Loudspeakers

The drivers in this three-way floorstanding speaker are, on the whole, well behaved with only the 150mm pulp mid unit slightly stretched – a step in response once into its stride after the 260Hz crossover [see Graph 1], and a mild resonance just before the top 2.9kHz crossover visible in the CSD waterfall [Graph 2] likely to be a mild cone/surround mistermination. Otherwise the V Amator's rated 89dB sensitivity is well met at 89.1dB/1kHz and 89.5dB (500Hz-8kHz). The forward response, too, is flat to within fairly tight ±2.2dB and ±2.6dB limits (200Hz-20kHz), respectively, with the largest undulations occurring above 7kHz as the 29mm DAD tweeter builds to a resonant peak at 31kHz [pink shaded area, Graph 1]. One of our pair did not have quite the same extension [red trace, Graph 1] but pair matching is otherwise superb at a tight 0.45dB from 200Hz-10kHz, 'slackening' slightly to 1.2dB above 10kHz. In practice, listening at or above the top of the cabinet, or toeing the speakers inwards by 10-15o, will sweeten the top-end response, but the grilles exaggerate the treble dips and peaks by up to 3dB above 3kHz so are best employed when the speakers are 'resting' [blue trace, Graph 1].

Both 165mm sandwich-coned woofers peak at 97Hz and are supplemented by the robust 43Hz output of the huge, downward-firing port (beware thick carpets...) to deliver a diffraction-corrected bass extension of 42Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz). The minimum 2.8ohm/104Hz impedance, and –57°/70Hz to +42°/21Hz swings in phase angle, contribute to a tough EPDR of 1.15ohm/85Hz in the bass (and 1.7ohm/2.15kHz), so all that punch still demands a capable amplifier. PM