Напольная акустика — Westlake Tower-12

The Tower-12 is the model that makes up Westlake Audio's Tower category, a vertical two-way loudspeaker from the Thousand Oaks, California company that is otherwise known for its BBSM, Reference and Lc lines. Unlike the wide Westlake main monitors built for control room walls, it stands upright on the floor. Westlake builds each enclosure as a one-piece sculpted cabinet and fits it with hardwood horns and gold-finished hardware, and Westlake covers no other current model with a five-year warranty rather than one year.

Key specs that matter

Two 12 inch woofers work below a single crossover point at 1.2 kHz, above which a 1 inch compression driver on a hardwood horn takes over. Westlake rates the response at 38 Hz to 20 kHz, plus or minus 3 dB. Sensitivity stands at 97 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m. Impedance is 4 ohm nominal with a minimum of 2.6 ohm. IEC power ratings are 145 W short-term and 365 W long-term. Standing 140.6 cm tall, 69.8 cm wide and 59.6 cm deep, the speaker weighs 158.7 kg. It is finished in walnut.

Engineering and use context

With only two ways, the Tower-12 leaves the upper range to one horn-loaded compression driver, while the paired woofers divide the low frequencies between them, an arrangement that keeps the whole crossover to a single transition. Westlake specifies it for linear resolution and low distortion. Its impedance minimum is a little higher than the 2 ohm floor shared by the BBSM and Reference monitors, although it still counts as a demanding load. Connection differs from the studio models as well. Instead of a barrier strip the Tower-12 carries WBT connectors in a split layout, which lets the woofer section and the horn receive separate cable runs.

Pairing

Westlake recommends passive bi-amping and bi-wiring for its speakers, and the split WBT terminals make both possible here, for example with one stereo amplifier on the woofers and a second on the horns. The company describes its crossover networks as low-impedance designs that need an amplifier able to drive low loads without limiting. With such sensitivity, modest power already gives high levels, and the power handling suits large amplifiers, with Westlake asking that the amplifier be kept below clipping at all times.

Alternatives

The Westlake Reference TM-3 is another horn-equipped model in the same floorstanding category, a three-way with a 15 inch woofer and a 2 inch horn midrange.