SOUND BITES
Copland CSA 150 Integrated, Larsen finally in Oz, Mola Mola’s first-ever integrated, Lumin’s new infra-red remote control, Sennheiser IE300s, Aesthetix Mimas, Cyrus XR Series launches, Meitner MA3 DAC, Pro-Ject Phono Box RS2, McIntosh MHA200 headphone amp, Austere cables arrive, Velodyne’s new Deep Blue Series and the world’s loudest portable speaker (it’s claimed) from SoundBoks.
Larsen HiFi speakers are available for the first time in Australia from Melbourne-based distributor Nirvana Sound. Larsen is a Swedish manufacturer whose omni-directional (ortho-acoustic) loudspeaker designs can be traced back to the famous designs originally invented by Sonab of Sweden.
One of the first models to arrive is the flagship floor-standing Larsen 9, which is 300×930×378mm (WHD) and weighs 25.5kg. It has a rated sensitivity of 88dBSPL and a rated nominal impedance of 4 . As is usual with an omni-directional design, the Larsen 9 has three 25mm softdome tweeters (all made by Scan-Speak) each one of which fires in a different direction. An angled 174mm Scan-Speak Illuminator driver sits high on the very ‘Sonab-looking’ cabinet to deliver mid and low frequencies while lower down in the cabinet, a 197mm Scan-Speak Illuminator driver in a bass reflex enclosure delivers the lowest frequencies down to a claimed 22Hz.
The crossover network is very complex not only because of the 2.5-way design (where the 197mm driver is low-passed at 300Hz, and the 174mm driver crossed to main tweeter at 2.5kHz) but also because the ‘vertical’ tweeters are high-pass-filtered at 5kHz. The crossover components include large, air-wound copper inductors and Jensen foil capacitors.
It should be no surprise that Larsen speakers look like Sonab speakers, because when Stig Carlsson (1925–97), who founded Sonab, left it and went on to found Carlsson, he did so in partnership with John Larsen. After Carlsson died in 1997 Larsen continued building Carlsson speakers until 2006 when he started up again in partnership with Stefan Björklund and designer Anders Eriksson (who tragically died in 2014 aged 34), this time using his own name to badge the speakers.
Larsen speakers are available in any colour, with the company’s website showing models in unusual green and blue colours. “We can lacquer in many colours following the international colour standard called NCS (Natural Colour System),” says Larsen. “Ask your paint dealer or your painter to transform your colour sample to an NCS code and then ask your local dealer for more information.” Available now, the Larsen 9 loudspeakers sell for $22,000 per pair (RRP).