Mad about Mads Buchardt who just launched his top ~4K/pr monitor? With Danish-made cabs in finger-joined 19mm to 28mm solid wood, a 1" Danish ScanSpeak soft-dome tweeter in a waveguide, 6½" Danish Purifi woofer, 2 x 6½" Dansk-designed custom SB Acoustic rear-firing passive radiators, Danish Jantzen cross coils and Superior Z-Caps, Argento posts… this ambitious E50 effort pulls no punches on build or parts quality.
Claimed response is 36 to 30'000Hz, efficiency a low 85dB. Dimensions are 39.5 x 19 x 28.4cm HxWxD, weight is 8.6kg/ea. Finish options come in six oak executions. A pre-order discount applies. On paper, it looks like you'd be mad not to be mad about this speaker.
Wherein lies today's rub. As a concept, this is a no-compromise passive 2-way monitor with ingredients and execution of undeniable high-endy cachet. As a concept, it also comes from a direct-selling brand whose prior made-in-China ties could disqualify it from being taken serious by the snob brigade.
The next photo shows how the E50's insides go beyond smooth solid wood to exploit a deeply grooved scatter pattern which more quickly exhausts internal reflections coming off the drivers' backs. Finger-joined box construction is another upscale wrinkle. Perhaps most to the point of counter-snob appeal is managing this dear lot on Danish soil. How the heckling Hamlet does mad Mads manage when far costlier domestic competition like Børresen and Raidho have long since turned to Chinese cabinet suppliers?
Add our choice of six finishes and the high price of snobbery should be clear. Dissing the E50 on the basis of its high-value brand name would be an unnecessary price to pay just to wear the snob badge. Based on what he's done so far, I wager an educated guess that Mads Buchardt's most ambitious passive speaker has sat the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.
If you think that paying a snob tax is silly, do keep your eyes peeled on the new Buchardt E50. It could just be one of the highest-performing best-built classic passive 2-way monitors for less than five figures. Other designers using Purifi mid/woofers are Kroma Atelier's Javier Millan from Spain and Germany's speaker pope Joachim Gerhardt. That's elite company.
Buchardt's website
