Unlike the body of a musical instrument, a good loudspeaker cabinet should not vibrate. This unwanted vibration produced by cabinet walls distorts the original sound, causing music to sound inaccurate and unnatural. And while most loudspeakers are made from wooden materials like MDF or plywood, some manufacturers are looking for a better alternative. The German loudspeaker factory Concrete Audio, as the name implies, has chosen the material traditionally used in the construction industry — concrete.
Concrete is naturally a heavy and stiff material — its damping properties are about five times better than wooden materials’. At the same time, concrete allows casting almost any shape featuring good acoustic properties with one single pour.
Concrete Audio manufactures cabinets of special high-strength concrete. The company claims that its high specific gravity and amorphous structure reliably prevent the housing of the loudspeakers from oscillating and corrupting the sound.
Concrete Audio: “By means of a special casting process, the housing is cast out of one single body with all sides closed and sealed. The monolithic structure has no internal walls in parallel and is lined with different layers of sound-absorbing materials to prevent any possible reflections. The result is a resonance-free housing that lets the driver function as it is intended.”
The curing process makes each loudspeaker unique, identical in shape and surface quality, but different in terms of the grain. The smooth surface resembles cut stone and can be polished or sealed with oil or wax. If desirable it can also be lacquered or covered with natural wood veneer.
The actual model range comprises three models: the active bookshelf speakers B1, floor-standing passive speakers N1, and a set of active on-wall speakers F1 with subwoofer S1. The prices start at €5,950 for B1, €16,900 for N1, and €14,900 for F1+S1. Yes, these speakers are definitely not cheap.
HOUSING: Concrete, monolithically poured
SYSTEM: 2-way closed-box, passive
FREQUENCY RANGE: 34 Hz – 40,000 Hz
POWER HANDLING: 100 W
SENSITIVITY: 83 dB (1 W/1 m)
TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION: < 1% at 90 dB SPL (1 m), f > 100 Hz
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 4 Ohms
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY: 6 dB/2,000 Hz
PORTS: Single-wiring/bi-wiring
DIMENSIONS (H x W x D): 110 cm (43,3 in) x 23 cm (9,1 in) x 33 cm (13 in)
NET WEIGHT/PIECE: 80 kg (176 lbs)
HOUSING: Concrete, monolithically poured
SYSTEM: 2-way-array, closed-box, active, DSP, Class-D
FREQUENCY RANGE: 100 Hz – 20,000 Hz
MAX. SPL/1 M: 98 dB (10 % THD at f = 100 Hz; < 3 % THD at f > 200 Hz)
PORTS: Digital (Audiofly Syncronice wireless)
DIMENSIONS (H X W X D): 57,5 cm (22,6 in) x 39 cm (15,4 in) x 3,2 cm (1,3 in)
NET WEIGHT/PIECE: 12 kg (26,4 lbs)