Напольная акустика — Venture Audio Ultimate Xtreme

The Xtreme, also listed as the Ultimate Xtreme, is the four-way tower of the passive Ultimate Series of Venture Audio, while the active Grand Extreme heads the separate Quantum Series. Venture has been developing loudspeakers for more than 35 years and designs its drivers, crossovers and internal cables in-house. No other Ultimate model divides the band four ways, and none carries as many drivers.

Key specs that matter

Each cabinet holds thirteen Venture drivers - a 2 inch AGC dynamic tweeter, two 5 inch CFGC drivers, four 7 inch CFGC underhung midrange units and six 9 inch CFGC bass drivers. Venture quotes a response of 20 Hz to 60,000 Hz, a sensitivity of 93 dB and a nominal impedance of 6 ohm. The maker rates the speaker for amplifiers of up to 1000 W without clipping. The cabinet is 172 cm tall, 66 cm wide and 61 cm deep, and one speaker weighs approximately 120 kg. Finish options are mirror polished piano black and ebony. A minimum of 100 hours of playing time is required for break-in.

Engineering and use context

Venture places the six bass units on the cabinet sides instead of the front baffle. Venture chose this layout so that the lowest octaves come from the same enclosure as the rest of the range, which removes the need for separate bass towers. External bass towers would add two more boxes to position, with the risk of phase mismatch against the main speakers and of reinforcement and cancellation at the seat. The crossover is a first-order network, and its four bands are divided with the 6 dB per octave slope that Venture applies throughout its catalogue. The passive networks are assembled by hand, and the company tests each component both before and after it goes into the circuit. Venture wires the drivers with its own silver-plated high-purity copper cable. The CFGC cones used for all drivers below the tweeter combine long carbon fibres with a graphite composite to keep moving mass low while remaining stiff. Ultimate Series enclosures are laminated from alternating high-density fiberboard and solid hardwood layers.

Pairing

The high sensitivity and moderate nominal load mean the Xtreme does not require very large amplifiers to reach high levels, yet the high power rating means that high-power solid-state stereo amplifiers or monoblocks can also be connected without overloading the drivers.

Alternatives

The Venture Audio Ultimate Reference sits one step below in the Ultimate Series, a three-way design with four bass drivers in a 148 cm cabinet.