The Lumaca

The Lumaca and Lumaca Jr are our highest-performing, reference level loudspeakers.

The invention of the Concerto speaker broke new ground in loudspeaker performance.  It's design offered incredible efficiency and a wide dynamic range with virtually no audible distortion. After the success of the Concerto I wanted to take the speakers performance to an even higher level. The goal was to entirely eradicate any unwanted vibrations cycling back into the speaker driver and to have the sound 'wrap itself' around the speaker with no unwanted reflections or cancellations. In order to accomplish this I set out to design a cabinet that had absolutely no flat spots anywhere and be completely cylindrical.  It was an interesting idea but not an easy task to accomplish. The Lumaca has a 45 degree cutaway at the bottom and faces the rear wall. The Lumaca Jr has a open bottom design that allows bass to exit 360 degrees around the bottom of the horn effortlessly delivering incredible 3d soundstage.

Researching designs to produce the cabinet took over a two year period. If the cabinet was to be made out of plastic, MDF, or other composite material, shaping and molding would not be so difficult. However when using pure hardwood and birch plywood, it's next to impossible. Measures must be taken along the way to ensure each piece is cut to an incredibly tight tolerance. It takes many layers of birch plywood along with thousands of tool-paths to build the seamless tractrix horn. The result is a delivery of astonishingly pure, natural and unadulterated presentation of music.

There are various options for speaker drivers.  We recommend the highly regarded AER bd-3 driver or Voxativ AC-2.6 driver both with its twin-coned, lightweight paper diaphragm and neodymium magnet.  Theses drivers are chosen for their speed and articulation.  They produce a very wide dynamic range, and a natural and well-balanced stage, with flat extension down to 18 Hz, and up to 22 kHz for the Lumaca and down to 20 Hz, and up to 22 kHz for the Lumaca Jr.  Because of the large horn/throat, the bass develops easily with no "holes" that a crossover to a sub-woofer would introduce.  With its flat response to the very bottom there is no need for a sub-woofer.  At a measured output of 107 dB @ 1W/1M, a low-powered tube amplifier will give superb results, from a whisper to a rock concert.

LUMACA  145 inch long Tractrix horn

Dimensions: 94H x 30"W x 30"D.

Weight:  85 lbs each

LUMACA JR  126 inch long Tractrix horn

Dimensions:  84H x 26"W x 26"D.

Weight:  65 lbs each