AshKTHE LATEST NZ made beauty from Image Loudspeakers is now available. According to Chris Ball, the company’s founder and chief designer, a great number of Image customers prefer smaller floorstanding speakers, and the success of the Image 410 and 411 have consistently proved this.
He was asked to make a model with the same height and width as the Image 411 because this size was very acceptable but with a deeper enclosure to give greater volume. So the Troubador was born.
It uses the same drivers and tweeter as the 410 and 411 models, but has two of these drivers set up as dedicated woofers in a separate sub-enclosure, with the mid driver in its own sub-enclosure. Chris informs us that the bass is exceptional from such a compact speaker and as he puts it: “He gets what he desires, and she is happy to have small speakers in the living room”.
According to Chris, the hand made 14cm Morel drivers have massive 75mm Hexatech voice coils for ultra-high power handling and signal response.
A third and identical 14cm Morel driver covers some upper-bass frequencies to augment the two bass drivers, but concentrates on the major task of producing the midrange.
The Troubador is designed for medium to large listening rooms and can be placed reasonably close to rear walls, although a little distance will improve the image depth of field.
Specs are as follows:
System type: 3-way, rear ported
HF driver: Morel 28mm soft dome
Mid driver: Morel 14cm DPC cone
Bass drivers: Morel 14cm DPC cone
Room response: 40Hz-22kHz
Sensitivity: 91dB/1 watt
Power rating: 160 watts
Impedance: 4 ohms nominal
Crossover: 250Hz and 2800Hz
Dimensions(cm): 87 x 16 x 27.6 (h x w x d)
Facilities: Bi-wire input terminals, 8mm brass floor spikes
We’ve got a review pair coming in to be placed in front of the inimitable Mr. Andy Baker’s golden ears. The RRP is $2500.
Yes please!
Have a pair. Very nice. Treble takes a while to run in. Bass remarkable for smaller speakers, but dont expect subwoofer levels.
Mids are actually the high point. Look great. Happy chappie.
How are those review speakers coming along? Did it ever happen?
I would be very interested to see comparisons and comments between the Image, Perreaus & Theophany options out there for the patriotic audio buff.