Someone Call the Speaker Museum. Their Centerpiece Got Out.

The stylish Imperia is seven feet of walnut and amplitude

By The Editors
February 4, 2016 9:00 am

Stereos, like books, are best judged by what lies within.

A rule for which — as with any — there are distinct and immutable exceptions.

Like the Imperia, a striking new design from New York’s Oswaldsmill Audio that’s equally impressive on eyes and ears.

The seven-foot-tall sound system features four conical horns arranged vertically backed by two rear-loaded subwoofer horns and a 21″ woofer powered by its own solid-state amplifier. Its waxed wooden cones and high-frequency aluminum alloy speakers cover every sound from 100hz to 20khz … aka the entire human audible spectrum. They’re made in Pennsylvania, sold in Brooklyn and come in hand-rubbed black walnut, cherry, or ash.

To make the Imperias, Oswaldsmill founder Jonathan Weiss enlisted the help of industrial designer David D’Imperio to ensure that the systems would be the visual opposites of the more pedestrian speaker designs he felt were currently available.

And he wanted them to be big. “When people go to Steinway, they don’t say, ‘I’d like one of your grand pianos, but do you have a really small grand piano?’” says Weiss.

So he built that grand piano of speakers and priced it accordingly.

Cough up $288,000 and it’s yours.

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