Напольная акустика — Lawrence Audio MANDOLIN

The MANDOLIN is the smallest member of the Instrument series from Lawrence Audio, a Taiwanese loudspeaker maker founded in 1996 by the designer Lawrence Liao and named, like its siblings, after a stringed instrument. It is a two-way monitor that comes with a dedicated stand, and in the United States it was offered at USD 5,500 per pair with those stands included.

Key specs that matter

The MANDOLIN pairs an Accuton 1.2 inch cell ceramic tweeter with an Accuton 7 inch ceramic bass-midrange driver in a 2-way vented enclosure. Quoted bandwidth runs from 35 Hz to 40 kHz, and sensitivity is 91 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m. Impedance is 8 ohm nominal, dipping to 6.4 ohm at its lowest, and the maker suggests 30 to 150 W of amplifier power. Every cabinet measures 50 x 20 x 30 cm (height, width, depth) and weighs 13 kg, while each stand is 50 x 30 x 35 cm with a 3 cm spike on top of that and weighs just 1 kg.

Engineering and use context

Lawrence Audio lists a 4th order crossover at 2800 Hz together with frequencies of 2500 Hz and 250 Hz, and specifies 24 dB attenuation for both the woofer and the tweeter. The network is assembled from MKP capacitors, inductors wound from purified OFC and metal oxide film resistors made to a military industrial grade. Teflon insulated OCC wire links the crossover to the drivers and to one set of WBT binding posts, so bi-wiring is not provided for. Cabinet panels are 25 mm MDF. Finishes offered in the United States were lacquered cherry, lacquered rosewood, natural cherry and natural rosewood finishes, with custom colours available, and a three-year warranty. The stand has integrated resonance control and is supplied with spikes and floor discs. Both speakers of a pair travel in one wooden case measuring 52 x 116 x 62 cm, and the packed pair weighs 40 kg. The slim cabinet and small stand base make the model a practical choice for a room of around 20 m2.

Pairing

Given its fairly high sensitivity and a minimum impedance close to nominal, the MANDOLIN presents a benign load. That opens the door to single-ended or push-pull low-power tube amplifiers, and it also accepts solid-state integrated amplifiers up to the upper limit. Spade or banana terminations suited to WBT hardware are needed on the cables.

Alternatives

The Lawrence Audio VIOLIN SE is a bigger 2-way stand-mounted model with an 8 inch woofer, an Air Motion front tweeter and a rear-firing aluminium ribbon.