Напольная акустика — Zellaton STATEMENT

The Statement is a five-driver, three-way tower from Zellaton, the German company whose origins go back to a 1930 US patent filing for a sound reproducing apparatus by Berlin engineer Emil Podszus. Its drivers are handmade in Munich under the supervision of Manuel Podszus, the founder's grandson, and one driver set can take up to six weeks to build. A US price of USD 200,000 per speaker was reported in early 2019.

Key specs that matter

Per cabinet Zellaton lists a 40 mm full-cone tweeter, two 180 mm full-cone mid woofers and two 280 mm full-cone woofers. Zellaton gives a frequency response of 20 Hz to 40 kHz, a sensitivity of 92 dB at 1 W and 1 m, and an impedance of 4 ohm. The enclosure measures 180 x 60 x 90 cm (height, width, depth), and the published net weight is about 300 kg per speaker.

Engineering and use context

The 1930 Podszus patent described one of the first loudspeakers with a dynamic driver at a time when horn speakers were the norm. Unlike the soft dome in the brand's smaller floorstanders, the tweeter here is itself a full-cone unit, so every driver in the Statement follows the Zellaton cone principle derived from the original patent. The proprietary mid woofers are specified to cover close to full range on their own, roughly from 100 Hz to 8 kHz, which leaves the crossover points outside the band where most voices and instruments sit. The driver build quality is described as matching military specification standards. The tall cabinet has a faceted shape, finished in matte grey on the example that was reported at launch. With that footprint and mass, it is intended for a large dedicated listening space rather than a 20 m2 living room, and moving it into position calls for planning and several people.

Pairing

The high efficiency means the Statement does not demand extreme amplifier power, but the demanding load and four large bass and mid cones per side call for amplification with plenty of current reserve when the load dips. Mono or stereo transistor designs rated for low impedance operation are the obvious match.

Alternatives

The Zellaton Plural EVO is a smaller three-way floorstanding model with two woofers, one mid woofer and a soft dome tweeter.