm deep and 800 mm high, and weighs about 25 kg.

Engineering and use context

Unlike the larger vented LE1 and Major, the Academy 1 is built as a free-standing infinite baffle, so the enclosure has no port. The cabinet walls are 18 mm birchwood, and the outside is finished in a walnut veneer, with custom finishes available on request. Signal division is handled by a hand-built Lockwood A Series crossover populated with audiophile-grade components. Internal wiring uses oxygen-free copper, and the terminals are low-loss binding posts. Lockwood presents the Academy 1 as the choice for smaller spaces within its floorstanding offer, with the 12-inch driver as the step between the 10-inch Mini stand-mount and the 15-inch units in the bigger models. The current catalogue also lists the Universal Stanley 1 and 2, the Mini Major, the Mini and the Academy II. Customers can arrange a visit to the production facility.

Pairing

The amplifier chosen should stay within the power rating on programme material, and the easy nominal load suits both solid-state and valve designs. The single dual concentric driver is fed from one pair of binding posts per cabinet, so one cable run per side is enough.

Alternatives

The Lockwood LE1 is the larger floorstanding model, using a 15-inch Green HPD/SL unit housed in a ported birchwood enclosure.