Напольная акустика — Legacy Audio Signature SE

The Signature SE is a passive floorstanding loudspeaker from Legacy Audio, an American company, built as a 5-driver, 4-way design in a sealed enclosure. Legacy lists it at USD 12,000 to 14,500 per pair, the exact figure set by the finish, and a version with built-in bass amplification is sold separately as the Signature XD.

Key specs that matter

Legacy rates the response from 22 Hz to 30 kHz within 2 dB either way. Sensitivity is 92 dB measured at 2.83 V and 1 m, nominal impedance is 4 ohm, and Legacy asks for 20 W or more of amplification. The crossover splits the signal at 180 Hz, 2.8 kHz and 8 kHz, so the woofers work only in the lowest band and the midwoofer is relieved of deep bass excursion, while the two AMT units share the range above 2.8 kHz between them. Each cabinet stands 122 cm tall, 30.5 cm wide and 35 cm deep, and weighs 48 kg, with a shipping weight of 67 kg per speaker.

Engineering and use context

The treble section pairs two Air Motion Transformer units - a 1 inch AMT super tweeter wound with silver HF wire and a 4 inch AMT tweeter. Below them a 7 inch midwoofer built around a carbon fiber cone filled with graphene covers the middle band, and two 10 inch woofers with spun aluminum diaphragms, rubber surrounds, long-throw suspensions and cast frames handle the low end. Because the bass enclosure is sealed rather than ported, Legacy notes that it tolerates positions near a rear wall, which suits rooms with little free floor ahead of the back wall. Contour switches on the back panel allow the output of selected bands to be trimmed. The four basic veneers and paints are black oak, natural oak and satin black or white. Walnut, rosewood and gloss lacquers in white or black cost more, and exotic or custom colors are available on request.

Pairing

Two pairs of binding posts separate the treble and bass sections, allowing bi-wire runs or a bi-amp setup with one stereo amplifier driving the upper drivers and a second driving the woofers. Such a demanding nominal load calls for an amplifier that handles current comfortably, but the high sensitivity means moderate output is enough for normal listening levels in a 20 m2 space, and valve designs of modest power are workable when they cope with low impedances. With the lowest crossover point placed so low, a bi-amp arrangement gives the bass amplifier almost all of the heavy low-frequency load while the upper channels see a lighter signal.

Alternatives

The Legacy Audio Signature XD uses the same driver set and cabinet size but adds 650 W of internal amplification for the woofers.