Buchardt A500SE

JLM · « **on:** 26 May 2023, 11:51 am »

After 18 years with my commissioned floor standing transmission line loaded single driver loudspeakers I've switched.

I've replaced towers, (3) subwoofers, mono-block amps, server/DAC, all that wire with Buchardt A500SEs, matching stands, and hub.

The hub serves as remote controlled pre-amp, automatic room EQ (using an iPhone as a mic), parametric EQ, server, and wireless connection to the speakers via WISA.

The A500SE are dual chamber sealed active monitors (14"H x 7"W x 11"D) with waveguide loaded 0.75" tweeter, 6.5" front mounted Purifi mid/woofer, 6.5" rear mounted Purifi driver, (4) 150 watt class D mono-blocks (2 for the dual voice coil front mounted Purifi driver), and DSP for crossover and loading various downloaded "Master Tunings" via a USB stick. Rated down to 25Hz depending on which "Master Tuning" is selected.

This solution is elegant, compact, modern, detailed, tight, and musical.

Uncle Zero · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 May 2023, 01:44 pm »

Interesting! I have been following this and similar setups for a while. How does it sound?

What are you music preferences and preferred listening levels? How would you rate the lower-level performance compared to the best sounding speakers you have heard at lower levels?

How would you rate the build quality of the speakers?

Did you audition other setups similar to this before choosing the A500SE?

2bigears · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 May 2023, 03:17 pm »

one box shopping. Those boys are on to something ! KISS So much crap.

jpm · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 May 2023, 10:37 pm »

I find Buchardt's technologies fascinating and would love to hear them one day. John Darko has covered them a fair amount and seems enthused.

GeorgeAb · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 May 2023, 10:38 pm »

Huge congrats! I have spent time with the passive Buchardt S400MKII's driven by Mark Levinson 585.5 Integrated. I really liked, Butchard has it going on. Muscial and detailed, check; the soundstage was what really enamored me with them. I intend to borrow so I can hear in my treated listening room.

Simplicity is a beautiful thing. Again huge congrats, excellent choice!

Rocket · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 May 2023, 01:41 am »

Hi JLM,

Congratulations on the new speakers. I know you really liked your previous speaker so these must be good. Did you have an opportunity to hear them first or did you buy and take a chance you would like them?

Cheers Rod

JLM · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 May 2023, 10:52 am »

I listen mostly to small ensemble jazz and classical at lower levels in my insulated and treated (ten GIK 244 panels) 8ft x 13ft x 21ft basement room. Have owned actives before, the best were JBL 708P's. Build quality seems first rate. They come with a 45 day trial period. Setup was not easy for this old duffer, but their scheme is pretty close to perfect.

The best part might be not worrying about interconnects, speaker cables, power supplies, DAC's, servers, amplifiers, pre-amps, EQ, and all the clutter. We're thinking about moving closer to the grown kids/grandkids and wintering south of the border so down sizing would be in our future. The A500SE has a "Master Tuning" called "cardioid" for setup near the front wall, perfect for small/crowded rooms and they have a built-in loudness compensation for low volume listening.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 May 2023, 01:41 pm »

Congrats on the new setup. I say setup because this appears to be way more than just new speakers, closer to a lifestyle change. If I were to do something like this your paradigm would be a roadmap for me.

But that's not what I came here to ask about. One assumes you'd be selling your present abode, how do you explain the audio room in the basement? With all the soundproofing and special treatments a non audiophile buyer could guess you are a Dexter type serial killer with a sound proof torture chamber in the basement. If you had theater seating and a screen it's easy described as a home theater, but all this for listening to stereo? No civilian would believe it. 🤣

Early B. · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 May 2023, 02:19 pm »

Pics would be helpful.

mresseguie · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 May 2023, 04:45 pm »

Holy tectonic shift, Jeff!! This is a big change. Tells us more details.

If I were looking to move to MI (and my wife wouldn't divorce me for deciding to live in the frozen north), I'd offer to buy your house just so I could have a dedicated music room.

Congratulations on new found freedom.

Michael

mix4fix · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 May 2023, 04:53 pm »

They look like Amphion bookshelfs. Not a fan of the stand.

Would that cabinet be big enough for two woofers, a sofisticated plate amplifier, and the tweeter?

Norman Tracy · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 May 2023, 07:35 pm »

Some photos from Buchardt's web site.

Norman Tracy · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 May 2023, 07:47 pm »

Quote from: mix4fix on 27 May 2023, 04:53 pm

Would that cabinet be big enough for two woofers, a sofisticated plate amplifier, and the tweeter?

The Purifi 6.5" class woofer and passive radiator used here are engineered to work in small enclosures while still playing deep and loud with state of the art low distortion levels. Also as a DSP controlled active design the driver+box alignment constraints of passive designs are just starting points for the designers at Buchardt. With bass EQ that is aware of the levels being reproduced one can have deeper louder bass that only backs off at 100+ dB levels.

JLM, have you taken these babies out and really opened 'em up yet with bass demo tracks? After two years working with Purifi drivers my experience is at civilized socially acceptable levels they are subtilty impressive due to the low distortion. The party trick is take them above 90 dB with a punchy bassy track and watch your guests' eyes get big a saucers while they exclaim "what the !#!&$%!!".

JLM · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 May 2023, 12:07 pm »

My studio is dedicated to audio in the front and an office in the rear. Treatments are portable, six white GIK 244 "full rangers" (two in middle of front wall, one on each side wall, two on back wall) and four red GIK 244 "bass traps" straddling the front corners. In this Greek Golden Rectangle room the panels don't make a big improvement (but they make a huge difference in lesser rooms). Front wall includes three cryogenically (while I was at it) 20 amp hospital grade duplex receptacles with dedicated ground. That and a exterior insulated fiberglass door are the only clues it's a listening room.

Yes, an image would be nice, unfortunately I don't know how to do it. The A500SE Ibenholt's are 14.5"T x 7"W x 11"D, finished in a dark ebony veneer, with a slight trapezoidal shape (to allow for time alignment between tweeter and mid/woofer). It is made up of two sealed compartments, split top and bottom. The top contains the tweeter and the rear firing woofer. The bottom holds the front firing mid/woofer and all the electronics (four 150 watt mono-blocks, four DAC's, plus DSP acting as crossover and handling the "Master Tunings"). Note that the front Purifi driver uses dual voice coils, so one of the mono-blocks is dedicated to midrange and another to bass. 21 pounds each. All A500SE's (Light Palisander and Ibenholt) are sold out. I have pair #48 of 50 of Ibenholts.

They do remind me of Amphion home monitors due to the waveguide around the tweeter. The waveguide allows for balanced performance on and off axis for wider sweet spot, improved imaging, larger soundstage, and greater transparency. It also allows for a smaller tweeter, lower crossover frequency, and reduce edge diffractions. They are rated 25-40,000 Hz, +/- 1.5 dB. The Purifi drivers are known for low distortion and extreme Xmax.

Have seen them exercise the Xmax, a bit alarming having come from single driver loudspeakers. No passive radiators used here, although it seems that Salk is developing a passive monitor that uses a Purifi passive radiator. Content value is rather high as the Purifi drivers retail for over $400 each and you must add 600 watts of amplification, four DAC's, DSP, and the wireless pre-amp hub that also contains room/parametric EQ.

studiotech · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 May 2023, 12:48 pm »

Norman,

As far as I can tell from the description, the rear driver is also an active woofer, not the passive radiator.

JLM · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 May 2023, 12:34 pm »

Quote from: studiotech on 28 May 2023, 12:48 pm

Norman,

As far as I can tell from the description, the rear driver is also an active woofer, not the passive radiator.

Correct

Rocket · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 May 2023, 11:32 am »

Hi,

If I hadn't invested so much money into my preamplifier and amplifiers I'd be seriously tempted buying a pair of these speakers. These should work for you in any room that you use them in.

Good luck.

Cheers Rod

JLM · « **Reply #17 on:** 7 Jun 2023, 01:52 am »

Bad news, the complex setup came back to haunt me. Connection to the internet failed somehow and being a computer dunce couldn't figure out how to restart it. But an audio friend came by tonight and got it going again (involved hitting the recessed reset button twice). So had to re-enter the left/right speaker, listening distance, and room EQ (only takes a couple of minutes).

JLM · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Jun 2023, 03:57 pm »

More bad/good news. As my small audio rack looked huge holding just the 7"W x 2"T x 4"D hub I removed the rack and moved the hub. That caused loss of hub as I unplugged it from AC. Was able to reset everything myself this time!

Interestingly the uncorrected room response had a 220 Hz peak that I don't recall seeing before (haven't moved loudspeakers from last room EQ) but somehow everything sounds better. And have an "ultimate" loudspeaker setup (nothing between the speakers).

(Years ago I discovered that anything between the speakers caused a disruption in the sound stage.)

SlushPuppy · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 Jun 2023, 04:51 pm »

Quote from: JLM on 7 Jun 2023, 01:52 am

Bad news, the complex setup came back to haunt me. Connection to the internet failed somehow and being a computer dunce couldn't figure out how to restart it. But an audio friend came by tonight and got it going again (involved hitting the recessed reset button twice). So had to re-enter the left/right speaker, listening distance, and room EQ (only takes a couple of minutes).

Do you have the ability to update the firmware? Are you running the latest? I find it odd that it didn't reconnect to the Internet when the connection was restored.