Now best known for its Planet spherical loudspeakers, the French Elipson has not forgotten its more traditional ranges, including the Prestige Facet series, which is now upgraded to version II.
Both aesthetically and technically redesigned, the Prestige Facet II range becomes more elegant thanks to a satin-finish front panel, still available in matte black or matte white finishes, the former also integrated into walnut cabinets. New internal reinforcements provide a more rigid structure and better driver control, while the feet at the bottom of the speaker have been redesigned to improve elegance, firmness and vibration control.
The crossovers have been redesigned with higher-quality components than those of the previous generation (polypropylene film capacitors, metal-film resistors, low DCR inductors), and claim to offer greater transparency and better register separation, while the internal cabling improves dynamics, also benefiting from higher-quality elements, in this case 2.25 mm2 OFC copper.
Divided into ten models, the Prestige Facet II range starts with the small, compact 6B (549 €/pair) and goes up to the large three-way five-driver 34F (3 299 €/pair), in addition to offering two center speakers 11C (349 €) and 14C (549 €), a 7SR surround speaker (499 €), an Atmos 6ATM (499 €) and a 14LCR wall-mounted speaker (469 €) that can be oriented both horizontally and vertically. With all these models, it’s hard not to find what you are looking for!
In search of the unattainable, YG Acoustics unveils its new Gemini loudspeaker at Munich, the first in a new Ultimate series, even superior to the Reference series.
As Group CEO Matthew Webster explains (interview forthcoming), the Ultimate series was born of the idea of being able to design and manufacture a loudspeaker without limits, i.e. without having to restrict oneself in the use of technologies, analyses and materials.
Measuring 2.15 m (84.5’’) in height and weighing 455 kg (1 000 lbs) per unit, the Gemini appears after more than three years of research and development, integrated into an enormous triple-layer aluminum multi-part cabinet in which seven drivers are positioned in a perfectly symmetrical array. With its five-way construction, the Gemini uses the Reference range’s aluminum Latice tweeter, with two 15 cm (6″) Billetcore drivers for the upper midrange. This is followed by two 18.5 cm (7.25″) midrange drivers, driven by neodymium magnets.
The last pair of drivers returns to 26 cm (10.25“) Billetcore drivers to handle the mid-bass frequencies, this time via a ultra-high field strengh motor, identical to that of the 8th driver at the very bottom of the cabinet, a 32 cm (12.5”) devoted solely to bass. Naturally, all these speakers are perfectly matched per pair, as on the Reference Signature, and the crossovers have been specially designed and are totally separated in a box, to which more than five pairs of cables can be connected, in order to attack each channel separately.
Available in three versions, the Gemini can be purely passive, semi-active with an amplified subwoofer (version presented at Munich) or purely active (Live), amplified by 8 x 700W amplifiers then placed in a second box similar to that of the DSP-optimized crossovers. As for prices, we heard close to $800 000 at the presentation, enough to reach the heights!
