Напольная акустика — Boenicke Audio W13

Swiss manufacturer Boenicke Audio builds the W13 floorstander, which sits in the W range alongside the W5, W8, W11 and W22. It pairs a slim solid-wood column with an actively driven bass array, so the tall and narrow cabinet carries far larger woofers than its front width suggests. Buyers choose between walnut, ash, core ash and cherry, and oak can be ordered on request.

Key specs that matter

Two 13 inch long-throw bass drivers with ultra-hard injection-moulded diaphragms work in a sealed enclosure. Above them are a 6 inch custom woodcone bass-midrange driver and a 3 inch custom widebander, and a rear ambient tweeter completes the set. Sensitivity is given as 86 to 89 dB per watt at 1 m, varying with frequency. The rated nominal load is 18 ohm, but Boenicke notes that it drops to 2.4 ohm in the treble. The cabinet is 105 cm high, 18 cm wide and 39 cm deep, and each speaker weighs approximately 40 kg, with the exact figure varying by version and wood species.

Engineering and use context

A 2 x 350 W Class D module housed in every cabinet powers only the two bass drivers, and a programmable DSP offers four presets that the owner can switch between. Placing the woofers in a sealed box and running them from their own amplification relieves the external amplifier of the lowest octaves. The SE version adds DSP bass amplification, resonators, Bybee Quantum Purifiers and a phase linearisation network. The SE+ version goes further with additional resonators, an EMF coil, tuning bases, an extra Purifier, higher-grade capacitors and structural improvements, and it adds a 75 mm wide-pass tweeter behind a first-order high-pass filter together with a parallel electromechanical resonator of the Swiss company's own design. The rear ambient tweeter spreads part of the upper range toward the wall behind the speaker.

Pairing

Because the built-in amplification is reserved for the bass array, the woodcone driver, widebander and tweeter still need an external stereo amplifier. The high nominal load is undemanding through most of the band, yet the treble dip demands current capability from the amplifier in the upper octaves too. A power socket near each cabinet is required to feed the bass electronics.

Alternatives

The Boenicke W11 is the smaller floorstander of the W range, using side-firing 10 inch woofers and a 6 inch wood-cone midrange with bass level adjustable in five 2.5 dB steps.