Jupiter Audio - Cyllene Floor Standing Speaker

The Jupiter Audio Cyllene
If Jerry Seinfeld were an audiophile, he might have asked "So what's the deal with horn loaded loudspeakers?" In general, a horn loaded speaker is one that is relatively high efficiency that has had some or all of its frequency range augmented by horn loading. What this means is the natural amplification provided by the horn allows for more sound to come out of the speaker for a given amount of input power. Why we would want to do this, traditionally, was because back in the early days of audio, amplifiers were relatively low in power, and, to make matters worse, speakers were relatively low in efficiency, so getting a decent level of dynamic range in an audio system was quite a challenge. Clever speaker designers realized that horn loading would improve efficiency, so even if you had only a ten or twenty watt tube amp you would still be able to acheive reasonably good volume levels with them. Flash forward to the present: amplifier power isn't at a premium like it once was, although tube electronics are alive and well; and acheiving good efficiency and good power handling out of a typical speaker has vastly improved. So, even though you can acheive copious amounts of dynamic range through brute force, there is also some factions of audio that go about it a different way, which is what we're talking about with Jupiter's latest offering, the Cyllene.

So, I think it is safe to say that the main reason for being for a horn loaded, high efficiency speaker is for use in systems based around tubes, but when we built this speaker and put it through its paces quite a different aspect emerged: this speaker ROCKS. Yes, it's efficient, and yes it has superb clarity and resolution, but it also is one heck of a lot of fun to play loud, and acquits itself very well in this way. So, even though one application for the Cyllene is low power, high resolution systems, it is excellent in higher powered systems too.

Okay, let's get down to the nitty gritty. The Cyllene is a tall speaker, 50 inches high, weighing in at exactly 100 lbs. As the photos indicate, the bottom half of the speaker is taken up by a large opening, the mouth of the horn, providing the horn loading to the back wave of the driver. The drivers themselves are in a two way configuration, but this is deceptive: the 8 inch Fostex 208 Sigma woofer is actually a full range driver, extending to 12 kHz. There are factions in audio that would find this satisfactory, but since my aim is to cover as much of the audible spectrum as possible, I added a Fostex supertweeter to the mix. In addition, a notch filter centered around 4 kHz is incorporated to smooth out the upper midrange peakiness that is inherent in the Fostex woofer.

So. Channelling Seinfeld again, what's the deal with the supertweeter? It's the icing on the cake, really. The Fostex woofer covers most of the frequency range really well, and the horn loading extends the bottom end, so it isn't much of a stretch to use a really good tweeter to augment the top end. The Fostex horn loaded tweeter extends out to 30 kHz, so even Mariah Carey and Minnie Riperton will be faithfully represented.

Now we come to the hard part: how does this big beast sound? Well, here's the deal: on an absolute basis this is far from the most expensive speaker on the market, but, relatively speaking, this is the most expensive speaker I've yet produced, and I had one goal in mind: to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Here's what I found out:

This is a quirky speaker. As the efficiency of a driver increases, the relative differences in frequency response become magnified. As such, this speaker requires the user to go the extra mile: careful room placement and system matching are required. You will certainly get sound out of them if you hook them up to a 35 year old Pioneer receiver, but you won't be getting anything near what the speakers are capable of.

Here's what I've learned since starting Jupiter Audio: if you have a speaker that is capable of true high resolution, the more information you feed into it the more you get out. Sounds intuitively obvious? Not as much as you'd think. Most speakers, even high end ones, have a sound of their own and don't let you "see" into the recording anywhere near what is theoretically possible. Speakers, given the arduous task of translating electrical energy into acoustical energy, have multiple ways of missing the mark in how accurately they depict what is in the recorded signal. In short, in the case of the Cyllene, the level of clarity, transparency and detail are nothing short of astounding. The texture of voices and instruments comes through clear as a bell, and bells sound pretty good too! Instruments float in a clearly defined soundstage, limited mostly be the limits of the recording and the limits of the electronics. And, as stated previously, what I thought was true wasn't: these speakers like to be kicked in the butt a little bit, so full scale orchestra, big band, and your precious Led Zeppelin collection won't be held back. Do theses speakers push the envelope of reproducing recorded sound in the home? I like to think so.

Another thing I thought was going to be true wasn't: my previous listening experiences with high efficiency, full range drivers were that of walking a constant tightrope of getting them to have enough bass and not sound too peaky in the midrange. If you don't do your homework that can probably happen with the Cyllenes too, but properly set up this just isn't the case. The highs sound silky smooth and detailed at the same time, the midrange is extremely transparent and clear, and bass dynamics and texture are just plain fun to listen to. And then there's the visual aesthetic: you will keep on saying to yourself, "Wow, that's a big horn!" (Be careful, by the way, one of my cats actually did try and climb into the speaker at one point.)

As to the cabinet design, let me give special mention to my cabinet builder, Joe Jensen. I came to him with a recipe for a speaker, and said, "Here ya go, let's see what you can come up with." Then he delivers the finished product and, with mouth agape (which made it really hard to talk!) I said, "Oh, I guess there really isn't anything to change." The cabinet, of course is very solidly built, with a 1" front baffle and 3/4" MDF the rest of the way, and the characteristic Jupiter sand filled base that allows the cabinet to be lively without it coloring the overall sound of the speaker. The curved aperture of the horn looks terrific, and the overall solidity and feel of the cabinet is excellent. This is no small way contributes to the overall clarity and accuracy of the sound.

In summation, I think we may be on to something here. High efficiency speakers aren't a gimmick, they are a serious way of creating a serious amount of realism and dynamism in the reproduction of recorded music. Because of the physics involved, careful design constraints have to be implemented to enhance and perfect the overall listenability of the speaker, but boy does this pay dividends! I think music lovers that spend a lot of time with these speakers are going to wind up grinning from ear to ear--there may even be a bunch of guys from the Mississippi Delta that are going to have a hard time delivering the blues.

Price:	$4,250 per pair