Напольная акустика — Kudos SUPER 20A

The Super 20A is a two-way floorstander in the Cardea series of Kudos Audio, the British company whose drivers are made exclusively for it by SEAS in Norway. It is the latest version of the Super 20, itself a redesign of the earlier Cardea C20. Like the Titan models, the Super A versions are configured so that the internal crossover can be bypassed for active operation.

Key specs that matter

It uses a SEAS-Kudos 180 mm mid/bass with a hand-treated paper cone on a cast chassis, a 26 mm voice coil with a copper shorting ring and an aluminium phase plug, and a SEAS-Kudos Crescendo K2 29 mm fabric dome tweeter. The cabinet is bass reflex. Frequency range is 30 Hz to 30 kHz as average in-room response, sensitivity is 88 dB and nominal impedance is 8 ohms, with 25 W to 300 W recommended. It stands 925 mm tall, 200 mm wide and 270 mm deep, and weighs 22 kg.

Engineering and use context

The Crescendo K2 tweeter is SEAS's Crescendo re-engineered exclusively for Kudos and shared across all four Cardea models, while each model has its own mid/bass. The copper shorting ring in the mid/bass motor reduces eddy currents, and the aluminium phase plug draws heat away from the coil. Kudos favours low-order crossovers with few components, and the Super 20A uses Mundorf MResist Supreme resistors, air-core inductors and ClarityCap CopperConnect capacitors, hand-matched to tight tolerances. The cabinet is 18 mm HDF, denser than standard MDF. The reflex port exits through the base into a fixed boundary formed by the plinth, a Kudos arrangement that makes the speaker less sensitive to its position, and the port is damped in a way derived from the Titan T808. Kudos also makes the SIGAO DRIVE, an external passive crossover that allows active operation with almost any amplifier brand. Because the crossover can be bypassed, the Super 20A works with active systems such as Linn Exakt, Devialet Expert, Naim SNAXO and Exposure VXN, in which one amplifier channel drives each driver. Finishes are black oak, red tineo, tineo and walnut veneers, with satin white available. Kudos makes the speaker in the UK.

Pairing

The benign load leaves the choice of integrated amplifier wide, and owners can later move to an active setup without changing speakers. The base-firing port and slim cabinet suit rooms of 15 to 30 m2.

Alternatives

Kudos Audio's Cardea Super 10A is the smaller Super A model, also ready for active drive.