Estonia-based loudspeaker company Estelon has helped shape the top loudspeaker production process over the past decade. To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Estelon has made major updates to six speakers in its X and Y series and released ten pairs of special edition Forza loudspeakers. These all represent a decade of learning and growth for Estelon, just to raise the bar to the first-class level they have defined. Estelon has won prestigious recognitions such as the Red Dot GmbH & Co. Award. KG) of superior design. They have also received the CES Innovation Award twice.
As we all know, the Estelon speaker is one of the best in the world. A closer look at Estelon speakers reveals that they're more than just works of art in upscale living spaces. Estelon also brings the perfect design and functionality to these top-of-the-line speakers. No doubt it was very difficult, but they did it. And insist on an absolute and relentless attention to detail. One of the biggest and most overlooked facts about speaker work is that every detail counts. This is the first condition for top speakers.
For example, the simplest 3-way second-order divider (assuming there is a resistor on the midrange and tweeters for filling) has more than 30 nodes connected. It will have a high current in the woofer and a small signal in the tweeter. All these nodes, as well as the electronic components contained therein, can "talk" to each other, and if placed in the wrong space, it will be a vibration of sound and become a vibrato. Many of these audio components are large and need to handle transient voltage and current peaks, as dynamic changes in the music impact these filters again and again.
The complexity gets worse when the speaker converts the electrical signal into flowing air. Let's not forget that speakers are interacting with humans, not with another piece of electronic device, and that the human auditory system is based on evolution (sound waves and vibration perception have developed long before vision). Now: Imagine if your amplifier housing had to be part of its internal and external functions? The cabinet functions more than half of the perceived sound of the speaker. If you want to achieve extreme fidelity, the era of square boxes everywhere is over.
After 25 years of engineering studies, Alfred Vassilkov (Estelon's principal designer and engineer) had an epiphany while having breakfast with his shrewd daughters. Together they were Estelon. As a result, Alissa Vassilkova became CEO of Estelon, and Kristiina Koort was the co-founder and partner of Estelon. Next up is how they will develop some of the most advanced speakers the world has never seen before.
Estelon uses the best speaker drivers on the market. They also developed an acoustically inert marble composite cabinet material that ensures that the cabinet does not interfere with sound during external vibrations. Speakers created and made by Estelon with a purposeful but stunning look. Estelon claims that their speakers are designed for the "real world."
While most speakers are designed in a "vacuum," a room called an anechoic chamber that eliminates room reflections, Estelon has developed its own process to integrate real-world indoor performance into their speaker designs. This is especially true for bass response to floor-standing Estelon speakers. I could have lengthened this paragraph by ten sentences to explain the technology, but that would be oversimplification. Estelon's ten years of refining speaker design have truly created beautiful speaker productions that can be repaired inside and out.
Below we take a screenshot of an interview with the Alfred Vassilkov family at Estelon's 10th anniversary celebration, and let's listen to the joy they found in the process of sound creation.
Q: If Estelon shared some of the reasons for choosing a hi-fi speaker, what would be the reasons?
Alissa: Choose sounds that sound natural and pleasant. Sometimes people buy something that initially looks impressive, only to find that it doesn't sound as natural as it should be. This is so that they can't really enjoy it very quickly when they buy a product.
Estelon is designed to accurately reproduce and be as neutral as possible. Our idea is to reproduce the original recording without any additional effects or sound staining. Our products are known for not causing the listener to fatigue effect, so people can enjoy hours of uninterrupted listening to music and feel like they are in a live concert.
Q: What are the advantages of marble composite cabinet materials for Estelon loudspeakers compared to competitors who also use specialty composites?
Alfred: After years of research and testing, we have developed a proprietary marble matrix composite and special molding technology that can manufacture very advanced cabinets.
This material offers us versatile styling possibilities both inside and out. The combination of high density and solid mass of the molded marble composite box allows for dynamic stability and the elimination of vibration. The cabinet is extremely robust, high-density, non-resonant, and has excellent internal damping and acoustic control.
Q: Estelon takes the true "indoor" performance of the speakers very seriously. How do you quantify the design process with countless variables in mind, including: speaker placement versus room boundaries; different indoor transition points reached by reflected and direct sound; room patterns; and increasing the treble directivity inherent in large dome tweeters, all taking into account the distance of the listener from the speaker?
Alfred: Estelon speakers are designed to blend in with the room. That's why the woofers are placed close to the floor so they can be coupled to the floor of the room, maximizing efficiency and output. Another great benefit of this design is that even if the room has a high ceiling or the overall size and volume is large, the bass is powerful, dynamic and evenly distributed throughout the room. Under these conditions, traditional speaker designs typically experience bass loss.
The remaining drive units are grouped together and physically placed in a neutral position higher in the cabinet. With this configuration, the impact on the mirror is much smaller, so realistic and stable stereoscopic images can be created. This design reduces reflections on the floor, which reduces the staining of the sound. It also improves the phase of the different drivers for accurate, dynamic and tonally balanced sound. This design and configuration is the result of years of experience and is highly subjective.
Q: It seems that the ultimate frontier of Estelon will be in the development of state-of-the-art speaker driver units, as all other details have been considered. Although Estelon uses the best drivers available today, the final details will allow absolute control over all aspects of the speaker design. Will the development of speaker driver units be a future consideration for Estelon?
Alfred: It's not in our near-term plans, and we don't think it's necessary. We have excellent partners to provide us with customized drive units.
For example, Accuton provides us with drivers designed and tuned for Extreme and Forza loudspeakers. Our partners are very flexible and offer excellent drivers built and tested according to our standards.
Q: It's an honor for Estelon speakers to bring music to every sound lover perfectly. Does Estelon plan to make high-fidelity music reproductions easier for everyone in the future?
Alissa: As Alfred mentioned, we always apply what we've learned before to newer versions. For example, the Mk II model of our Classic Series series includes some Forza "energy"!
We intend to bring a high-fidelity element to the growing number of enthusiasts in 2021, and all that can be said for now is that we're definitely doing something, and the release of our Mk II model, as well as the Forza Anniversary Edition, is just the beginning.
Q: What was the front-end device, music selection, and playback format selection associated with your father, lead designer and engineer, alfred Vassilkov, when performing the listening and sounding steps for Estelon speakers?
Alfred: I always listen and test through many different music genres and many different formats. This is our standard at Estelon. Our philosophy is that our speakers must flow naturally, not only in relation to the listening environment, but also in any particular musical genre to be broadcast through whatever medium the listener chooses to use.
So, I would listen to hard rock music through vinyl records, classical music on CDs, and even contemporary electronic music through streaming platforms.
Q: Estelon has brought some of the world's best loudspeakers to the high-end market over the past decade, winning two CES Innovation Awards, a Red Dot Award and countless other accolades. What's next?
Alissa: It's actually 3 CES Innovation Awards. Both our XA and X Diamond received the CES Innovation Award, while Extreme received the CES Best Innovation Award.
Estelon certainly has a promising and exciting future. Every time Alfred designs and develops a new speaker model, we realize and confirm that we can always go one step further in our quest for sound perfection. We challenge ourselves by raising the bar for the quality of sound reproduction and always combining it with elegance and luxury.