Напольная акустика — Goldmund Rhea Passive

Goldmund of Geneva designed the Rhea Passive as a three-way floorstander that takes its styling from the brand's newer active speaker line and is meant for systems with separate amplifiers. It arrived together with the larger Theia Passive, and the pair price is around USD 108,000. Each speaker ships in its own flight case, which is 80 x 163 x 62 cm and weighs 195 kg when packed.

Key specs that matter

Rhea Passive carries a soft dome tweeter, a 7 inch midrange and a 12 inch woofer, and the bass is vent loaded. Goldmund gives a response of 27 Hz to 25 kHz, with the low figure measured at the -6 dB point. Nominal impedance is 6 ohm, with a minimum of 4 ohm. Each cabinet is 45 cm wide, 135 cm high and 54 cm deep and weighs 123 kg. The standard finish is a gray enclosure with black grilles, and a black enclosure can be ordered.

Engineering and use context

The enclosure is made of thick aluminium panels joined at 45 degree angles with hidden seams, and the side panels have a wavy profile. Vertical surfaces are micro-blasted, and horizontal ones are brushed. A central tip at the base forms part of Goldmund Mechanical Grounding, which leads cabinet vibration down into the floor, and adjustable feet level the speaker while letting that tip touch the ground, so a rigid floor is expected. The crossover uses MKP capacitors, non-inductive film resistors with their own heat sinks and thick copper air-core inductors, all rated for several times the power they actually handle so that transients do not drive them into saturation. The acoustic design was modelled in Proteus LS, Goldmund's in-house software, which calculates impedance, volume velocity, cone displacement and sound pressure. Three pairs of terminals allow single wiring, bi-amping with either the tweeter and midrange or the midrange and woofer bridged, or tri-amping with one amplifier per driver. Bridges for these modes come in the box, and the maker suggests four people for unpacking.

Pairing

Goldmund asks for amplifiers with high slew rate and wide dynamic range, noting that slow designs can fail to control fast transients. Given the low impedance minimum, a partner amplifier has to hold steady into that kind of load. Owners with two or three stereo or mono amplifiers can split the bass section from the upper drivers using the supplied bridges.

Alternatives

The Goldmund Theia Passive is the four-way floorstander in the same series, with an extra midrange driver and a 197 kg cabinet.