E50

Buchardt calls the E50 its masterpiece, and the parts list is the argument: a Purifi extended-stroke woofer, a custom Scan-Speak textile dome, Jantzen Cross Coils and Superior Z-Caps in the crossover, Duelund oil-and-cotton internal wiring, Argento binding posts with no iron in them. The cabinet is the other half — 19 mm solid European wood with a 28 mm baffle, finger-jointed, CNC-cut and assembled in Buchardt's own woodshop in Silkeborg rather than veneered over MDF. Two 152 mm passive radiators do the bass, a trick the company has used since the S200 twelve years ago, and the result reaches 29 Hz from a 40-centimetre box. It is not an easy load: 84 dB anechoic (87 in-room) into a nominal 4 ohms means it wants a powerful amplifier before it shows what it can do. €4,100 a pair, shipping and duties included, sold direct with no US price.