Напольная акустика — EgglestonWorks Viginti

The Viginti is a passive tower speaker built by EgglestonWorks of Memphis, USA, released as a limited edition to mark 20 years of the company. Its name refers to that anniversary, and it is the first EgglestonWorks design to arrange its midrange and treble units in a midrange-tweeter-midrange array.

Key specs that matter

The cabinet holds five drivers. The drivers are a 1 inch beryllium dome tweeter made by Scan-Speak, two 6 inch carbon midrange units from Morel and two 10 inch carbon cone woofers. Frequency range is quoted as 20 Hz to 40 kHz and sensitivity as 87 dB. Nominal impedance is 6 ohm, with a minimum of 3.9 ohm according to the maker. Crossover points sit at around 110 to 120 Hz between woofers and midrange, and at 2 kHz to the tweeter. Each speaker stands 127 cm tall, 35.5 cm wide and 58.5 cm deep, and weighs about 116 kg. At launch the American price was USD 38,995 per pair.

Engineering and use context

Its woofers operate in an isobaric arrangement, with the bass loaded through a rear slot port instead of a round tube. The wooden cabinet has walls of at least 38 mm, reinforced up to 76 mm in places and backed by aluminium plating, plus a complex internal bracing system intended to keep panels inert. EgglestonWorks machines the cabinet parts in house to tight tolerances and tunes the crossover with selected parts. The finish is hand lacquered to an automotive grade shine, and custom colours can be ordered. Inputs are rhodium-plated bi-wire terminals mounted on a carbon fibre panel, so the woofers and the upper section can be driven by separate amplifier channels. The low crossover near 110 Hz means the midrange units handle almost all of the vocal range, while the woofers are left to the lowest octaves.

Pairing

With its moderate sensitivity and an impedance that drops below 4 ohm in the deep bass, the Viginti needs transistor amplification offering generous current delivery into low loads. The bi-wire panel makes it possible to split bass and upper range across two stereo amps or four monoblocks. The slot port on the back needs clearance from the wall, and given the cabinet weight the room floor should be solid, even in a room of about 20 m2.

Alternatives

The EgglestonWorks Kiva 2 is a slimmer three-way tower from the same maker, with twin 7.5 inch pulp woofers and 89 dB sensitivity in a cabinet of about 59 kg.