Напольная акустика — Zellaton STAGE ULTRA

The STAGE ULTRA is the most compact of three floorstanding models in the ULTRA Series from Zellaton, the German maker whose roots go back to a 1930 patent on sandwich cone drivers filed by Dr. Emil Podszus. The company was formed in Munich in 1931, and today his grandson Manuel Podszus still builds the drivers by hand from the original patented principles. Above the STAGE ULTRA in the series sit the REFERENCE ULTRA and the STATEMENT ULTRA.

Key specs that matter

Zellaton builds it as a passive 3-way tower with three full-cone drivers per cabinet - a 33 mm tweeter, a 180 mm mid woofer and a 220 mm woofer. Zellaton rates the frequency range at 24 Hz to 40 kHz and the sensitivity at 89 dB/1W/m, with a nominal load of 4 ohms. Each cabinet measures 118 cm tall, 45 cm wide and 64 cm deep, and weighs around 100 kg. Compared with the earlier STAGE, which uses a 40 mm tweeter and is rated at 88 dB, the outer size and weight stay the same.

Engineering and use context

Zellaton equips every driver with the ZELLATON ULTRA diaphragm, a 3-layer sandwich built from shock-absorbing high-tech foam with high breaking strength, faced on the back with specially coated paper that is made by hand. The hardened foam core is about 80 percent air. The front surface carries a structure modelled on bionic principles, which Zellaton says stops sound from travelling across the diaphragm surface and raises its stiffness, so each cone behaves as a stiff full-range piston with high internal damping. After assembly, partial vibrations in the midrange cone are damped manually in an elaborate process. The crossover uses Duelund CAST capacitors, internal wiring is Duelund throughout, and the speaker connects through Mundorf M-Connect binding posts in silver-plated copper. The cabinet is a complex sandwich of several material layers, finished without visible joins, seams, nuts or bolts, and each enclosure is measured and tuned individually with a laser Doppler vibrometer. The standard finish is a lacquered piano surface.

Pairing

A partnering amplifier needs to remain comfortable with low impedances and supply generous current. Moderate power ratings are workable, yet the deep bass reach still asks for an amplifier with firm control over the single woofer.

Alternatives

The Zellaton REFERENCE ULTRA sits one step higher in the ULTRA range, adding two more woofers for three in total in a larger cabinet.