Напольная акустика — Charney Audio The Lumaca VIII

The Lumaca VIII is the tallest of the three Lumaca horn loudspeakers from Charney Audio, the American single-driver specialist founded by Brian Charney. Where the Lumaca VI and VII send their bass out of the base in all directions, the VIII ends its horn in a cutaway that faces backwards, and Charney positions it for larger, dedicated listening rooms. Each cabinet is a wooden cylinder whose inner profile took about two years of drawings to develop.

Key specs that matter

Rated bandwidth runs from 18 Hz to 22 kHz, with 107 dB sensitivity and an 8 ohm system rating. The tractrix path measures around 368 cm. The cabinet stands about 239 cm high on a base 76 cm in diameter, and each speaker weighs roughly 38.6 kg. A pair is priced at USD 90,000 fitted with Voxativ AC-2.6 units and USD 95,000 with AER bd-3b units.

Engineering and use context

In the VIII, the final section of the horn is turned towards the rear at a 45 degree angle. Charney states that this lets the last part of the expansion use the wall behind the speaker as part of its acoustic loading, so the boundary effectively extends the mouth of the horn. The horn has no flat spots anywhere along its length, and a single 8 inch wideband unit covers the full band without a crossover. The AER option is the more costly driver, priced by Charney at USD 11,500 on its own, with a rated upper limit of 80 kHz, 16 ohm impedance and power handling of 100 W nominal or 300 W peak. It has an outer diameter of 22 cm and a mounting depth of 6.5 cm, and at 4.5 kg it weighs almost twice as much as the Voxativ AC-2.6. Charney lists efficiency for the bd-1 to bd-3 family between 103 and 106 dB. Both driver brands fit the same cabinet, and Charney says the choice changes the character of the presentation but not the behaviour of the horn itself. Charney also pairs the Voxativ AC-1.6 and AC-X with its horns. The Lumaca line grew out of the Concerto.

Pairing

Given the high sensitivity, single-ended valve amplifiers with an output of a few watts are the intended partners, and Charney has shown its own 300B designs with its speakers. Since the output reaches the lowest octave, a subwoofer and the associated crossover are not part of the concept.

Alternatives

The Charney Audio Concerto uses a shorter 305 cm tractrix horn in a 211 cm tall cabinet.