Test of XAVIAN Duetto

The Czech debut of XAVIAN in our magazine can be considered a success. Duetto speakers attracted not only by the build quality, finishing and stylish design, the sound of the speakers pleased with smooth and natural reproduction of the midrange treble range. They could also improve the accuracy of the treble.

Design

Czech company XAVIAN was founded in 1994 by Italian Robert Barletta, the head designer and designer in one person. Setting up operations in the Czech Republic was easier than in his native Italy, because of the lower production costs and the rapid growth of the Eastern European country’s economy, which promised great success for the company in the future. However, in the works of Barletta, now a resident of Prague, Apennine motifs constantly remind us of themselves in the name of each speaker XAVIAN: Mia, Duetto, Giulietta, Mediterranea..

The Duetto floor-standing models are a vivid example of how to emphasize the elegance and uniqueness of the speakers with a few thought-out touches, without changing the strict geometry of their forms. The Duetto has a grill with an original beveled bottom edge and a shaped aluminum stand with contrasting chrome-plated metal stud hats for this purpose. But the most memorable detail of the design is the leather strap on the back instead of the usual terminal panel, held at the bottom by a pair of terminals, and on top by a metal plaque with the company name and speaker series.

The impeccable veneering of the speakers with natural maple, cherry or walnut veneer further enhances the impression. XAVIAN also offers a nero finish black-painted veneer and an exclusive bird’s-eye maple veneer, available at extra cost. Duetto ideologically derives from the most compact speakers of the company with the cute name of Mia and assembled on Vifa heads. Speakers stand out with strongly converged tweeter and midsweeper, it was done not so much for the sake of saving space on the front panel as for a better phase matching of drivers.

But unlike Mia, the Duetto models have an additional driver to drive the midrange/bass. The Duetto tweeter operates in the frequency range above 3kHz and is equipped with a 25mm soft cloth dome with special coating and a fairly wide semi-circular suspension. The bass/midrange drivers with 149mm diameter belong to the Vifa Premium Series and are equipped with paper diaphragms. The midwoofers are enclosed in separate compartments and loaded on their own reflex ports with aluminium pipes, with both ports facing the back of the speaker.

The sound of

The Duet to sound similar to their appearance – rigorous and neat. A very smooth middle part with the natural timbre of “live” instruments and soulful transfer of noisy vocal parts. The midrange flushes out seamlessly with the lower sonic range, and everything is smooth, sleek, and crisp there, too. Although monsters bass Duetto are not: the upper bass is fast and quite accentuated, the mid-bass sound articulation is slightly worse, the lower bass Duetto do not capture. However, downstairs as well, the speakers confidently keep the sound under control and naturally convey the main timbres of the bass instruments.

The high frequency character of the Duetto doesn’t sound like the way the midrange/midrange does. The dischanters do not sound so even, some notes are a little excited, the others are a little dulled. The details of the cymbal loops in the upper octaves are covered with a light haze, although the main overtones of the treble instruments are accentuated admirably.

The Duetto opens up the music scene very wide, showing the details of the front plan in every detail. Contrast of image decreases in depth, but it happens gradually, so the listener gets distinct impression of the sound field volume.

On the whole, the sounding style of Duetto has no genre preferences or obvious contradictions to the energetic hard rock of Led Zeppelin or to the classics of Hermitage chamber orchestra under the direction of Alexey Utkin. All directions the speakers play with pleasant truthfulness and comfort, though themes with sharp transitions of amplitude or very complex, ornate arrangements are not easily managed by Duetto: there are some limitations of the dynamic range.

Price: 68 450 Dollars

Measured at

The impedance curve of Duetto is smooth everywhere, the impedance is never below 5,8 Ohm, this value is fixed in the wide area at mid frequencies, there is a local maximum of impedance – 24,2 Ohm at mid-range frequencies. Both Duetto’s reflex ports are tuned to 48 Hz. For the vast majority of modern amplifiers, Duetto speakers will not be a difficult load.

The Duetto exhibits an almost perfectly flat curve in the MF/LF range, followed by some transient modulations in the filter section, which increase in the sensitivity in the last octave.

In the linear part of 58-1060 Hz the unevenness of the frequency response is only +/-1,5 dB, in the whole working range is not so ideal: +/-5 dB with the inclusion of the HF “adventures. The lower +/-3 dB boundary is 52 Hz. AFR, measured at an angle of 30° to the axis, records a smaller rise in sensitivity in the upper octaves, but a decrease in the sensitivity of the crossover area. At frequencies around 800 Hz we detect a significant amplitude sound of the reflex ports, however, its contribution to the overall frequency response is not noticeable.