LEGACY AUDIO Whisper XDS

Though the “cabinets” of the Whisper XDS are 1.6m tall, they successfully disappear in the room, as the speaker is of open design. Means that there are 2 parallel baffles that are spaced 10cm apart and that host all the drivers, without any real cabinets. According to Legacy Audio the baffles are digitally synchronized to maintain an ideal directivity pattern.

There are 11 (!) drivers in each 4-way speaker. Bass extends down to 20Hz and is handled by two tandems of big 38cm woofers with pulp/carbon cones that sit in the baffle, plus one 30cm ‘subwoofer’ unit that has the privilege of having its own cabinet. Midbass passes through an array of four cast frame midrange drivers with silver-graphite cones, and the real midrange is uniquely handled by 4" Dual Air Motion Tweeter System. Another 1" AMT tweeter adds the highs up to ‘supertweeting’ 30,000Hz levels.

Similarly to the Aeris the Whisper XDSs are powered by built-in 500W ICEPower amplifiers and their performance parameters are controlled by Xilica’s 24-bit Wavelaunch XD-4080 processor that allows adjustment of channel separation, low frequency contour and proximity. Which also means that you will need extra power cables with them. If you prefer the delicacy of tubed highs then you can marry the hard hitting bass with any user’s choice of amplification for mids and highs. The Whispers are very sensitive (95dB) and rated 4 ohms so you can use even SET amps with them.

With the Whisper XDS (like with other Legacy Audio’s speakers) the design is a type of like it or hate it. But who cares – these speakers are quite cheap and can easily challenge anything on the planet.