Auditorium 23 Appassionata
a somewhat different interpretation of speaker building.



To continue our chronology of speaker building around the 21cm PHY unit we are coming to Appassionata. Encouraged by our experiences with Provence and its acceptance among our audience, we asked ourselves the following: "If a speaker cabinet is a body of sound, what'll happen if we use the type of wood intruments are made of"?

According to most predominant theories on speaker building, this would simply lead... nowhere. But we chose to stick with the motto "you won't know unless you try," and contacted an accomplished industrial manufacturer of piano wood. He was able and willing to meet our specifications, and to produce sections in the desired formats.

The result was Appassionata, possibly the first loudspeaker made from wood that is generally used in reverb panels in pianos, and it's likely to be only our first step on a road yet unknown. Appassionata retains the open baffle concept that has already been proven so successfully with Provence.

Since massive wood will respond to humidity and will expand or contract under different conditions, we took special care to have the body joined in the most appropriate technique.

The outer posts consist of maple and uncouple the swinging unit from the chassis and wood-cabinet to minimize potential interference from ground level. The linking elements of bronze were chosen with equal care and intent.

Some of you may feel alienated by this interpretation of speaker building, and it is certainly not meant to be embraced as the one and only valid concept for speaker construction. This particular approach has only become possible through the fortunate conjunction of skills and products by different manufacturers who share a common notion of musicality.

This notion stems from an appreciation of certain traditional production methods, select materials, and last but not least, from a deep trust in the human senses. If music doesn't touch your soul, then query your system...

Appassionata was first shown at Frankfurt HighEnd Show 1998.


Presse note in La Nouvelle Revue du Son