Напольная акустика — Odeon Audio Nova S

Odeon Audio calls the Nova S a compact floorstanding loudspeaker and aims it at listeners who are short of space. It derives from the Nova 2022 but adds a compression tweeter in place of the dome, a revised woofer, WBT binding posts and better grade internal cable and crossover parts. Odeon is based in Haltern am See in North Rhine-Westphalia, hand-builds its cabinets and horns there, and began rolling out its third generation of loudspeakers in 2020. Finishes listed for the Nova S are walnut, walnut root, poplar, mango and cherry.

Key specs that matter

The Nova S is a two-driver speaker whose single crossover sits at 2,400 Hz. The quoted frequency range is 38 Hz to 24,500 Hz, and the rated sensitivity is 91 dB into 8 ohm. The cabinet is 101 cm high, 20 cm wide and 24 cm deep, and it rests on a plinth of 23.5 x 27.5 cm. Odeon does not publish a weight. The one inch compression tweeter uses a neodymium magnet of more than 2 Tesla and loads into a 17 cm horn of birch multiplex, which the maker describes as a mechanical amplifier that takes strain off the driver. Odeon states that the upper limit reaches beyond what the Orfeo and the plain Nova manage.

Engineering and use context

The low and mid frequencies are covered by a custom driver made for Odeon by the Danish firm Scan Speak outside its normal production. Its handmade cellulose cone carries a coating and is held by a fine, flexible rubber surround and a fabric spider, and a double magnet raises the force on the voice coil to lift efficiency. Enclosure panels are MDF with a high share of wood fibre and binder pressed under high pressure, up to 1.8 times heavier than standard board. The bass reflex tunnel opens downward instead of toward the wall behind the speaker, which Odeon says excites room modes less. Crossover components are chosen to differ by no more than one percent between channels, capacitors are non-ageing film types and the coils come from Mundorf. Instead of a Pertinax board, the network is soldered point to point by hand and then fixed mechanically so parts cannot vibrate. The woofer receives OFC copper cable made in Germany, and the tweeter is linked by thin 7N solid core copper with Teflon insulation. Connection is through WBT Nextgen posts of gold-plated pure copper, a design meant to limit eddy currents.

Pairing

Odeon gives no amplifier guidance on the Nova S page itself, though the maker says the Nova 2022 on which it is based can be combined with a variety of transistor and tube amplifiers.

Alternatives

The Odeon Celeste is a larger two-way floorstander with a 22 cm GAP bass-midrange driver, a double horn throat bass design and a rated 93 dB sensitivity.