Two more top awards

Welcome to the February 2023 German Physiks newsletter.

This month our HRS-130 and Borderland Mk IV loudspeakers received Editors’ Choice awards from the leading US audiophile magazine, The Absolute Sound. Naturally we are quite pleased about this.

HRS-130 receives
Editors’ Choice award

German Physiks HRS-130 in black high polish polyester

Our HRS-130 loudspeakers recently received their 5th Editors’ Choice award from The Absolute Sound. This is a testament to how impressed their senior reviewer Dick Olsher was when he originally reviewed them. Dick is a scientist by training and he also has experience in loudspeaker design. This gives him a useful insight into the physics of loudspeaker drivers and the pros and cons of the various driver types. He is particularly interested in wide-range drivers, such as our DDD driver, because of the advantages they can offer. He commented on this in his review:

“Slicing and dicing the music for consumption by several drivers has a major consequence, namely the loss of coherence since most instruments are reproduced by multiple sources of sound on a baffle. By contrast, the DDD sings with one voice—just like the real thing. The driver is literally positioned outside of a box, which allows for its 360-degree radiation pattern and is responsible for its outside-of-a-box spaciousness.”

In his conclusion he wrote:

What you get here is a world-class wide-range driver that is exceptionally well engineered and superbly integrated into a speaker that is almost perfect for a small-to-medium-sized room. In my estimation, the carbon-fiber DDD is one of the top five driver innovations of the past 40 years, delivering the coherent phase and uniform power response first envisioned by Lincoln Walsh. Given the right amplifier and room setup, the HRS-130 ticks all the important sonic boxes and clearly edges out the competition when it comes to palpable imaging.”

The Absolute Sound, Issue 276

You can read the full review here.

Visit the HRS-130 web page

Read about the advantages of the DDD driver: http://bit.ly/3NVp9JO

Visit The Absolute Sound web site: https://www.theabsolutesound.com

Borderland Mk IV receives Editors’ Choice award

German Physiks Borderland Mk IV in black high polish polyester

Our Borderland Mk IV loudspeakers have also received an Editors’ Choice award from The Absolute Sound. This is their second.

When Matt Clott reviewed them for the magazine he too was impressed with what he heard. In his review, Matt used the word natural many times to describe the Borderland’s sound. Here are some of his comments.

“… the Borderland’s two-way design resulted in a seamless unity of presentation, where everything that was supposed to be there was there without added glamour or bling—a natural portrayal of the recording. Stereo separation just felt more correctly conveyed in 360 degrees.

“… the Borderland is wonderfully coherent and natural, with deep bass that provides a solid foundation upon which the DDD driver blooms like Edelweiss in the Bavarian Alps.”

Built to very high standards and offering an impressive array of sonic attributes that will satisfy both the ardent audiophile and the music lover, the Borderland’s unique styling and omnidirectional sound place this German delight on the must-audition pedestal.”

“Its natural presentation yielded a sense of scale that highlighted realism and nuance as opposed to gusto and bravado.”

“I must note that setup was a breeze. The Borderland sounded great no matter where we put them.”

The Absolute Sound, Issue 276

You can read the full review here

Visit the Borderland Mk IV web page

The first loudspeaker made by German Physiks in 1992 was the Borderland Mk I. Since then the design has been considerably improved and under the skin, the current Mk IV version is very different to its predecessor. The most notable difference is the use of of a Helmholtz Resonator to smooth out the bump in the low frequency response that would occur if the bass driver operated into a simple closed cabinet. This takes the form of a small cavity located above the main bass cabinet and which is connected to it by a small opening. It is tuned to a multiple of the main cabinet’s resonant frequency and is filled with damping material. It is a simple idea, but one that is remarkably effective. To quote from Matt Clott’s review again:

“… the Borderland is wonderfully coherent and natural, with deep bass that provides a solid foundation upon which the DDD driver blooms like Edelweiss in the Bavarian Alps.”

The Absolute Sound, Issue 276

Since its introduction, the Borderland has been the most popular loudspeaker in our range. It offers a very high level of sound performance from a comparatively compact cabinet; it is easy to place in your room - no fussing around making half-inch adjustments to the position in order to get the best sound; it is a fairly easy load for any good quality solid-state amplifier and most importantly, it does a very good job of giving you the concert experience in your listening room. To quote Alan Sircom’s review of the Borderland Mk IV in issue 141 the UK magazine HiFi+:

“… the German Physiks Borderland Mk IV represents an exciting, musically energetic and live-sounding experience, more like the real thing than many loudspeakers. If you aren’t set in your audiophile ways, this loudspeaker demands a listen and comes strongly recommended.”

You can read the full review here.

As a final side note, the HRS-130 is derived from the Borderland Mk IV and also uses a Helmholtz Resonator in its bass cabinet. If your room is too small to accommodate the Borderland Mk IV*, the HRS-130 will almost certainly work well.

* Borderland Mk IV min. recommended room size: 15 sq m/ 90 sq ft