Featured in our issue no. 43 alongside its larger compact model, the Izumi, German brand Odeon Audio returns to VUmètre with a more substantial offering: the Odeon Audio Tosca 2020. This floorstanding speaker is the most advanced model in its catalog, ahead of the three external horn models. Priced at €8,290, it stands out for the quality of its hand-picked components—from Wima capacitors to Mundorf coils and Scan Speak drivers—in addition to its special compression tweeter from Italy, for a natural and versatile sound.
During our visit to the Esprit factory (see report in VUmètre No. 47), we had the opportunity to listen to the impressive Odeon Audio Semper (€33,900) and the ultimate Carnegie (€94,990).
Thinking we would test one of the models with external horns, we wanted to try the more reasonably priced Helix (€18,890), but ultimately realized that testing a more discreet speaker such as the Rigoletto 2020 or the Tosca 2020 would be more appropriate for the majority of our readers. So the Tosca 2020 stood out to us, both for the already very high quality of each component and for its musical realism.
Modified in 2020 to reach its third generation, the Tosca has improved both its mid-bass range and its tweeter, while remaining a two-way speaker, but with a wide frequency range capable of going down to 34 Hz and up to almost 25 kHz (manufacturer’s measurements). In order to achieve the finest response quality and the best bass performance, this speaker features a plywood cabinet with a 20 mm thick multiplex laminate structure designed to absorb vibrations as effectively as possible.
Added to this is a filter system that captures Helmholz resonances at the base of the mid-bass drivers, with the aim of providing the most natural air flow possible. The two speakers, manufactured by the Danish brand Scan Speak, feature a NAWI (non-unwindable) wood fiber cone and a very large magnet for greater rigidity and deeper bass reproduction.
Manufactured on the other side of Europe, the tweeter comes from Italy and uses high-compression technology based on a mylar diaphragm, a polyester film with the barbaric name of polyethylene terephthalate, also known by the acronym PET, which is highly resistant to traction, chemically stable, and highly reflective.
Driven by a neodymium magnet with a magnetic force of two Tesla to guide the moving coil, and reinforced by mechanical shielding to eliminate microphonic effects, it ensures faithful reproduction of high frequencies, supported in their diffusion by the 17 cm horn into which the tweeter is integrated. As for the low frequencies, a bass reflex system based on a downward-facing tunnel has been designed to improve the diffusion of some of the midrange frequencies, as well as to avoid being limited by placement too far or too close to a wall, as is the case with horizontal orientation.
The crossover filter is based on Wima film capacitors and Mundorf flat film coils, soldered point-to-point and mechanically secured, with the aim of minimizing deviations and achieving the most linear listening experience possible between each register. The cables used are German OFC copper and the terminals are among the best available: gold-plated copper WBT Nextgen, mounted on acrylic panels behind which the filters are placed.
Measuring 111.5 cm in height, the Tosca 2020 speakers are placed on a wooden base and are available in a range of colors, either to enhance their woody character (poplar, macassar, walnut, maple) or to give them a more modern look with white or black lacquer finishes.
THE SETUP OF THE ODEON AUDIO TOSCA 2020
Available from only a few retailers, the Tosca 2020 speakers could be listened to at Hifi 35 in Rennes, where they were particularly well suited to being powered by a Unison Research S6 class A tube amplifier. The sources used also allowed us to develop the level of detail in depth, particularly with the new DCS Bartók Apex, whose range of nuances benefited from the Odeon Audio, brought back to a more conventional but already very musical level with the Moon 390 streamer.
Compared to more conventional competitors, such as the B&W 700 series and the KEF 800 series, the Tosca 2020s were also positioned in several locations in the auditorium, at different distances from the walls, as well as being oriented in various ways, in order to bring out their best potential, particularly when they were angled,
i.e., deliberately oriented towards the opposite corners of our sofa, with the aim of creating a perfect isosceles triangle and developing a more monitor-like listening experience.
THE SOUND OF THE ODEON AUDIO TOSCA 2020
As we were familiar with the Izumi and remembered their particular ease with natural music, we began testing the Tosca 2020 in the same way, which turned out to be a very good idea! While we were already very impressed with the sound quality of the smaller model, the large North Rhine-Westphalia column and its Italian-Danish speakers achieve an even higher level of realism.
With Savannah Conley’s new album or our usual jazz singers, the flavors of the midrange vocals come through directly, while the surrounding instruments benefit from the same purity of nuance. And more than just well-toned, the sound achieves a magnificent balance between all registers, with the notes superbly carried by the air.
Added to this is a wide soundstage, which gives our singers a beautiful volume, liberated and therefore with a special presence in the listening room, whose warmth is enhanced by the class A tubes of the Unison Research amplifier, as well as by the finesse of the details of the sources.
With very fine reproduction, particularly in the high frequencies thanks to the compression tweeter perfectly expelled by the horn, the Tosca 2020s, when angled towards the corners, further improve this precision, but at the expense of the soundstage, which then loses a little in width. This type of listening will then be a matter of taste!
Very comfortable with natural music, confirmed with classical chamber music ensembles, the Tosca 2020s were then pushed to their limits. And here again, compared to the Izumi, not only was the bass response much wider, but also much more natural.
While Hugh Masekela’s “Stimela” was initially used to check the tension of the real bass, superbly reproduced even in large dynamic ranges, it was with Tyler’s electronic sounds and the bass in Nirvana’s “Breed” that we were able to appreciate the excellent performance of the Scan Speak speakers at the lower end of the spectrum and the relevance of the downward-facing bass reflex system, without giving the impression of hitting the bottom of the cabinet.
To check the volume in terms of both width and depth and the handling of large masses, we first used Argerich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (live Lugano, DG), as we had heard the pianist two days earlier in Evian. Here, the distinctly placed orchestral instruments combined with the clear distinction of the keyboard touch, with beautiful mechanical effects. On the other hand, when we played Tosca with Puccini’s eponymous opera, in the Karajan version from Decca, on “Tre Sbirri,” the initially magnificent organ gave way to limited depth when the orchestra and choir were fortissimo.
We checked again with “Vissi d’arte” from the same opera, where we had never before distinguished the crystalline harp so clearly, in addition to fully enjoying Leontyne Price’s tone, and we subsequently found that slight lack of breadth, not in width but in depth, which can be found in the brand’s superior, much more extreme models.
OUR CONCLUSION
Considered by some to be less versatile than certain competing speakers, Odeon Audio’s Tosca 2020s really won us over with their magnificent reproduction of timbres across a very wide range, without saturation even in the high frequencies or bass pushed to very high volumes. With impressive accuracy and naturalness, these German speakers offer superb fluidity and do not have the overly sharp character characteristic of many brands from this country.
Only limited in depth on very large masses, they are otherwise magnificent companions, especially if you are a fan of classical music and jazz. Although still discreet, this largest of the three speakers already benefits fully from the wooden horn effect, while retaining a classic design that the brand’s three largest models, which are much more voluminous and much more expensive, cannot offer.
Author(s): Vincent Guillemin
Technical Sheet: Odeon Audio Tosca 2020
- Origin: Germany
- Price: €8,290
- Dimensions: 1115 x 210 x 440 mm
- Weight: 32 kg
- Sensitivity: 93.5 dB
- Impedance: 6 ohms
- Frequency response: 34 Hz – 24.5 kHz
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