Waterfall Audio's striking glass loudspeakers

Waterfall Audio has unveiled two examples of its stunning glass loudspeaker enclosures destined for the American market ahead of the debut of its unique line at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Named after two famous waterfalls in Africa and South America, the Victoria EVO and Iguasçu EVO models consist of slender, hand-crafted glass towers designed to convey the impression of floating speakers with internal “stretched” driver wiring utilized to keep heavy speaker-cabling at floor level and further enhance the clean, elegant impact of the showpiece enclosures.

The 40 inch x 10 inch Victoria EVO has a three-way/four-driver design that includes Waterfall’s proprietary, downfiring, 8-1/2-inch passive woofer. The slightly shorter (34 inch x 10 inch) Iguasçu uses identical drivers (including the passive woofer) in a two-way/three-driver arrangement.

Both models use Waterfall's the Acoustic Damping Tube (ADT) technology which is designed to achieve near-total damping of mid- and low-frequency “back-wave” artifacts, and precise damping control of midrange reflections, allowing the speakers to produce accurate, high-end performance within their effectively undamped glass enclosures.

The Waterfall designs also feature low-distortion, custom-alloy-diaphragm drivers designed and manufactured by French partner Atohm.

The drivers and base are fashioned from precision-machined cast aluminum to preserve the high-end look and feel of the speakers with solid-metal multi-way connectors integrated into the floor-level base of each speaker along with optional grilles individual to each driver.

Waterfall’s unique designs are the result of extensive development of glass-fabrication techniques with French partner Miroiterie Merle as well as research and development of the acoustic technologies.

The Victoria EVO and Iguasçu EVO models are expected to become available in early 2008 at a cost of USD$5,400/pair and USD$3,900/pair respectively.