As already mentioned, the drivers use paper cones or silk domes, treated with the latest coatings to help refine performance. External fixings are eliminated and the baffles are machined and shaped to eliminate secondary diffraction effects. Crossovers are essentially simple first or second-order slopes to maintain phase integrity, but with steeper out-of-band roll-offs to limit the impact of unwanted driver output. Although the minimum impedance is a low-ish 3Ω, the overall characteristic is benign, with no nasty corners in the impedance plot, as reflected by the speaker’s easy drive characteristics and willingness to track dynamic demands.
So far so good – and essentially textbook. But this is where the Stenheims deviate from simplicity (and, arguably, common sense). First came the SE version, with a split crossover featuring upgraded components and internal wiring. Fair enough and pretty much industry standard. Then came the Signature Edition – a monitoring-specific version voiced by Jean-Claude Gaberel, complete with external crossovers. Throw in a number of Limited Editions with various finish/trim options and the list of available options starts to look cluttered, the customer’s choices confusing. Now comes the SX, yet another version to further muddy the waters…
The case for clarity…
Brush aside the distractions and this is what you need to know. Essentially the Alumine 5 consists of two versions with one important option. The original 5 remains a great speaker, but the SE is a better one and worth the extra. Not only does it offer greater clarity, transparency, immediacy and musical communication, it’s bi-wirable crossover opens up the option to bi-amp – with spectacularly beneficial results. The A5-SE really is the sweet-spot in the entire Stenheim range: and it just got a whole lot sweeter. Enter the SX base, a heavy-duty extension that you can order at the time of purchase, but which can be bought separately and bolted to the bottom of any existing Alumine 5 or 5-SE. in order to keep this review manageable and also underline the upgrade potential for existing speakers, I already covered the SX base’s physical details (and musical impact) in a separate piece: https://gy8.eu/review/big-foot-the-stenheim-sx-base/ Now it’s time to consider the A5-SX as a whole and as a one-time purchase.
The SX base has two immediate impacts on the A5. It increases the footprint, not front to back but adding 10cm/4” to each side. To that you can add a 10cm/4” increase in overall height – although that will vary with the spike settings. Stenheim can supply long or short spikes depending on circumstances and floor covering, but the long spikes offer a very useful 30mm of vertical adjustment. Adding the base to the A5 cabinet does make it a physically and visually more imposing presence. It also has implications for set up. If you are adding the base to an existing speaker, lifting the bass units 4” off of the floor is going to demand a positional adjustment, while the increase in height mandates a forward rake of the front-baffle in most cases. Neither change will be massive, but they will be significant in terms of optimizing performance and assessing the musical value delivered by the base. Of course, if the speaker arrives with the base, ready to install, position and rake angle will need to be calculated from scratch – but that forward rake will still apply.
