You can find the Living Voice Auditorium R25A Loudspeakers on my list of Favorite Speakers, which can be seen as the R80 OBX’s little brothers.
The R80 OBX Floorstanding Loudspeakers in for review include the optional external crossovers that come wrapped in the same gloss ebony finish as the speakers.
The Living Voice R80 OBX are a two-way design pairing a pair of 8″ Scanspeak Ellipticor mid/woofer drivers sitting over and under (MTM style) the 34mm Scanspeak Ellipticor dome tweeter in a rear ported bass reflex cabinet made from a 36mm dense hardwood composite enclosure. Frequency response is a claimed 25Hz–20kHz with a 6 Ohm nominal impedance and 92dB (2.83v @1m) sensitivity.
The external crossovers sit behind the OBX cabinets proper like elephant cubs.
From an interview with Living Voice designer Kevin Scott:
The list of advantages is compelling – the paralleled bass/mid driver operation brings the gift of increased sensitivity in a 3dB gain, in other words, a halving of amplifier power for any given volume level. This is definitely to be embraced, particularly if you like Class A triode amplifiers. From a musical point of view, having what is effectively a 12” driver working right up through the mid-range makes pianos and mezzo-sopranos sound palpable and real, with believable conviction, body, and gravitas – the music lives and breathes.
As you may have guessed, I plan to pair the R80 OBX with the recently arrived Border Patrol S20EXD Parallel Single-Ended Amplifier, among others, a pairing I heard at last year’s Capital Audiofest.
But there’s nothing like some Barn time. Stay tuned!
Living Voice R80 OBX Floorstanding Loudspeakers
Price: $54,250/pair in Gloss Ebony as reviewed
Company Website: Living Voice
US Dealer: Border Patrol
Technical Summary
- Benign impedance characteristic
- High sensitivity wide dispersion MTM topology
- 36mm dense hardwood composite enclosure. Interior lined with maple veneer.
- Stiff internal triple bracing
- Living Voice proprietary hand-wound air core inductors
- Optimised crossover layout, mechanically isolated with star earthing
- Crystal oriented internal wiring harness
- Proprietary non-inductive wire-wound resistors
- Proprietary Living Voice polypropylene capacitors
- Gold WBT binding posts
Specifications
HF Drivers: Scanspeak Ellipticor 34mm Dome tweeter 4ohm. Elliptical Voice coil. Neo AirCirc 120mm
Bass/Mid Drivers: Scanspeak Ellipticor 21cm Midwoofer 8ohm. Paper cone. Elliptical Voice Coil. Neo AirCirc
Deep Cryogenic Treatment: Applied to WBTs, internal wiring harness and select crossover components
Sensitivity: 92dB (2.83v @1m)
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohms
Minimum Impedance: 4.5 Ohms
Loading: Reflex port to rear of cabinet.
Frequency Response: 25Hz–20kHz
Power Handling: 100 Watts
Cabinet Dimensions: W 310mm × D 423mm × H 1090mm
Plinth: 490mm wide at the front, tapering to 430mm wide at the rear, × 423mm D × 60mm H. Black satin finish.
Included Accessories: Accessory Box with 8 pcs of spikes, floor protectors and 2 spanners enabling easy height adjustment of the loudspeaker in-situ: 1 spanner for rotating the spike and 1 for locking it.
Available Finishes: Cabinets made in premium furniture grade, book-matched veneers. Outboard crossovers (where supplied) finished in matching book matched veneers. Glossy Ebony or Satin Ebony / Glossy Santos or Satin Santos / Pippy Oak. Other finishes & RAL by special order.
Gross Weight:
45.5 Kgs per cabinet (OB-X);
8 Kgs per Crossover (OB-X);
4.5 Kgs per R80 Plinth.
Crossover Dimensions (in ‘suitcase’ orientation): W 120mm × D 450mm × H 270mm
