Estelon YB MK II Reference Speaker

Estelon engineering took many years of research and testing to find the right material that would allow the highest quality of cabinet and construction for the loudspeaker’s acoustically engineered complex shape. We developed a proprietary marble-based composite material and special moulding technology to be able to make cabinets with such advanced surface geometry, inside and out. The cabinet is extremely rigid, highly dense, resonant-free, and with exceptional internal dampening and acoustical control.

The tweeter is a 25 mm (1 inch) beryllium “Illuminator” driver from Scan-Speak. This very stiff and lightweight dome enables the driver to have very low distortion, high sensitivity and near-perfect impulse response. The break-up modes occur well outside the human hearing range.

The mid-woofer is a Scan-Speak “Revelator” 148 mm (5.8 inches) sliced paper cone. The slices are filled with proprietary damping glue, which reduces and modifies the break-up modes behaviour in the diaphragm. This leads to a flat frequency response and less distortion in the mid-range frequencies.

The woofer is a 220 mm (8.6 inches) SEAS unit. The lightweight and stiff aluminium cone provides tremendous bass precision. The cone and the low-loss rubber surround, show no sign of the familiar cone edge resonance and distortion associated with soft cones.

The combination of the heavy and rigid marble-based material, curved shapes, and internal bracing suppress the cabinets inherent resonances to practically non-existent levels. The drivers have everything to support them to perform their absolute best.

The bass driver is positioned at an angle, facing the other loudspeaker. In smaller rooms, the loudspeakers are often located near the sidewalls and part of the midrange frequencies reflect on the walls and add colouration to the sound. The stereo image can also be impaired. The angled woofer position assists in reducing these reflections so that the audio signal remains purer with more uniform bass propagation. For this reason, the left and right speakers are in a mirror-like position.

With their asymmetrical design, the Estelon Model YB speakers are a prime example of a functional design approach. The cabinets are moulded from a marble based composite material and shaped to optimise sound quality. The placement of the drivers in the cabinet is also well thought out: the mid-woofer is positioned above the beryllium driver to minimise sonic reflections from the floor. The wider speaker base accommodates the bass driver with aluminium diaphragm. Since the woofers are angled towards each other, they can be placed close to a wall even in smaller rooms without having to cope with overlapping sound.