Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Manufacturers' Comment

Editor: We would like to thank John Atkinson for his efforts and his extensive measurements, which correspond with ours. We fully understand his objection regarding the measurement of the tweeter from today's perspective of speaker designs. However, I'd like to recall that the concept of the Hommage Cinema comes from a different time, with a different approach to speaker building and listening.

The decision to design such a complex speaker with remakes of drivers from one of the most famous manufacturers of the US, Western Electric, includes the awareness of their measuring characteristics. The idea for this concept dates back many years, and became possible only by the fact that excellent remakes were made at all.

The approach of A23 to loudspeaker designs was always inspired by historical models, which appeal to the listener on an emotional level rather than only a technical level. This emotional component happens within a certain bandwidth, which is not in the lowest and highest frequencies but rather in the midrange. The emotional component is also found in excellent full-range units, but with lower efficiency. I think that Art Dudley's enthusiasm confirms this.

In general, Mr. Atkinson is absolutely right: There are tweeters of higher bandwidth, and of course we are aware of them. But we don't see any that match perfectly with the 555 driver and our horn in aspects of balance and harmony and—not less important to us—are from the same era.

Considering the space limitations of "Manufacturers' Comments," perhaps these links can give more insight into our approach to this particular field of music reproduction:
www.auditorium-23.de/Prolog/InteriorView.html
www.auditorium23.de/Kommentare/LeMystere.pdf
www.auditorium23.de/Kommentare/Aussenansichten1.html.—Keith Aschenbrenner, Auditorium 23