The Lotus Group Granada featuring the Acoustic Elegance Dipole12’s

The Lotus Group Granada was the first commercially available system to take advantage of the Dipole woofers.

Over the years the Acoustic Elegance Dipole Woofers have appeared in some very highly reviewed systems.  They have provided the foundation for the lowest octaves in systems with “Best in Show” accolades at T.H.E. Show, Rocky Mountain Audiofest, Munich High End, and had glowing reviews in magazines across the globe.  The Lotus Group Granada and the followup, the G2, will always have a special place as they were the first system to take advantage of these woofers.

The value of a loudspeaker to the listener can be judged by the extent that it brings a recording into the present. It must not only recreate the illusion of the space the recording was made in, it must make that space believable and rock solid. It must deliver a palpable sense of the musicians’ presence and show us plainly the intent and nuance of their artistry. It should be able to define exactly the effect of the interaction of venue and artist and enable us to distinguish between the two. It must draw the listener into a world where all thought of equipment is lost, leaving us in awe of and emotionally connected to the spontaneously arising event. The Granada uniquely masters this challenge.

The Feastrex field coil drivers represent the pinnacle of full-range driver design. Their use of the world’s finest handmade washi paper cones, lambskin leather surrounds, and a variety of extremely powerful electro-magnets, are legendary. The intent in creating the Granada Loudspeaker was to take advantage of their greatest strengths and to augment those strengths so that a new previously unheard level of performance can be achieved.  The Dipole woofers were fully up to the task of providing the low end foundation for this system.The Granada takes advantage of an open baffle design. Why? Simply, with no “box” to contend with, there are no “box colorations”. The speaker drivers breathe naturally and present their pristine innate qualities. No box means bass that is clear and powerful and much less susceptible to room excitations. The baffle is machined from a three inch slab of Finnish Birch plywood, not mdf which will deaden the sound. Since the Granada is a bespoke product, your pair can be built with any veneer, laminate or finish that will best suit your taste. The Granada represents the pinnacle of ‘Made in America‘ craftsmanship.

Why mate a driver designed for full range performance with woofers? The Feastrex field coil drivers are a force to contend with. On their own, in a modest cabinet they will provide extraordinary performance. Why then introduce more complexity to a loudspeaker driver designed for solo use?

Because in loudspeaker design, there is no free lunch: The box used to enhance the bass of a single driver, must necessarily add colorations even if benign, and a single 5″ driver with limited cone excursion can only produce so much bass. When massively driven by an uncompressed bass signal or orchestral crescendo, a single driver can only do so much before it will begin to distort or bottom out. This is in the nature of the ‘beast’ and comes with the territory. A confirmed single driver user will tell you that the compromise is worth it. There is much to be said for this approach. On the other hand, there is a benefit to be derived by relieving the main driver of low bass duty. Now the 5″ driver can operate freely with less distortion within the very broad range that is its comfort zone. In the case of the Granada it was desired to offer a speaker without limitations, or as close as humanly possible. In order to produce adequate bass in an open baffle, high excursion woofers are required. The woofers employed feature massive under-hung motors with a Full Copper Faraday Sleeve on the pole. This insures extreme linearity and extremely low distortion. Each driver features dual 8 ohm voice coils with a high Q and low Fs for maximum power and efficiency.

The Granada is an actively bi-amplified loudspeaker. Thus a crossover of some type is required. Preserving the purity of the Feastrex drivers was the top priority. As such, no reactive components could be permitted between the amplifier and the loudspeaker. Passive crossovers were ruled out, and analog or digital active crossovers were the remaining choices. Of the two, the option that affords the greatest precision and flexibility is the digital option. With the digital option, the drivers are able to be perfectly matched for maximum imaging capabilities, the power and frequency response is able to be properly smoothed, and the loudspeaker is able to be tuned to each individual room that it will be placed in. For those fearful that a digital crossover will somehow compromise the purity of their analog signal, listening for yourself will ease your mind.  The Granada’s digital crossover processes acoustic information at 48 bits in real time, and is utterly transparent. The advantages of a state of the art digital crossover, when properly and subtly implemented far outweigh any advantages that an analog circuit may provide. The Granada Loudspeaker couples the lastest, most up to date technology with museum quality workmanship from Japan’s finest mastercraftsmen to create a new concept in loudspeaker design that will take your breath away.

We are very thankful that The Lotus Group chose to use Acoustic Elegance woofers in this system.  It was the first system to put the Dipole Woofers out there for many in the Hi Fi market to experience them.  We wish the best for The Lotus Group and look forward to seeing great things from them in the future.

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