Not waiting for Munich, Stenheim Loudspeakers debuted their Alumine Three Loudspeakers at AXPONA. It is the Swiss company’s newest and most compact three-way, floor-standing speakers, and a pair will cost you around $29,000 USD. This places them just below their Alumine Five loudspeakers.
Stenheim starts with a 20 mm thick aluminum front baffle and a 10 mm thick aluminum enclosure for the rest of the speakers. A three-way speaker, it has two bass drivers, one mid-range and one tweeter. The bass and mid-range driver cones are constructed from a specially treated paper material and coating. The bass drivers have durable rubber surrounds, while the mid-range driver uses a treated fabric surround.
The Alumine Three differs from the Alumine Five in its enclosure design. The Three isolates only the bass drivers from the midrange and tweeter chamber. The Three also uses a front-facing port and an intense damping system within the speaker.
Other Components
The Einstein Silver Bullet OTL Mono Blocks ($68,000 per pair) were driving the Three’s. Einstein’s The Preamp at $24,000, Einstein’s The Phono Preamplifier at $16,000, Einstein’s The Turntable at $13,000, Einstein’s The Tonearm at $7,500 and Einstein’s The Pickup at $7,000 made up the rest of the system.
Listening Impressions
I could have stayed in this room for hours, which wasn’t possible at a show, especially one the size of AXPONA. Maybe I should say that I could have listened to this system for hours as it produced no listener fatigue. While the Alumine Three is a modern speaker design in every way, it also has the relaxing sound of many vintage speakers with rich tonal colors, beautiful vocals and well-controlled bass.
The only problem I have with the speakers is that they are three times the cost of a pair of DeVore Fidelity gibbon Super-Nines. Since I didn’t have the Super Nines there for a direct comparison, I can’t say which is more musical. I can say that both are incredible speakers.
