Напольная акустика — Charney Audio The Maestro

The Maestro is the most compact floorstanding horn in the range of Charney Audio, the company through which designer Brian Charney builds single-driver tractrix loudspeakers. The maker aims it at smaller living spaces, where the larger Companion, Concerto and Lumaca models would need more floor area. It keeps the brand's horn principle while cutting the cabinet down to a shallow, wall-friendly box.

Key specs that matter

Charney quotes a range from 38 Hz up to 22 kHz and a sensitivity of 101 dB at a nominal 8 ohm. Each cabinet stands about 107 cm tall including its pedestal, 38 cm wide and only 18 cm deep, and weighs about 18 kg. Three versions are listed per pair - USD 3,200 in plain Baltic Birch with Lil drivers, USD 7,300 in veneer with the Voxativ AC 1.6 and USD 10,300 in veneer with the Voxativ AC 2.6. Internal wiring is by Jena Labs.

Engineering and use context

One 8 inch full-range unit per side works without any crossover parts between amplifier and cone. Its rear wave is fed into the throat of a folded tractrix horn inside the cabinet, and on its way out through the mouth the horn acts as an acoustic low-pass filter, so it adds output in the bass while the midrange and treble from the back of the cone are cancelled. Unlike the bigger Charney models, this horn widens in one dimension only, from side to side, which keeps the build simpler and the enclosure narrow in depth. The baffle takes almost any 8 inch full-range driver, so owners can change units later. Cabinets are made from Baltic Birch plywood, left plain on the entry version or covered in one of many custom veneers, with ebony and bamboo among the options shown by the maker. Charney designed the Maestro for corner positions or for placement close to a rear wall, where the boundaries reinforce the horn output, and it can also be set out in open space away from walls when a subwoofer is added to cover the lowest octave.

Pairing

With such high sensitivity a low-powered single-ended triode design is sufficient, and Charney produces its own 300B stereo amplifier for its horn models. Anyone who wants the speakers out in the room rather than against a wall should budget for a subwoofer, since the maker ties that placement to added bass support.

Alternatives

The Charney Audio Concerto is a much larger single-driver tractrix floorstander rated down to 20 Hz at 105 dB.