Stratton Acoustics' Elypsis1512 loudspeaker system has been designed as an alternative to owning different loudspeakers to do a particular job - for instance, the visceral dynamic full-on delivery of a large JBL-based system or the cerebral performance of a pair of Quads. The resulting project focused on producing a loudspeaker system “with high efficiency and wide bandwidth, very low colouration and distortion, and the ability to paint solid aural images”.

Stratton Acoustics is a new UK-based high-end loudspeaker manufacturer and has taken inspiration from large-scale studio monitors that shaped recording in the 1970s and 1980s. Products such as the legendary JBL 4350 and Tannoy Buckingham achieved effortless dynamics and massive soundstages thanks to their large-diameter bass and midrange drivers housed in a substantial cabinet.

Amy Richards, one of Stratton's founding partners, told StereoNET:

While our products always have to create an exhilarating musical performance, they also have to provide excitement through all aspects of their ownership. When not making music, they must be stunning pieces of fine furniture capable of complementing and defining any interior design. After years of development, we can fulfil this goal with various materials and finishes limited by customers' tastes and daring. I can't wait to see how our customers will challenge us and what wonderfully unique, bespoke pieces we will be lucky enough to produce.

The Elypsis1512 is a three-way passive speaker comprising twin 380mm bass drivers, a single 300mm midrange driver and a mechanically decoupled, 29mm soft dome tweeter with a precision waveguide. Stratton Acoustics states that the asymmetrically placed drivers results in similarly asymmetric horizontal dispersion. So, Elypsis1512 speakers are built as mirror-imaged pairs. We're told that the phase relationship through the crossover region between the midrange driver and tweeter ensures that the off-axis frequency response on the midrange side of the speaker remains linear. Stratton recommends that the tweeters are positioned outermost in most instances.

The twin 15-inch (350mm) bass units in the Elypsis1512 are reinforced paper diaphragm drivers, each rated at 800 Watts power handling. The driver features a 113mm (4.5-inch) voice coil, an aluminium demodulation ring and a twin spider suspension system. It is claimed to be capable of ±14mm linear excursion.

The Elypsis1512 enclosure provides a 230-litre internal volume for the bass drivers. Reflex loading utilises four large-diameter laminar flow internally and externally flared ports tuned to 34Hz. According to Stratton, the Elypsis1512 low-frequency bandwidth extends to -6dB at 28Hz, with system group delay remaining under 12mS above 40Hz.

Moving up to the 300mm (12-inch) reinforced paper diaphragm midrange driver, this features a 75.6 mm (3-inch) voice-coil, a neodymium-iron-boron magnet system and a copper-sleeved pole-piece. Stratton tells us that the drive unit is carefully hand-doped to fine-tune its response characteristics when torqued into a sealed enclosure filled with an optimal selection of damping materials.

The driver complement is topped off by a 29mm diameter soft dome tweeter matched with a CNC machined aluminium waveguide that defines its dispersion characteristic and is said to add increased efficiency through acoustic impedance matching. The tweeter mounts within the Elypsis1512 enclosure via a Stratton Acoustics patented (GB2606586) decoupling arrangement, isolating it from mechanical vibration. The tweeter features a neodymium-iron-boron magnet system with a double copper capped, T–shaped pole piece and a flow-optimised rear enclosure.

A passive crossover hands out driver duties at 350Hz and 2.5kHz via asymmetric 2nd and 3rd-order filter slopes. Targeted impedance compensation is employed to linearise the system impedance and to enable close control of filter slopes, states Stratton. Of course, components are all “audiophile grade”, comprising predominantly plastic film capacitors and air-cored inductors. Meanwhile, EQ controls on the front baffle offer ±2dB adjustment on the midrange and tweeter drivers.

This all is housed in a cabinet formed from 24mm and 18mm precision CNC routed birch ply panels with the front baffle made from 46mm ply and capped with a solid CNC machined acrylic outer baffle. We are assured that “complex and comprehensive internal bracing” ensures the construction is effectively inert. Also, the internally divided midrange enclosure volume incorporates non-parallel panels to help suppress internal resonance.

Stratton Acoustics boasts that the resulting system impedance of the drivers and crossover remains above 8Ω between 100Hz and 10kHz. Additionally, we're told that the electrical phase remains within ±20° over the same frequency range with system sensitivity for 2.83V at 1m between 94dB and 98dB, depending on the midrange and tweeter EQ settings. In short, the Elypsis1512 can be partnered successfully with almost any amplifier – from the least to the most powerful. Levels of odd-order harmonic distortion above 100Hz are generally below 0.3% for 90dB at 1m and half-power (-6dB) bandwidth from 28Hz to over 20kHz.

The Stratton Acoustics Elypsis1512 is available now, priced at £69,000 per pair.

Visit Stratton Acoustics for more information