Напольная акустика — Cessaro Horn Acoustics Omega I

The Omega I sits at the top of the horn loudspeaker range of Cessaro Horn Acoustics, a German company established in 2006 and based in Hüttenberg, Hesse. Systems of the Omega family are built to order, and each one is adapted to the listening space of the client who commissions it. Its price has been quoted at USD 1,122,000.

Key specs that matter

Cessaro gives an efficiency of 112 dB at 1 W and 1 m. The system rises more than 2.8 m in height and has a total mass of 4.5 t. Low frequencies come from six 16-inch bass units on each side, which drive front-loaded low-frequency horns, and separate horns above them handle the midrange and treble. Impedance, frequency range and crossover points are not published for this model. Horn colours can be chosen from an unlimited palette of composite finishes, and the wooden cabinet panels are offered in a range of veneers.

Engineering and use context

Cessaro makes its composite horns by hand using a costly two-shell construction whose cavity is filled with a special polymer rubber. The company chose the density of that filling so that it is neither too soft nor too hard, aiming to keep the horn walls free of resonance compared with earlier and rival designs. Drivers are attached through a CNC-milled, two-part aluminium flange 25 mm thick, which couples them directly to the horn throat without an adapter. The horn contour itself is spherical and took about two and a half years to develop, with modifications at the mouth meant to create a softer wave at the edge and fewer secondary waves. On the larger Cessaro systems a single horn can weigh more than 250 kg, and the company argues that lighter constructions cannot reach the same acoustic behaviour. Its drive units have long been custom versions from TAD, while more recent development has moved towards in-house field coil units to keep control of quality and future support. Internal wiring is pure silver along the whole path from input terminals through the crossover to the drivers, and the crossovers are designed around the psychoacoustic properties the company considers most important for human hearing, with high-value capacitors built in pure silver mica technology.

Pairing

Cessaro states that the Omega I is not intended for normal living rooms and should go into an auditorium or at least a very suitable room able to carry the full weight of the system.

Alternatives

The Wagner I is another floorstanding horn loudspeaker in the current Cessaro range and is built on a far smaller scale than the Omega I.