Напольная акустика — Fischer & Fischer SN/SL 170

The SN/SL 170 is the entry floorstander of Fischer & Fischer, a German manufacturer using natural slate for its cabinets. SN denotes the natural surface, while SL denotes slate polished and lacquered in any RAL or car colour. As the range goes up, models add drivers, crossover refinement and more elaborate cabinet decoupling. The SN/SL 170 is a compact two-way design for medium-sized rooms.

Key specs that matter

It uses two long-excursion 140 mm cone drivers with a glass-fabric-coated paper sandwich membrane for bass and midrange and a 28 mm soft dome tweeter with hand-coated, optimised geometry. The crossover uses second and third-order impedance-corrected filters, and the enclosure is ported. Response runs from 48 Hz to 20 kHz (+/-3 dB), sensitivity is 89 dB and impedance is 4 ohms. Maximum sound pressure is 108 dB. The speaker measures 980 x 184 x 220 mm tall, wide and deep, and with its floor plate it weighs 38 kg. Including the floor system, the overall footprint is 1160 x 325 x 405 mm. It is a single-wire design with one pair of terminals.

Engineering and use context

Slate is a dense, naturally inert material. Fischer & Fischer cuts the cabinet walls from plates 14 to 20 mm thick, which are both stiff and self-damping, so the enclosure adds little of its own resonance. A massive 40 mm natural slate plate forms the base, lowering the centre of gravity of the slim column and coupling it to the floor. The two drivers share the load in the bass, giving more cone area than one driver in a narrow 184 mm baffle, and their sandwich membranes combine stiffness with internal damping. Impedance correction in the crossover flattens the load presented to the amplifier, which helps valve and low-feedback designs. The natural slate surface of the SN version shows the stone's texture and colour variation, so the pattern varies between pairs, while the SL finish gives a smooth lacquered appearance. Fischer & Fischer offers a ten-year warranty. Because each plate is cut from natural stone, no two SN cabinets look exactly alike, and the SL finish can be ordered in any RAL colour to match an interior.

Pairing

The low nominal impedance suits solid-state integrated amplifiers from about 50 W per channel, and the slim column fits rooms of 15 to 25 m2.

Alternatives

Fischer & Fischer's SN/SL 270 is the next floorstander in the range, with a taller cabinet and deeper bass.