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Regular visitors to Sound Galleries will know I tend to favour large bandwidth drivers. I appreciate them for their exceptional coherence. So when at the High-End show in Munich earlier this year my curiosity was peaked when I spotted a new speaker based on the amazing Manger driver. The Manger is a large bandwidth driver and it also works on the ‘Bending Wave’ principle, said to more closely approximate how our ears process sounds than other types of driver. To my knowledge this is the only driver to work on this principle apart from the panels in the exceptional Podium Sound speakers. So I made an appointment to visit designer Markus Thomann in his Zurich studio to audition these speakers which he has named the Onda.

The Onda’s proved to be amazing speakers. The silences between the musical notes and other sounds were conveyed in a way I’ve seldom heard before, allowing the intentions behind all types of musical performances to be clearly communicated. We certainly intend to feature the Onda’s at Sound Galleries in the near future.

However, much to my surprise, Markus’s smaller Ella speakers also proved to be exceptional performers. Despite being based on a more conventional array of a woofer from Audax and a metal dome tweeter, they still managed to achieve excellent coherence. These two drivers, which are mounted on the front baffle are flanked by two additional woofers on each side of the slim elegant cabinet.

However, apart from the use of relatively conventional drivers, these are hardly conventional speakers. The front baffle is constructed of Creanit®, a form of artificial stone, and their curvaceous shape also assists in correct timing and phase linearity, in addition to suggesting the feminine appellation. Markus is also an architect by profession and his speakers are a wonderful example of ‘form follows function’. None of these qualities though explain how the Ella’s achieve their coherence, although they’re based on multiple drivers. The secret to this is that the Ellas are fully active. All necessary power amplification is mounted within those slim enclosures. When you know exactly which power amplifiers your drivers will be working with, because they are incorporated into the design, then it is possible to optimise the relationship between each driver and its amplifier module. The Power amplifier modules and crossover filtration that do this work are specially produced for Markus by another Swiss company, Relec SA based in Yverdon at the lake of Neuchatel, better known under the brand name of PSI Audio as producers of professional studio monitors.

The design of the Ella’s also results in exceptionally wide dispersion which means that more than one person can enjoy their realistic sound-stage presentation. Their design allows for placement right against the wall, which is perfect for apartment dwellers and anyone who prefers their speakers to be placed in as visually discrete a position as possible. Their flexibility also allows for free placement away from walls, if preferred.

Since the speakers are active they take their connection directly from any pre-amplifier with a balanced output. This also includes our Ancient Audio Lektor Prime CD player which has a built in pre-amplifier with balanced outputs. This allows us to offer an exceptionally attractive ultra high-end system consisting of just three components. This three piece system is a wonderful example of elegant and exceptional sounding designer audio. Visit Klangwerk