Напольная акустика — Kroma Atelier Mercedes

The Mercedes is the tallest and heaviest floor-standing model of the Kroma Atelier Signature line, from the loudspeaker workshop in Granada, Spain. Head engineer Javier Millan developed it together with Miguel Carvalho as a smaller and more affordable alternative to the Turandot of the Reference Series. The world premiere was set for the Ultimate Sessions Xtreme event at the Sheraton hotel in Oporto on 17 to 19 February 2023, and the speaker was then shown at the Munich show that year. The name refers to the lively, outgoing character of Mercedes in Bizet's opera Carmen. In Canada a pair costs CAD 151,000.

Key specs that matter

Mercedes is a three-way design. Kroma lists one AMT tweeter, two 6.5 inch midrange units and two 8 inch woofers, the cone drivers using anodised aluminium. Sensitivity is 89 dB and the frequency response runs from 26 Hz to 25 kHz. The current maker specification gives 4 ohm impedance, while the launch material stated 8 ohm. Recommended amplifier power covers 30 to 1,000 W. Each cabinet is 160 cm tall, 32 cm wide and 50 cm deep and weighs 138 kg.

Engineering and use context

Launch details named the drivers - a Mundorf AMT tweeter with a neodymium motor, and midrange and bass units with aluminium cones from the Danish company Purifi Audio. The tweeter is placed centrally on the baffle, with the midrange units placed around it and the woofers beyond, a symmetrical layout. The passive crossover uses parts from Duelund and Mundorf and is housed in a hermetically sealed chamber, so it is kept away from the air pressure generated by the woofers. The bass reflex port fires to the rear. As with every Kroma speaker, the enclosure uses Krion, a synthetic stone of the same family as Corian and HiMacs, and the design avoids metal fasteners - no screw holds the cabinet together, and wooden parts are hand-shaped in the Granada workshops. Buyers choose white, black or one of five automotive paints, among them Supernova Red and Seychelles Blue.

Pairing

The Mercedes is slightly less sensitive than the other Signature floorstanders, and its low impedance rating points to an amplifier that keeps up its current into a low impedance. Kroma's wide power window allows anything from a capable integrated amplifier to high-power monoblocks. With a rear port, the cabinet needs some free space behind it.

Alternatives

Kroma Atelier's Turandot is the larger Reference Series floorstander from which the Mercedes was scaled down.