Horning Eufrodite MK2 New Model 2018, Tineo Apple Tree Wood : Sold

General

Tommy Horning from Denmark is originally a speaker designer. Nowadays Horning Hybrid Systems makes more than just speakers, but most distinctive and successful are Tommy Horning's special speaker designs. Tommy's first model was the Eufrodite, the predecessor of the current model. Tommy is a true music lover and he loves live music. Tommy found the speakers he knew were far from dynamic, honest and open enough. Even pepper-expensive High End speakers often sound sluggish, heavy and heavily colored. According to Tommy Horning, the big problem is the sluggishness of the speaker units combined with the extensive filtering that takes place. A regular dynamic speaker often has an average efficiency of 89dB at 1 watt, and is simply not fast and dynamic enough to follow super-fast dynamic jumps in music. One solution is to build horn speakers, but Tommy didn't want that because of the typical horn coloration and directional sound. Tommy Horning found the solution by using 1 single full range unit that handles almost the entire sound spectrum. A full range driver, then, which is driven directly without any form of filtering. Of course, that can produce spectacular results, but you can't expect really deep bass from it. Also the real top high, just after 10,000 Hz, lags behind the super beautiful midrange. Tommy then designed a very special bass section, which also has a very high efficiency. The latest 2019 Eufrodite has become a system with now 4 woofers driven by super-strong Neodymium N-52 magnets without the compound configuration of the previous version, resulting in a quarter-wavelength horn, and the result is excellent. In bass reproduction, high efficiency is almost impossible without horn constructions, or active bass sections, but Tommy is not a supporter of that, hence the solution found. Horning has spent 20 years testing and listening to refine this bass section. For the top high, a very special construction has also been designed. A paper cone tweeter without spider is used here. All solutions together are unique in the speaker world, and we don't know of a dynamic speaker with such a high and thus favorable efficiency, and that without large horns.

The full range driver

The heart of every Horning Hybrid Systems speaker is a heavily modified Lowter unit, one that you can't buy yourself in the store. It is the PM65 drive unit, which is used alone for the range from 100Hz to 10,000Hz. This PM-65 unit consists of a special super-lightweight paper cone, and is driven by an enormous Alnico magnet with a strength of 2.45 Tesla. Because of that magnet, this PM65 driver is ultra heavy, but it has a moving mass of only 5.5 grams total. The unit is therefore lightning-fast, very controlled, and is excellently damped. This very special unit is only used in the Horning Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 NWB and the Agalme PM65 NWB. The PM65 driver is driven directly, so there is no filter construction that could unfavorably affect efficiency or speed. Only two small notch filters are used to dampen 2 resonance peaks. The current Eufrodite NWB also sounds very balanced. The efficiency of the PM65 unit in the enclosure is 98dB at 1 watt and thus requires 8 times less power than a comparable 89dB efficiency speaker.

The bass section

A regular dynamic speaker has 1 or 2 large heavy bass units, which are used for the deepest tones, the low, or the Bass. Now most speaker designers don't want these units to also reproduce midtones and or high tones, so large filters are applied to filter out these higher tones. These filters consist of enormous copper coils, through which the entire signal must struggle. It works, but it comes at a great cost to the control over the woofers. Tommy does it differently. Most of the Eufrodite Ellipse MK2 NWB is taken up by the bass section. On the back, 4 woofers are mounted. Behind the woofers are sound-damping panels, which dampen the midrange. The N-52 woofer in question is a brand new and very expensive unit, used for the first time in the Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 MK2 NWB. The woofer is a very fast Beyma unit, made with an aluminum frame, and now using N-52 Neodymium magnets for efficiency and speed. The visible woofers radiate directly at the back, into the room. A large damping plate is mounted to dampen the slightly audible midtones. The woofers on the inside look into a bass horn, which terminates at the bottom, just below the speaker connection. The whole has become a super pure, fast and dynamic bass section with an efficiency of 98dB at 1 watt. Exactly the same as the PM65 midrange unit. The old Horning Eufrodite PM65 does not have these special units.

The tweeter section

Today there are many systems available for reproducing pure high tones. Dome tweeters, inverted dome tweeters, ribbon tweeters, and much more. The most diverse materials are used, all the way to the use of Diamond, Beryllium, Titanium and the like. According to Tommy, all nice and fine, but not suitable for true dynamic reproduction of ultra high tones. Too large voice coils, too stiff domes, which often show some hardness anyway, and also often too low power handling. Tommy uses a cone tweeter, made of paper. We haven't seen those in a long time. The unit used by Tommy Horning is a lightweight paper cone tweeter, without spider. This tweeter is equipped with an extra heavy magnet to achieve a 99dB efficiency. The tweeter used works well beyond 20,000Hz and in Tommy Horning's opinion is better than any ring radiator or dome tweeter.

Filter technology

This section is only very short. Only the tweeter is provided with a filter, a single Jensen capacitor, to protect the tweeter against low frequencies. The rest of the filtering of this complex speaker is done entirely acoustically. The Bass section outputs from 25Hz to 200Hz, then falls off acoustically. The PM65 unit comes in at 200Hz and works up to 12,000Hz to naturally fall off there with 6 to 12 dB per octave. The tweeter has a 6dB filter at 12,000Hz. The entire Horning Ellipse PM65 NWB thus works full range, from 25Hz to 22,000Hz +/- 3dB. Very clever for a speaker with only 1 capacitor in the filtering.

Wiring

The internal wiring is Horning Reference Cable. This cable consists of 300 individually insulated 0.1mm wires. The wires themselves are 99.99% pure copper wires and the insulation consists of pure silk. This cable can optionally be ordered separately for connecting the Horning speakers to the amplifier.

Speaker connector

The Horning Ellipse PM65 NWB has a Single Wire Furutech connection of very high quality. Suitable for banana plugs and spades.

Enclosure

The enclosure is made of HDF with high internal damping. The side walls are curved, and on the inside the reinforcement baffle is the wall of the transmission line for low tone reproduction. You will look in vain for damping wool in the Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 MK2 NWB, because it's not in there. According to Tommy Horning, damping material spoils the speed of reproduction. The enclosure is particularly strongly made and is truly resonance-free.

Listening

Listening to a set of Eufrodites PM65 MK2 NWB is a special experience. Everyone who has listened to this speaker so far at Ohm-Audio BV is deeply impressed by it. The Horning Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 MK2 NWB is a speaker that is very pleasant to the ear. The reproduction is indeed lightning-fast, but also very ardent. Dynamic contrasts and details are reproduced with incredible ease. The spatial imaging is very large and beautifully precise. The Bass reproduction is also special. It goes deep, but is also very fast. The reproduction of double basses or timpani, for example, is for example unsurpassed, just really authentic. Just play a CD or record of an orchestral piano on the Eufrodites, and you'll immediately understand what we mean. The reproduction of voices is simply unique. Very open, pure and complete. The entire voice reproduction is handled by 1 unit, the directly driven PM65 unit, and thus also without any form of filtering. The phase purity is therefore very large. This makes it very easy for our brains to listen to music. Combine the Horning Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 MK2 NWB with a good amplifier and Audio Nirvana is one step closer. Ohm-Audio BV recommends a high-quality tube amplifier, Push Pull and also Single Ended, or good Class A transistor amplifiers on the Horning Eufrodite Ellipse PM-65 NWB. We invite you to come listen to this very special speaker.

Specifications of this speaker:

Brand : Horning Hybrid Systems Denmark

Model : Eufrodite Ellipse PM65 NWB

Technical Condition : 10/10

Visual Condition : 10/10

Frequency response : 25Hz - 22,000Hz +/- 3dB

Impedance : 4 Ohm, flat.

Recommended Amplifier power : 10 Watt to 200 Watt

Efficiency : 98dB at 1 Watt

Dimensions : 122cm high x 33 cm wide and 55cm deep

Weight : 83Kg net per unit