Напольная акустика — Viva Audio Verticale

The Verticale is a horn-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker from Viva Audio, the Italian company founded in 1996 by the brothers Amedeo and Giampietro Schembri, which designs and builds its amplifiers, preamplifiers, DACs and loudspeakers in Italy. Amedeo Schembri, the chief designer, spent two years on the project, and the brand describes the goal as bringing its horn approach to a more affordable and compact size than its larger systems. The Verticale had simultaneous world premieres on 21 to 23 March 2025, at Southwest Audio Fest in Dallas and at Audio Show Deluxe in the UK. The US price was USD 125,000, which included a dedicated Viva valve hybrid amplifier for the bass section.

Key specs that matter

The Verticale uses three horn-assisted ways plus a separately powered low-frequency section. Each speaker carries four 10 inch long-throw woofers, a 6 inch horn-loaded midbass and midrange driver, a 1.4 inch horn-loaded compression driver and a proprietary horn super-tweeter mounted on its own decoupled support. Crossover points sit at 200 Hz, 1200 Hz and 10000 Hz. Rated response is 35 Hz to 23 kHz within 3 dB, sensitivity is 98 dB per watt and nominal impedance is 6 ohm. Each speaker measures 48.7 cm wide, 138 cm high and 66.7 cm deep and weighs 109 kg.

Engineering and use context

Splitting the job at the lowest crossover point means the four woofers handle only the lowest range and take their power from their own amplifier, so the main amplifier never has to drive a large bass array. Above that point the midbass driver works through a horn up to the second crossover, where the compression driver takes over, and the super-tweeter adds the top octave. Horn loading raises the efficiency of the midrange and treble sections, which is what gives the passive part of the system its high sensitivity. That efficiency lets it work from low-powered single-ended triode amplifiers of the kind Viva itself builds. At its debut in both countries the speakers ran from a Viva Solista MK III, a Class A single-ended triode design based on 845 valves with 22 W per channel. In the US room the chain also included the two-chassis Viva Linea preamplifier with an outboard power supply and the Viva Numerico DAC.

Pairing

Low-powered single-ended valve amplifiers suit the passive section, and Viva's own 845 designs are the partners the maker chose. A preamplifier with enough output to feed both the main amplifier and the bass amplifier input is needed.

Alternatives

The Viva Audio Master Horn is a five-way horn system with a subwoofer and no crossover networks, driven by dedicated Viva power amplifiers.