Boenicke’s W8 Loudspeakers blew our collective socks off at T.H.E. Show 2022 and it would appear that we need to invest in some new ones before the team flies home on Sunday night.
The Boenicke W8 starts at $8,500 USD (there are different SE versions available) and in a show filled with a lot of speakers in the $30,000 to $65,000 range — sound and feel like a bargain.
Alma Music & Audio are based in San Diego and offer a wide range of electronics and loudspeakers from brands like MSB, Nagra, Innuos, and Boenicke. The Swiss manufacturer has offered its innovative and beautiful loudspeakers since 1999 — the Boenicke W8 SE on display at T.H.E. Show 2023 offers some updates from the model that was on display last year.
Standing only 30 inches tall, the $16,500 W8 SE proves that one should never judge a book; or loudspeaker in this case by its size. Let’s take a look at the standard version first which is a very impressive loudspeaker.
Standard Version
- 6.5″ long throw bass driver, tuned to 28 Hz, running without crossover
- 4″ custom-made paper cone bass-midrange driver, 1st order low pass filter, no high pass filter, apple tree phase plug, maple wood cone mounted to magnet
- 3″ widebander, 1st order high pass filter, unique 8-cm electromechanical parallel spiral resonator installed
- Internal wiring orientation-optimised silk-wrapped high-frequency stranded litz
- WBT NextGen binding posts
- Rear ambient tweeter
Never judge a loudspeaker by its size. Ever.
The W8 deliver a soundstage that extended well beyond the room itself; listening to multiple tracks revealed a rather generous sensation of depth, and width — and a somewhat exaggerated sense of height.
SE Version
- 8-cm parallel resonator at widebander
- Added 8-cm parallel resonator to bass-midrange driver
- Added latest generation Bybee Quantum Purifiers
- Added proprietary phase linearization network
- Added Duelund Tinned Copper Foil 0.01 uF bypass capacitor
- Swing Base included
- Harmonisation included
The W8 SE this year were driven by a similar system with a few new additions; Alma Music & Audio added a Bergmann Modi+Thor Turntable ($17,000 USD) with a Hana Umami Red MC Cartridge ($3,950 USD) on the analog side.
Nagra electronics including the Classic Preamp ($19,500 USD), Classic Amplifier ($19,500 USD), Classic Phono ($21,500 USD), Classic PSU ($16,900), and Classic DAC II ($18,500 USD) drove the system just as well as the previous year.
The new Innuos Pulse Streamer ($3,249) completed the digital front end that was connected with Kubala-Sosna Sensation cabling; the entire loom is equivalent to a brand new mid-tier sports car in terms of pricing.
The entire system will run interested listeners close to $150,000 USD with cables.
For more information: Boenicke W8 Loudspeakers
ORT
June 11, 2023 at 11:05 pm
Their W8 SE speakers are still among the best looking I know of.
My favorite for the best looking speaker of the show was the the TL-12 Loudspeakers by MC Audiotech, which at $25,000 – $29,000 are even more out of reach for such as I.
I can neither afford them nor deny their superb looks and I am quite happy with my plebeian Klipsch R-800F and the even more plebishly affordable Klipsch Synergy F-300 Towers.
No matter, for looks matter and I think the W8 SE are real lookers.
CyranORT de Bergerac