Steinway & Sons Model B

Description

Overview

The Model B takes the thinking behind the Model D and puts it into a smaller package. It is a full-range dipole loudspeaker designed to give the same holographic stereo image as its bigger relative in a room that cannot take the largest speaker in the range. Six 12-inch woofers, three facing forwards and three facing backwards, sit on an open aluminium frame with no enclosure at all, alongside a 5-inch aluminium midrange and Steinway Lyngdorf’s own Air Motion Transformer tweeter. It runs from 25 Hz to 22 kHz and reaches 115 dB at a metre.

Design & build

Every woofer uses a glass fibre and honeycomb cone on a die-cast basket with a vented magnet, and all six are mounted on a rigid open frame rather than in a box, so they never have to work against compressed cabinet air. The sides of the loudspeaker are folded back to add acoustic width, which a dipole needs in order to keep its forward and rearward bass radiation properly separated. Tweeter and midrange sit on a solid aluminium base plated in gold or chrome, with lacquered side panels. The standard finish is black piano lacquer, with custom finishes available. It measures 60 by 124 by 31 cm and weighs 140 kg.

Sound & performance

Linear output extends down to 25 Hz, and the quoted range is 25 Hz to 22,000 Hz at minus 3 dB, so no separate woofer is required. The midrange is a 5-inch aluminium cone on a die-cast basket with a neodymium magnet. The tweeter is an Air Motion Transformer of Steinway Lyngdorf’s own design, using an ultra-thin folded Kapton diaphragm suspended between neodymium magnets. Maximum sound pressure is 115 dB at one metre, which in a domestic room is a great deal more than anyone will use, and that reserve is exactly why it stays composed when the material gets demanding.

Key features

• Full-range dipole, 25 Hz to 22 kHz, with no separate boundary woofer required.
• Six 12-inch glass fibre and honeycomb woofers, three front and three rear, on an open aluminium frame.
• 5-inch aluminium midrange and an Air Motion Transformer tweeter with folded Kapton diaphragm.
• Quad-amplified: four amplification channels per loudspeaker, from a Model A2 at 4 × 400 W.
• Requires a Steinway Lyngdorf processor as well as the amplifier; there is no passive version for use with a third-party amplifier.
• Digital crossover, stored in the amplifier.
• Two 4-way Neutrik connectors; 115 dB maximum SPL at one metre.

Technology

Quad-amplification is the heart of it. One A2 amplifier provides all four channels a Model B needs, driving the drive units directly with no passive crossover components in the signal path. The crossover itself is digital and held in the amplifier. Audio reaches the amplifier from the processor over the Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link, the brand’s proprietary interconnect based on CAT 5e cable, which is neither standard network audio nor an analogue connection. From the amplifier to the loudspeaker the connection is made with Neutrik connectors, two per speaker in a 4-way configuration.

Specifications

• Drivers: Air Motion Transformer tweeter; 5-inch aluminium midrange; 6 × 12-inch glass fibre and honeycomb woofers; full dipole aluminium baffle and frame
• Amplification: 4 channels, quad-amplified by a Model A2 at 4 × 400 W
• Other: 25 Hz to 22 kHz at minus 3 dB; 115 dB maximum SPL at 1 m; digital crossover held in the amplifier; 2 × 4-way Neutrik; 60 × 124 × 31 cm; 140.0 kg; black piano finish

Who it’s for

The Model B suits a serious two-channel room or the front of a high-end cinema where the Model D is simply too large, physically or financially. It is full-range, so no boundary woofers are needed. It does, though, need four amplification channels of its own, which means one A2 per loudspeaker, plus a Steinway Lyngdorf processor to feed them. Being a dipole it also wants space behind it to work properly, so it is not a speaker to plan tight against a wall. At 140 kg apiece, siting is worth agreeing early.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

The difference between a Model B that sounds extraordinary and one that sounds merely expensive is almost entirely placement, amplification and calibration. Hidden Home Technology handles all three. We are a CEDIA member working from Bath, and we design, install and commission systems of this calibre as complete projects. Arrange a demonstration with us, and we will work out amplifier count, positioning and cabling for your room before anything is ordered.