Wilson Benesch, a British manufacturer of high-end audio equipment, has announced the launch of its new loudspeakers Wilson Benesch Omnium. It is a 2.5-way floorstanding loudspeaker that follows the modular design philosophy that the South Yorkshire company adopted with its Odyssey range in 2001. The new Omnium loudspeakers bring together features from the Odyssey series and the Eminence range, with a total of seven controllers per tower.
According to the manufacturer itself, the name “Omnium” has been chosen because its new speakers are the result of three decades of research and development. On the other hand, they also mark the beginning of the next generation of materials and technologies developed through a four-and-a-half-year collaborative research and development project: SSUCHY (an abbreviation for “Sustainable Structural & Multifunctional Biocomposites from Hybrid Natural Fibers and bio -based Polymers» (Sustainable structural and multifunctional biocomposites from hybrid natural fibers and biobased polymers). That is to say, the manufacturer has sought with the new Wilson Benesch Omnium, to create the world’s first “ecological loudspeaker”. To do this, they have replaced non-recyclable materials with state-of-the-art recyclable materials.
Wilson Benesch Omnium: high technology and modular design
We said a few lines above that each Wilson Benesch Omnium tower is made up of seven controllers. More specifically, each tower is equipped with a 25 mm (1″) Fibonacci WB hybrid tweeter, a 170 mm (7″) WB Tactic 3.0 high bass unit, a 170 (7″) Tactic WB 3.0 midrange driver, a 170 (7″) WB Tactic 3.0 bass driver and three 170mm (7″) WB Isobaric Drive System bass drivers.
The latest iteration of Wilson Benesch’s tweeter technology builds on the Semisphere tweeter design the brand introduced in 2012 (the world’s first carbon fiber-based hybrid tweeter dome design), but has taken it to a new level. higher. The front plate of the Fibonacci tweeter is formed by a carbon fiber composite structurecreating a geometrically optimized waveguide precisely matched to the unique output of the Silk-Carbon Hybrid tweeter dome.
With the faceplate and driver decoupled from the rest of the tweeter chassis, Wilson Benesch says the tweeter not only achieves “flat frequency response as a rule” and very wide dispersion characteristics, but also optimal frequency and timing integration with the Tactic 3.0 mid drive.
Wilson Benesch Omniums are also equipped with three 7-inch Tactic 3.0 drivers (bass, treble and midrange), which maintain the isotactic polypropylene cone to offer an optimal balance between rigidity and damping. The manufacturer claims that this unique blend of material properties allows the design to be kept crossover-free and directly coupled to the amplifier for the mid drive unit, while maintaining zero phase distortion. Additionally, the new Fibonacci element results in a drive unit that produces perfect roll off without any inductor, extended frequency response down to 4KHz, and flat frequency response within its operating range.
The low frequency charging principle is supplied by a series of isobaric drive systems. This, according to the manufacturer, reproduces an incredibly tight and controlled bass response, perfectly integrated with the Tactic 3.0 drive unit in the midrange. The stepped response of the Isobaric Drive system’s three 7-inch drivers is nearly identical to that of the Tactic 3.0 mid-drive units, ensuring near-seamless integration across the entire audio band.
By last, the upper part is made of a carbon fiber composite whose complex shape, beyond being quite striking, is essential for the speaker’s performance. According to the manufacturer, by eliminating flat, reflective surfaces and creating complex curved structures, sound waves hitting the speaker enclosure are scattered, reducing their energy and therefore their audible presence.
As you can imagine, all the components of the Wilson Benesch Omnium have been designed to offer the highest quality. For example, the speakers are supported by feet carved in-house from a single 80kg piece of aluminum to create a foot that weighs no less than 38 kg. These, along with the 14mm clamping bolts that generate a metric ton of compression pressure through the Omnium’s enclosure, form the base of the speaker.
The result is a tower of 180 x 63 x 28 cm (the feet are 59 cm wide), weighing 140kg. These towers offer a 28Hz – 30KHz stated frequency response +/- 2dB with a 89dB listed sensitivity and one 4.5 ohm nominal impedance.
In short, some really spectacular speakers that very few will be able to enjoy. And it is that the Wilson Benesch Omnium have already been put up for sale with an official price of £98,000which would be about 116,000 euros.
Via | WhatHiFi
