GAUDER AKUSTIK Berlina RC 7 Black Edition Diamond Double Vision
Floorstanding loudspeakers
This speaker has probably the longest name of all I have reviewed so far. Over the standard version of Berlina, it improves with some essential tweaks which will be discussed in this review. And, although none of the speakers in Berlina series is cheap by any means, I was really impressed by what I heard with the RC 7.
Function and form
I like if the money I pay buy serious technologies inside the product, not just storytelling and a brand upcharge. If I place the Berlina RC 7 next to any Harbeth speaker, it is like placing top athlete shoes next to flip-flops. No matter how fancy decals the flip-flops have, their level of engineering is incomparable to specialized racing shoes.
The Berlina RC 7, for this review, were available in a Black Edition version (refers to the black Accuton drivers), a Diamond version (refers to diamond coated tweeters instead of standard ceramic), and a Double Vision upgrade (refers to selected Mundorf componentry in the crossover assembly). Still, if you want another upgrade, the Berlina can be ordered with “Big Foot” plinth that offers premium look, better stability, and better adjustability options. Some upgrades are retrofittable (like the tweeter and the crossover), some not (like the Big Foot). The reason is the way the Berlina is assembled.
Coincidentally, the approach to the cabinet building is similar like with the Silent Laboratories Molliter, that I reviewed in June. It means that instead using flat and curved boards, Gauder Akustik mills out 50mm thick MDF ribs, that are stacked atop each other with the help of guiding rods; the MDF ribs are interlayed with 3 mm thick soft-fibre ribs to achieve resonance-free structure. In addition, the ribs become thicker from the front to the back, so they form a teardrop shaped enclosure. No need to say that the cabinets are strategically braced. The enclosure consists of a total of twelve different types of ribs, each with a special task. Such a complex structure requires at least some level of standardization, so the Berlina RC 7 is only available in white or black gloss. Still, the the damping ribs can be in black, white, silver, and gold, which leaves enough room for choosing the best aesthetics for everyone. If you opt for the Big Foot version, then the solid aluminium plinth becomes the lowest rib, fully integrated in the cabinet. The Double Vision Mundorf crossover uses very steep filters (50-60dB/oct) to achieve as best as possible separation of the drivers, of course matching the phases.
As an extra touch, you can also order MusicLight Ambience System with the Berlina. In this case you’ll have to connect the speaker to supplied 24V DC power supply and have your smartphone ready to mix and match the infinite number of colours of the ambient lighting at the bottom of the cabinets.
Bass management
Where to place the speakers and where to sit in relation to them is among the first things any owner of the RC 7 will have to solve. Its tweeter is at about 110cm above the floor, and independent of how high or deep the listener’s ears are at its listening spot, most likely the tweeter will be still too high. In far field it won’t be a big issue as the treble will be dispersed anyway; from closer distance than ca 3m, the RC 7 sounded the best with my ears at the level of the upper edge of the midrange driver. Below or above this level the sound was always suffering a bit.
Another important aspect of the Berlina RC 7’s performance is their amazing bass capabilities. I love how these loudspeakers are voiced. It is the deep, athletic, merciless bass that one would expect from Wilson Audio. It is also the bass that can easily overpressurize the smallest rooms. For this reason, Gauder provides the option to turn down (or up) the bass output by +/-1.5dB. It can be achieved by repositioning small gold-plated jumpers next to the speaker binding posts. Gauder recommends trying all three available positions to choose what sounds the best. However, the adjustability of the bass goes far beyond this option.
Clarity & delicacy
In the Berlina RC 7’s crossover, a customizable high-pass filter is implemented. Gauder nicknamed it into “De-Noise” filtering technology. Gauder correctly points out the evil of DSP filters that introduce – through A/D and D/A conversions – time and phase errors. The filtering the Gauder way means, that there is a capacitor in the signal lead. However, this capacitance can be bridged by a jumper at the bottom of the speaker’s cabinet (through opening in the plinth). If the jumper is in place, the low bass impedance rises up to 10 ohms and the amplifier sees the speaker as easier load (less power required), which results in approximately +4dB gain centered between 35Hz and 70Hz. Removing the jumper cuts down the bass extension by the same value. Should you need to make surgical adjustments, Gauder Akustik offers 4 colour coded replacement modules that provide finer step up/down in the frequency response by 1dB each.
No matter how generous the Berlina is in its bass adjustment options, I recommend employing old-school methods before you try to remove/replace jumpers and the speaker’s original voicing is changed. This includes moving the speakers around the room, moving yourself around the room, at least some basic acoustic treatments, and similar techniques. After spending some time with the Berlina RC 7, my experience is that this speaker sounds fabulous at its factory settings.
The original voicing provides an attractive mid-bass lift, that contributes to both weight and punch. The pulsing bass strokes in Nevermind (Airto Moreira, Killer Bees, B&W Music) are massive through the Berlina, with propulsive energy, finely defined transients, and accomplished texture. Good field recordings, like the Mitchell B-25 bomber on STS Digital sampler, are so real that I’m running into shelter – so physical the sound gets. The six woofers of the RC 7 pair can pressurize the room very dramatically. The bubbling engines of Harley Davidsons (the same sampler) are not less real, with only the smell of gasoline missing.
Tonal accuracy
In its diamond version, the Accuton dome tweeter exhibits a good dose of honesty and, to some extent, hardness. My ears prefer beryllium that is finer and more nuanced, yet the diamond outperforms the beryllium with the sharp carved transient edges and speed. No wonder that upbeat and rhythmic pieces sound so great through the Berlina RC 7. For example, the brutal drumtrack called Circle Percussion (STS) is a maelstrom of drum skins and rattles, precisely outlined in a machine-gun-like cadence in the wide and deep soundstage. There is audible absence of temporal smear, partly due to the cabinet stiffness, partly due to the crossover design, so the sounds and voices are positioned within the stage with high accuracy. The room is the only limit.
Gauder Akustik uses the same rib technology in its flagship range DARC, the main difference is that the ribs are milled from solid aluminium. Naturally, I was curious what advantage the aluminium will give to the DARC vs the Berlina. The aluminium comes at cost, so to keep the price parity to the RC 7 I placed DARC 80 model next to it. The DARC 80 was Double Vision and Diamond version too, with the Big Foot as a bonus.
Spatial resolution
The DARC 80 are more monitor-like, more precise, more inert. I could hear the superior stiffness. I should say: I heard less of coloration, no matter how inexistent it had been before. The DARC 80 are also easier to set up in the room; its tweeter is at the ear level of a seated listener and the cabinets are quite compact in real life. When pushed hard, the DARC 80 can pressurize the room, even though not to the same extent as the Berlina RC 7. The latter sounds more authoritative and bigger. So, the decision whether to buy the Berlina or the DARC will depend on your listening environment as well as your preferences. I’d prefer the Berlina. When Johannes Brahms was 27 years old, he composed his first String Sextet. The piece - that was composed for 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos – was recorded for Audite label by Mandelring Quartett. No matter that two instruments were missing, through the Gauder Berlina RC 7 it was a beautiful piece of music; elevating and undulating strings in the acoustics of Leibniz Saal of Hannover Congress Centrum were an authentic performance, and the level of ‘thereness’ was very high with the RC 7.
Recommended resellers
HI-FI studio TYKON, Ostrava, tel. +420 723 449 894
Manufacturer's website: http://www.gauderakustik.com
Associated components
- Sources: emmLabs Meitner DV2 DAC, Electrocompaniet EMC 1 MKV
- Amplifiers: Electrocompaniet AW 800 M, Audia Flight Strumento No.4 MkII
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Shunyata Research Sigma V2, Shunyata Omega S/PDIF
- Loudspeakers: MOFI Sourcepoint 10, Gauder Akustik DARC 80
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Everest, Shunyata Research Omega XC a Alpha NR
Gallery
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