Steinway & Sons Model S-15

Description

Overview

The Model S-15 is the compact on-wall loudspeaker in the Model S series, a range the manufacturer says has been installed in hundreds of high-performance home cinemas and living rooms worldwide. It handles midrange and high frequencies only, covering 120 Hz upward, and it will produce 114 dB at a metre from a cabinet measuring just 26 by 20 by 7.9 cm and weighing 4.4 kg. Bass is handled elsewhere in the room by separate boundary woofers, which is a deliberate design decision rather than a shortcoming, and one to understand before specifying.

Design & build

Inside the cabinet is a matte gold aluminium frame that acts as the backbone of an ultra-rigid, low-resonance structure, and on the gloss-lacquered versions that gold interior is visible through the finish. The design deliberately references the original Steinway & Sons Model S piano. Four finishes are offered as standard: matte black, satin silver, high-gloss black and high-gloss white, with custom finishes available. At 7.9 cm deep it sits close to the wall, which is what makes it viable in rooms where a floor-standing loudspeaker would never be accepted.

Sound & performance

The tweeter is an Air Motion Transformer with an ultra-thin folded Kapton diaphragm, and it is mounted in what Steinway Lyngdorf calls an AER, or Ambience Enhancing Radiation, dipole arrangement. A specifically angled reflector diverts the rearward output of the tweeter out to either side, which widens the sound field and cancels reflections at the nearest sidewalls. The midrange is a light aluminium cone driven by a powerful neodymium magnet and clamped between the metal front and back of the cabinet so it cannot set up resonances. Maximum sound pressure is 114 dB at one metre, from a very small box.

Key features

• Covers 120 Hz to 22 kHz only. Separate boundary woofers are required for bass; the Model S-15 will not reproduce low frequencies on its own.
• Requires a Steinway Lyngdorf processor and an A1 or A2 amplifier. There is no passive version for use with a third-party amplifier.
• One amplification channel per loudspeaker.
• AER dipole tweeter arrangement, with an angled reflector directing rear output to the sides.
• Air Motion Transformer tweeter with folded Kapton diaphragm and an aluminium cone midrange.
• 114 dB maximum SPL at one metre from a 26 by 20 by 7.9 cm cabinet weighing 4.4 kg.
• Matte black, satin silver, high-gloss black or high-gloss white; custom finishes available.

Technology

The boundary woofer principle is central to how Steinway Lyngdorf approaches bass. Rather than asking one cabinet to do everything, low frequencies are produced by dedicated woofers positioned near the boundaries of the room, so that direct sound and the room’s own reflections arrive at the listening position together. The Model S-210 is the boundary woofer within the same Model S series. Everything upstream is connected by the Steinway Lyngdorf Digital Link, a proprietary interconnect based on CAT 5e cable rather than a network or an analogue lead, running from processor to amplifier, with conventional speaker cable from the amplifier onward.

Specifications

• Drivers: Air Motion Transformer AER dipole tweeter; aluminium cone midrange; no woofer, so separate boundary woofers are required
• Amplification: 1 channel per loudspeaker, from an A1 or A2
• Other: 120 Hz to 22 kHz; 114 dB maximum SPL at 1 m; 26.0 × 20.0 × 7.9 cm; 4.4 kg; matte black, satin silver, high-gloss black or high-gloss white

Who it’s for

The Model S-15 is for cinemas and living rooms where loudspeakers need to sit discreetly on the wall, and it is very often used in numbers, as surrounds and heights as well as across the front. Please read this bit before ordering: on its own it is not a complete loudspeaker. It reproduces 120 Hz and upwards, so a system built from Model S-15 alone will have no bass. Separate boundary woofers are required, along with a Steinway Lyngdorf processor and A1 or A2 amplification, with one amplifier channel for each speaker and each woofer.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Systems like this are specified as a whole or they disappoint, which is why we quote the woofers, the amplifier channels and the processor alongside the speakers rather than leaving you to work it out. Hidden Home Technology is a CEDIA member based in Bath, and we design, install and calibrate complete cinema systems. Come and hear one, and we will tell you exactly how many speakers and woofers your room actually needs.