Anyone who – on grounds of the price – expects a simple cabinet design, will be pretty much off-beam with the B18. Me, too, I’m indeed amazed at the expended effort. Pascal Bings has dealt extensively with the body, in particular with the structure-borne sound transmission of the drivers onto the walls. It was important to him that the energy of the drivers should be largely radiated so that only a small amount of force could trickle off into the enclosure at this point. The result was a soundboard of two inches in thickness, intelligently braced to the rear and side walls with their slightly thinner walls. The absent reaction of the B18 to the mandatory knock test is a first indicator of the solid solution to the problem. In any case, during music listening the enclosure will not make itself felt as a sound generator.

Design highlights

The supporting base is decoupled from the actual enclosure by a mass spring damping system. The remaining energy is thus converted into heat, and even with higher volume levels the base plate stays almost fully isolated from structure-borne sound. Coupling the enclosure to the floor through spikes is not necessary; however, there are corresponding drilled holes provided for individualists. This physically smart solution has a positive aesthecial effect. But even this measure does not mark the completion of development yet.

A listening check is a vital criterion when selecting loudspeakers. Committed dealers will grant their customers this procedure even in their own four walls. This is because the listening room has a significant influence on the quality of sound. I don’t want to know how many transducers didn’t survive this test, because there occurred problems whatsoever in the bass range. The B18 offers no less than four options to tweak the bass to your personal placement and taste. How does it work? On the back of the enclosure we have the »Room Adaption« switch. It may be used to boost the bass level by two decibels. If the sound is too bass heavy, the reflex port can be closed with a supplied plug. When trying out these possibilities in the listening room, the changes of the sound image aren’t spectacular and thus don’t lead to some sort of »oversensation«; rather they are absolutely practical. Excellent job.