CHRIS LIAUW’S ETUDE 5 SPEAKER IS NOW IN PRODUCTION

The Etude 5 speaker was designed with the objective of attaining “seamless coherence from top to bottom”, but without the colourations that can be seen in many traditional single-drive unit designs. 

First seen last year at the North West Audio Show, the Etude 5 has now gone into production.

HIGH GLOSS PIANO LACQUER

The cabinets are finished in high gloss piano lacquer applied by Shackleford Pianos, a leading piano restoration workshop based in Macclesfield, Cheshire.  The skilled craftspeople at Shackleford have treated the Etude 5 cabinets in the same way as the musical instruments they reproduce so effectively.  The default colours are high gloss black or white, though any RAL colour (or colour matching to a given sample) is available on request.

BMR DRIVE UNITS

Most of the audio spectrum is reproduced by a linear array of four 85 mm balanced mode radiator (BMR) drive units which are fed directly via an all-pass three element equalization network made up of very low loss, high quality components

The treble end of the spectrum is bolstered by a ring radiator tweeter that contributes from 5 kHz up to 40 kHz. Both the linear BMR array and the force-cancelled bass units share the same Curvi-contoured transmission line to give a common-beat-time-base.  The 75 mm voice coil 200 mm bass units contribute below 100 Hz and with correct room loading useful output below 20 Hz is possible, Chris tells us.

”32 foot pipe organ bass notes can be experienced realistically”. Chris Liauw

DRIVER MOUNTING

Plenty of attention has been paid to drive unit mounting, the bass units are fixed to an aluminium alloy mounting ring which is connected to the opposite ring by eight stainless steel rods.  This cage is structurally isolated from the cabinet carcase and the magnets and baskets of the bass units are damped using another cage structure.  The BMR units are circumferentially clamped to an aluminium alloy baffle insert which is constrained layer damped. 

TUNABLE VOICING

The voicing of the Etude 5 is tunable via solderless resistor changes; the level around the presence band can be varied as can the tweeter output.  As listening room and audio system characteristics vary so widely the optimal way to achieve neutrality, or the desired tonal balance, is via tunability, says Chris.

ETUDE 5 PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The first four pairs are available at an introductory direct sale price of £13,000/pair (in the default high gloss black or white finish). 

HiFi PiG Says: It is great to see this boutique British HiFi brand achieving success with their loudspeakers!