Cardinal
		
		
			
FLOOR STANDING LOUDSPEAKER
		
		
			
 
		
		
			
			
				
					
						
						
							
								
									
Price:
								
								
									
$119,500 pair
								
							
						
						
						
 
					
				
			
			
		
		
			
 
		
		
			
Product Features:
		
		
			
			
Standard Finishes: $119,500
			Silk Black, Black Carbon
			
			Bespoke Finishes: $5,000 upcharge
			White Gloss, Oak Satin, Natural Cherry Satin, Zebrano Gloss, 
			
Birdseye maple Gloss, Red Birdseye Gloss, Red Tulip Gloss, 
			
Burr Walnut Gloss, Walnut Gloss, Ebonised Walnut Gloss
			
			Colored Carbon Finishes: $5,800 upcharge
			Enzo Red, Ettore Blue, Silverstone Grey, Champagne Gold
			(other colors available at additional cost)
			
			
			OVERVIEW:
			
			In the Cardinal the Troika System should be recognised as a 
			
highly innovative and significant advance in the loudspeaker 
			
design.  The Troika not only places three highly integrated 
			
Wilson Benesch drive units in close proximity, but it also directly interrelates with the cabinet and drive unit architecture to 
			
create mechanical filtering. The result is a highly optimised 
			
crossover, with all electrical components reduced or removed 
			
entirely to preserve the perfect signal from the amplifier.
			
 
			
The design of the Cardinal’s bass drive topology is no less 
			
innovative. Two Isobaric Drive Systems deliver powerful, highly dynamic bass through a total of 4 Tactic II Drive Units. The 
			
Isobaric Drive System is not a new Wilson Benesch design, 
			
having being used in the original Bishop loudspeaker. However 
			
in the Cardinal, Wilson Benesch have deployed the Tactic  II 
			
drive units lined astern. Such is the power of the system, Wilson Benesch use a 35kg machined alloy sub baffle to house the
			
Isobaric Drive System - an unyielding platform from which the
			
Cardinal delivers its lightning-fast, highly-dynamic and powerful low frequency.
			
 
			
The Cardinal is a masterpiece of engineering; total harmony in 
			
all the parts, fitted together with such proportion and 
			
connection, that nothing could be added, diminished or altered but for the worse.
			
			TECHNOLOGY:
			
			
Equipped with a total of 18 Wilson Benesch drive units per pair, the Cardinal is capable of delivering wide bandwidth sound 
			
from 25Hz to 30kHz.
			
 
			
During the development of the Cardinal extensive research and development was undertaken in drive unit topology. The result was the Troika System; a new topology - previously unused by Wilson Benesch that placed the new Semisphere Tweeter at 
			
the heart of the upper and lower Tactic II midrange drive units.
			
			REVIEW:
			
“The Cardinal represents the tip of a long and perfectly mapped development path, stretching back across multiple models. But the pace of advance isn’t necessarily even and the Cardinal 
			
represents a genuine step change in both ambition and 
			
performance. It might be demanding but it can also be mightily rewarding and is, by some considerable margin and on any 
			
terms, the best speaker that Wilson Benesch has ever made.”
			
			Roy Gregory, HIFI+, Febuary 2013
			
			
		
		
			
 
		
		
			
Product Specifications:
		
		
			
			
DRIVERS:
			- (1) 1 inch Wilson Benesch Semisphere tweeter
			- (2) 7 inch Wilson Benesch Tactic II mid-range drive units
			- (4) 7 inch Wilson Benesch Tactic II Isobaric bass drive units
			- (2) 7 inch Wilson Benesch Tactic II ABR drive units
			
			CONSTRUCTION:
			- Poly-alloy hybrid construction
			- High performance carbon composite A.C.T. monocoque
			- Lower mid range infinite baffle sealed enclosure
			- Upper mid range Tactic II ABR sealed enclosure
			- Isobaric drive chamber Tactic II ABR sealed enclosure.
			- 8.8 pound precision machined Isobaric drive sub baffle
			
			PERFORMANCE:
			- Two-way electric, Four-way acoustic, floor standing 
			
loudspeaker
			- Impedance: 6 ohm nominal / 3 ohm minimal
			- Sensitivity: 90dB at 1 metre on-axis, 2.83V input
			- Frequency response: 25Hz - 30kHz +/- 2dB on-axis
			- Minimum amplification power recommendation: 100 W / 
			
channel
			- Crossover frequency: 500Hz / 5kHz
			
			DIMENSIONS:
			- Height: 68.3 inches
			- Width: 24.4 inches
			- Depth: 25.2 inches
			- Volume: 92L
			- Weight per speaker: 282 pounds
			
			FINISHES:
			- Aerospace silk black baffle, spine and foot
			- High gloss satin weave carbon fibre cabinet
			- High gloss carbon fibre top
			- Bespoke side cheek options - see... FINISHES