Напольная акустика — Semmaa Audio REALITY ONE

The Reality One, a three-way floorstanding loudspeaker, comes from Semmaa Audio, a young Dutch company in Haarlem run by Sem Hendriks, who handles the office and customer contact, and Maarten Plug, who manages production and design. Hendriks built several DIY speakers before the two set up the company, which introduced itself to the Dutch public at the end of 2023. The Reality One was its first product and took about three years to develop, and the firm says its current line is the result of seven years of work. The maker now lists the Reality One at EUR 38,900, while in early 2024 it was quoted at EUR 49,900 per pair. The range also includes the compact Small Reality and the brand's own speaker cables.

Key specs that matter

Rated sensitivity is 87 dB and nominal impedance is 6 ohm, with a minimum of 2 ohm, and the low-frequency extension is stated to reach into the subsonic region. Each speaker measures 149 x 43.5 x 28 cm without terminals and weighs 87 kg, and more than 100 kg once its external filter is counted. The bass unit is a Visaton woofer, while the midrange and the beryllium tweeter come from Scan-Speak, and the tweeter is taken from that maker's top line.

Engineering and use context

The speaker is built as three separate modules for bass, midrange and treble. Each module sits on spikes and can be adjusted on its own, so the acoustic centres of the drivers can be aligned in time for optimal phase behaviour. The bass module uses a tapered quarter wave pipe, a line that narrows along its length and loads the rear of the woofer to extend the low end. All enclosures are double-walled and every panel is cut to size in the Haarlem workshop, and each pair is assembled by hand. The passive crossover lives in a separate external housing and is hard-wired point to point without circuit boards, using hand-selected capacitors and coils. Because every section of the filter has its own terminals, the drivers can be connected with different cables. Internal wiring is from Van den Hul in copper, silver or silver-plated form. The cabinets can be painted in any RAL colour, and an optional dimmable LED accent light can be fitted between the modules.

Pairing

With its modest sensitivity and an impedance that dips very low, the Reality One needs a solid-state amplifier with generous current delivery, and the company itself favours transistor amplification over valves for this model.

Alternatives

Semmaa Audio offers no other floorstanding loudspeaker besides the Reality One.