AshKWe’ve just been told that another premium Italian loudspeaker brand is soon to be available in New Zealand.
Albedo Audio was established in 2009 and is based in Montelabbate, in the Province of Pesaro. The chief design engineer is Massimo Costa – whose background in audio dates back to the early 1990s, where he started working with Dr. Guiseppe Pucacco (PhD in physics) to develop simulation software to explore transmission line speaker enclosures. This propriety software is said to enable extremely accurate prediction of enclosure behaviour.
The outcome of this early work gave birth to the first Albedo project in 1995, a two-way loudspeaker system equipped with a small 4-inch driver, introduced by Apex Audio. Following this design, a further distinguishing feature evolved – the use of small Accuton ceramic drivers.
Ceramic drivers were developed in 1984 by Bernhard Thiel, an engineer at Backes & Müller in Germany. They are made with an extremely thin layer of hard material alumina, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide, which is found in nature as sapphire. These high-quality ceramic drivers feature in Albedo’s Aptica, Axcentia and Alecta models. The newly released model Amira, offers similar design and construction to Aptica but utilises a Curv soft-dome tweeter and woven mid/woofer – enabling a more cost effective price point.
The Aptica floorstander will be the first available model in June. It has a tapered, lute shaped body with a concealed damped steel-bar spine, mechanically grounded into a solid and spiked metal base plinth. The front baffle is made of hand chiseled wood and each speaker weighs in at 19 Kg.
The price will be $15,750 in the Makassar Ebony finish.
The much larger Axcentia will be available for audition in August. All models are available to order with choice of colour/and finish.
Contact Ian at Criticalsound.co.nz for more information.
I’ll be reviewing a pair of Albedo Axcentia speakers here at Witchdoctor in the coming months – watch this space!