Bohlender Graebner X3 Floorstanding Magnetic Planar Speakers FREE SHIPPING

Floorstanding Planar Magnetic Hybrid Speakers sold as Pair THIS LISTING IS FOR THE PAIR OF FLOORSTANDING MAIN SPEAKERS ONLY. Please see my other listing for the center channel speaker and the other floorstanding speakers shown in the picture of the group of speakers. Free shipping to continental US ONLY.

Home Theater Magazine Review:

The X3 is a hybrid three-way design, using a 3" ribbon as the tweeter, a 5 1/2" aluminum cone driver for the midrange/bass, and a 5 1/2" aluminum cone driver as the woofer. Both of the bass drivers have phase plugs. Crossover is at 2.4 kHz to the tweeter and 500 Hz to the woofer. They have a very nice set of gold-plated speaker binding posts (bi-ampable), and are ported just above the binding posts.

Igor Levitsky, BG's engineer, told me, "The two woofers work from the lowest frequency until 500 Hz, then the lower woofer starts rolling off. Thus, the X3 has one (the upper) mid-woofer which is closer to the tweeter, working up to 2.4 kHz where it crosses over to tweeter. Having only one woofer working in the upper midrange band allows better dispersion, better imaging, more balanced reproduction, and seamless vertical integration. Also, 500 Hz is very close to a "baffle" diffraction step that increases output of any system. This technique compensates for the diffraction effect as well. The 500 Hz rolloff is a first order network. The 2.4 kHz crossover between the upper mid-woofer and the tweeter is a second order Linkwitz-Riley network that sums at -6 dB in phase, thus yielding a flat frequency response. From my experience this works the best in all respects. Thus, the X3 crossover provides seamless integration, does not produce excessive lobing, does not present a hard load for amplifiers, and provides reliable system operation protecting the tweeter from excessive mid frequency peaks. All inductors are air core for perfect linearity. All capacitors are polypropylene for minimum distortion and high resolution."

The finish is cherry vinyl, and they have a modern black acoustically transparent polycomposite grille with anodized aluminum trim along the front, and which are very stiff so as to help prevent cabinet resonance. The baffle is rounded to reduce the effects of diffraction (interference between the sound coming from the driver itself and sound that is reflected from the baffle). Metal grilles are becoming quite vogue these days, and they are much sturdier than cloth.

The Sound

I tested the X3s with an Audio Alchemy CD transport, Perpetual Technologies P-1A and P-3A, Balanced Audio Technology VK-5i preamplifier, Balanced Audio VK-75SE power amplifier, and Nordost cables. Music was a wide variety.

Although I am quite familiar with ribbons and ESLs, I had not reviewed speakers with a ribbon tweeter and conventional cones for the rest of the signal. So, frankly, I did not know what to expect. John Kotches has reviewed BG speakers, but this was my first experience with their products.

The enormous amount of detail was what hit me first. Astonishing in fact. For example, in Mozart's Piano Concerto in B Flat (Philips), I could hear the hammer pads, and when Eva Cassidy sang, I could hear her tongue clucking as she enunciated the consonants. It takes a very fast driver to do this.

Midrange was natural and full bodied without being mushy. This is one of the advantages of devoting a driver to the midrange, but three-way speakers are not easy to design. And neutrality in human voices, which are in the midrange bands, is critical. The X3 has that neutrality. Using an aluminum cone is a necessity with a design that has a ribbon tweeter, because otherwise, the mids would be sloppy compared to the speed of the highs. This is exemplified in John Williams' "Echoes of London" (CBS Records), where the rosin on the strings and the pick against the strings blended nicely with the actual notes that were being played.

With such a modest sized bass driver, I thought the X3s might be a little weak in the low frequencies, but that was not the case. Kettle drums in Rimsky-Korsakov's "Dance of the Tumblers" (Reference Recordings, Exotic Dances from the Opera) thundered, yet were very tight. That is not to say these speakers would handle all the deep bass if you ran them full tilt with a massive sound track. A good subwoofer is in order with all but the very largest of speakers, and the X3s are no exception. Something like a Velodyne HGS-10 or Sunfire subwoofer sitting behind the couch will take care of that problem good and proper, which is what it did here. With Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" transcribed by Jean Gillou (Dorian Records) for pipe organ, those big pedal tones needed the sub for that last low octave (20 Hz - 40 Hz).

Conclusion

The X3s are simply delightful speakers. Their modern looks will fit into any decor, with their slender design and black metal grille. The sound is clear, neutral, clean, and tight. The ribbon tweeter distinguishes their tonal quality with high speed. Add a little subwoofer and you will be in audio nirvana.

SPECS

• Speaker System Type left / right channel speakers
• Additional Features bi-wiring
• Manufacturer Bohlender Graebener

• Amplification Type passive
• Nominal Output Power 150 Watt
• Frequency Response 40 - 20000 Hz
• Nominal Impedance 4 Ohm
• Sensitivity 93 dB
• Crossover Frequency 2300Hz, 500Hz
• Connectivity Technology wired

• Brand Bohlender-Graebener
• Product Line Bohlender-Graebener Radia
• Model X3
• Packaged Quantity 1

SPEAKER SYSTEM DETAILS

• Nominal (RMS) Output Power 150 Watt
• Frequency Response 40 Hz
• Input Impedance 4 Ohm
• Connectivity Technology wired

• Driver Type tweeter driver, woofer driver
• Driver Qty 1, 2
• Driver Diameter 3 m, 5 m
• Driver Diameter (metric) 127 mm, 76 mm
• Driver Material aluminum

CONNECTIONS

• Type speakers input
• Qty 2
• Connector Type banana/spade x 2
• Qty 2

DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT DETAILS

• Weight 35.1 lbs

GENERAL

• Manufacturer Bohlender Graebener