Two and a half grand for 42 kilos of high sensitivity loudspeaker looks interesting, especially as it comes from France’s revitalized Elipson brand. The new Prestige Facet 34F has twin 10 inch bass drivers in a three-way reflex floorstanding cabinet with a claimed sensitivity of 94dB at six Ohms, making it potentially tube/valve amp friendly. This is what Elipson says about the new model:
Crown of carved facets surround each drive unit, from where the range takes its name. This multi-faceted carved silicone trim is made from an inert material which reduces front baffle diffraction and creates a more linear and softer response curve. The 25mm bespoke tweeter assembly consists of a silk dome with a large magnet providing high sensitivity. The aluminum face plate and facet ring offers mechanical resistance from micro-vibrations which often occur at high pressure levels.
The mid-range and bass only drivers are pair matched and boast coated paper cones and low-loss rubber surrounds. Whilst the two 250mm bass only drivers feature a concave dust cap to perfectly match the cone profile for low frequencies, the twin 170mm mid-range drivers feature aluminium phase plugs to ensure improved natural crossovers with the high frequencies.
This bass-reflex twin rear ported cabinet enclosure design boasts optimised damping using different fabrics, a front baffle produced from two inert materials of different thicknesses and all stiffened by internal cross-sectional brace ribs. These significantlyreduce vertical internal standing waves behind the bass drive units whilst avoiding any muffle effect to the sound quality. An optional base plinth offers additional stability and sound isolation for improved audio performance, when placed on wooden floors or carpets.
The crossover offers steep slope filtering using audiophile quality components such as metallized polyester capacitors (MKT), metal oxide film resistors at strategic locations and low internal resistance inductors (DCR) offering efficient power transfer. This complex crossover assembly is connected to a bespoke design, circular, dual-terminal block with silver-plated, bi-wireable terminal post connectors.
A power rating of around 300 Watts, sensitivity of 94dB, a frequency range of 25Hz to 25KHz and an impedance rating of around 6 ohms makes the powerful Facet 34F speakers easy to drive with any amplifier. The Prestige Facet 34F is available in black, walnut and white vinyl cabinet finishes with black or white matching high gloss lacquered front baffles at a UK SRP of £2,495 per pair.