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The SLS—schlanker Lautsprecher or slim loudspeaker—pioneered the flat Tangband honeycomb wideband tweeters for Sven's portfolio. It next was applied in similar parallelism to the B8 and B10 first shown at the Highend Suisse 2010. The B8 uses three 3-inchers, the B10 two 4-inchers [F Series W4-1757SB above]. Both models follow the SLS precedent of ultra narrow baffles with sidefiring woofers.
Due to the attractive but extreme narrowness of the cabinets, the two bass units of the B models are staggered on the cheeks to clear their motors.
The B8 gets two 7-inchers (the SLS had three) whilst the B10 grows two 10s as its name predicted. Unlike the SLS carved from solid Walnut, the B models run steam-molded solid Maple fronts and rears with tri-layer Birch ply sides and the same cellulose "Swiss cheese" blocks with micro holes for internal air-flow management.
To complete their lengthy detour into different, the B8 model can be optionally fitted with Sven's unconventional SwingBase whilst the B10 includes it standard. That incorporates isolation in the horizontal plane via multiple degrees of freedom from a clever wire suspension. It effectively decouples the speakers from the floor. This flies in the face of the mechanical diode myth which the spike-'em brigade has perpetrated for decades. Sven champions the roller-ball approach but implements it smartly without the friction endemic to such ball bearings.
Finally—yes there's more—the Bs are available passive or active. Active eliminates the minimum electrical filters to transfer their job to Boenicke's Powersoft D-Cell 4-channel amp with built-in DSP-powered active filters.
Therein lie the beginnings of today's tale. Having acquired the SLS after their review, I'd ended up using them very rarely because they too were 'active'. This meant biamping via the included outboard electronic DSP filter.
For review purposes I really needed a conventional passive speaker.
Though Sven Boenicke doesn't do conventional, his launch of the B10 addressed my reviewer's curse. Would he trade me the B10 for my SLS? This would give me a Boenicke speaker I could use for reviews and thus enjoy not just during those very brief and very occasional interludes between assignments. The affable Swiss was agreeable. He promised to dispatch a passive B10 pair when production had commenced. He was merely awaiting delivery of his pressure-shaped solid wood baffles.
August 20, 2011: "I have not yet found a truly final build process to manufacture the bent planks how I want them. For the intended sell price their fabrication presently still involves too much hand labor but I expect that by September this final issue should be worked out. Originally I had envisioned the B-series speakers to become lower-cost entry models to be sold exclusively direct but a lot of interest from dealers means they will be sold through our network after all. I find especially the B10 sonically so attractive that I decided to add all our tuning options to its package."
