CES 2008

It's always fun to drop in to the Burmester Suite. When Dieter Burmester, the firm's founder (left), and Udo Besser, the CEO (right), are not working on the latest sound system updates to the 1.2 million Euro Bugatti Veryon 16.4 supercar, they build massive loudspeakers and amplifiers for home consumers and audiophiles.

This year, they were eager to show me the new baby Burmester, the $12,000/pair, 60-lb, three-way, floorstanding B-25 speaker. The company's flagship B-100, by comparison, costs over 6 times as much, weighs four times is much, and is twice as tall. The differences were so great that I had a challenge getting both loudspeakers in the same picture!

While the B-25 uses the standard Burmester configuration of tweeter, midrange, and side-firing woofer, details differ. The tweeter is not a ribbon, but an Air Motion Transformer like the Oscar Heil driver. The midrange is a 5.1" Kevlar cone, and the woofer is a 6.5" by 8" oval driver with a double-vented voice-coil. Nomina impedance is 4 Ohms. The model shown had a beautiful Macassar, mahogony-like veneer.

Playing my own recordings, I was struck by the small loudspeakers' upper bass response, and their ability to image male vocalists in a holographic manner with natural timbre.