Odeon Audio Midas Floorstanding Speakers (pair)

The Midas is a compact floorstanding loudspeaker with an outstanding efficiency of 95 db. Thus, the Midas achieves a dynamic and finely detail reproduction that is rarely found in this price class. The Midas can be combined with a variety of transistor and tube amplifiers. This model is the right choice for demanding music lovers who are looking for a compact floor standing loudspeaker that can be integrated into any living space, both technically and stylistically. The Midas is very versatile and with its pure design it looks stunning with every veneer and lacquer colour choice.

„It plays outstandingly transparent and room-filling. The combination of horn and dome tweeter works extremely well, it provides horn dynamics and does not distort at all volume levels. The result is a striking sensitivity for musical details.“

„With an efficiency of 95 decibels the speaker can play seriously loud with even low wattage amplifiers. The nominal impedance is around six ohms and stable making it easy to use with any amplifier. The distortion values are so breathtakingly low: at moderate levels that we reached our measurement limits of our test equipment in this respect.“

Holger Barske, LP Magazin

CONCEPT

The optimal combination and modification of drivers has made it possible to develop a loudspeaker without resistors. Due to their different weight there is a difference in volume between tweeters and bass-midrange drivers. This volume offset is usually corrected by resistors in the crossover circuit.

However, the use of resistors not only results in lower volume, but also in a loss of fine dynamics and resolution. By dispensing the use of resistors in the Midas, the tonal quality of the tweeter is completely preserved, which is expressed in a very pronounced fine detail reproduction.

CROSSOVER

To keep the deviations between the channels as small as possible, we use components selected in the crossovers with a maximum deviation of one percent. Only non-aging components (film capacitors) are used. The flat and round wire air-core coils come from Mundorf. Due to their surface and construction, the baked and thus particularly stable flat wire coils emphasize the mid- range and produce particularly expressive tonal colors.
In most high-end loudspeakers, the crossovers are built on Pertinax boards and the individual components are connected by conductor paths etched on the boards. In contrast, the crossovers of the Midas are wired by hand, soldered point to point and then mechanically secured to avoid movement of the sensitive components and thus negative influences on the sound. The point-to-point wiring minimizes electrical transitions
in the signal path. What is regarded as a quality feature in high-quality tube amplifiers is rarely implemented in loudspeaker construction as consistently as in ODEON AUDIO products.

BASS-REFLEX SYSTEM

The Midas works with a down fire bass-reflex system in which the two bass-reflex tunnels of the Midas point downwards to the bottom plate of the speaker. The downward orientation of the reflex tunnels ensures easier acoustic integration into the living room. Every room has so-called room modes as a result, strong bass peaks often occur. The downward firing bass-reflex system suppresses these room modes much less than conventional solutions in which the reflex port points backwards towards the rear wall of the room. The downward firing bass-reflex system allows the speakers to be positioned close to the wall without bass exaggerations.

TWEETER

The tweeter is a special design by the French manufacturer Audax. The used 25mm dome is manufactured with a copper voice coil and a special impregnated fabric and has outstanding characteristics regarding speed, resolution and freedom from distortion. These qualities are supported and significantly enhanced by the ODEON AUDIO birch ply birch multiplex spherical wave horn. The horn functions as a mechanical amplifier that relieves the tweeter and thus contributes decisively to a relaxed sound character while providing highest resolution. The combination of tweeter and horn reaches a very high efficiency of 95db.

LOW-MIDRANGE DRIVER

The low-midrange driver is made by the renowned Danish company Scan Speak. Like the tweeter, this driver is a custom-made product outside of normal mass production. By a combination of a handmade and coated cellulose cone with a very fine and flexible rubber surround and fabric centering, this system impresses with an extremely controlled bass and outstanding midrange characteristics unique in this price class. The bass-midrange driver is also refined with a double magnet, which further increases the magnetic force acting on the voice coil that significantly improves the efficiency and sonic characteristics. By using two drivers per speaker, the mechanical load on the systems is halved. This results in an increased efficiency of 95db in total, a higher dynamic range and a more detailed midrange reproduction.

CABINET

A medium density fibreboard (MDF) is used for the cabinet. Our master craftsmen only use MDF with a particularly high proportion of wood fibers and binding agents, which are compressed under high pressure. This special material avoids disturbing resonances and excludes discoloration effects. The MDF used in the ODEON AUDIO models is up to 1.8 times heavier than conventional MDF and therefore much more stable. This makes it particularly suitable for sophisticated loudspeaker concepts.

CABLES

n the Midas, an oxidation-free copper cabling (OFC) from German production is used, which is characterized by special purity. The multiple mechanical shielding of the tweeter cable virtually eliminates all microphonic effects.