nuLine 264

Box type and recommended use

With its decidedly slim appearance, the nuLine 264 is an attractive alternative for all those who, for aesthetic reasons, have had difficulty with the idea of "floorstanding speakers". However, anyone who thinks that a floorstanding speaker just 15 centimetres wide can hardly produce a veritable deep bass will be amazed to read that the nuLine 264 even reaches the 35 hertz mark in terms of low bass. Almost more impressive, however, is the clarity and naturalness with which the new flat diaphragm midrange driver and the nuOva tweeter reproduce the aurally sensitive mid-high range. Thus, the nuLine 264 presents itself as a visually highly appealing and enormously powerful floorstanding speaker, which, with its peak power handling of 260 watts, cuts an equally good figure in medium-sized hi-fi stereo systems as well as in multi-channel systems with high-end demands. The speakers of the nuLine series are developed in Schwäbisch Gmünd and manufactured according to our specifications at a long-established specialist company for sound furniture construction in Germany.

Construction principle and housing

Three-way floorstanding speaker in bass reflex design. The bass reflex port is located at the rear of the cabinet, which is why the speaker should be placed at least 3 centimetres away from a rear wall. The high sound quality of the nuLine 264 is realised with the filter optimisation of the three-way principle taken from our top series nuVero. In this way, the development team Günther Nubert and Thomas Bien succeeded in significantly increasing the sound purity of conventional three-way designs, especially in the critical mid-range, while at the same time exploiting the fundamental advantage of a more even horizontal dispersion pattern. The very elaborately manufactured cabinet is made of 19 to 38 mm thick veneered or multi-layer lacquered MDF material and is manufactured by an experienced sound furniture specialist in Germany. It has precisely calculated internal stiffeners and damping elements that effectively reinforce the stability of the already quite solid cabinet walls and effectively prevent sound-damaging natural resonances. To ensure that the rear sound components of the woofers and the midrange driver do not interfere with each other, the midrange driver has its own, acoustically precisely tuned inner cabinet. The elegant solid metal crossbar feet give the speaker a filigree appearance and a stable stand.

Tweeter

In the tweeter range, the completely newly developed nuOva tweeter with special sound guidance and a specially damped rear volume chamber is used. Its acoustically optimised sound front makes it possible to further increase the differences in distance between the dome and the cabinet edges compared to the previous asymmetrical Nubert tweeters, which further reduces the edge dispersion in the axial direction and noticeably increases the clarity in the high frequency range. The asymmetrical arrangement of the tweeters means that a "right" and a "left" speaker is always supplied.

Midrange speaker

For the first time Nubert uses a flat diaphragm chassis. At the beginning of the development work, it was confirmed that flat diaphragms were more susceptible to disturbing partial vibrations than similarly sized cone diaphragms. By fine-tuning multi-layer diaphragms that have a honeycomb structure (honeycomb technology), it was possible to shift the disturbing natural resonances step by step to much higher frequency ranges where the radiation is almost completely through the tweeter. Unlike cone speakers, the majority of this optimised midrange driver is flush with the baffle, creating a favourable environment for the adjacent tweeter, which benefits the dispersion characteristics.

Woofer

Another new development is the 12-centimetre long-stroke woofer, three of which are used in the nuLine 264 floorstanding speaker. This high-tech driver, equipped with a double magnet, enables an optimum ratio of large cone excursion, maximum bass response and amplifier-friendly efficiency. The result is a heavy-duty long-stroke woofer with a polypropylene diaphragm that can deflect up to 20 mm in extreme cases. The six woofers of a pair of nuLine 264 together correspond to the diaphragm area of a respectable subwoofer, which makes it clear why this speaker has such a powerful bass foundation. Furthermore, the vertical arrangement of the woofers reduces the occurrence of room resonances (technical term "modes") between the floor and the ceiling.

Crossover

When it comes to filter technology, the crossover of the nuLine 264 is a masterpiece in itself. Here, the signals arriving from the amplifier are divided into three frequency ranges with particular precision using special crossover technology, while the drivers receive their final sonic polish via sophisticated compensation circuits.

In order to be able to realise the quality demands typical of Nubert, no less than 35 high-quality components were necessary, including tightly toleranced foil capacitors in the midrange and treble range. The low crossover frequency at 2.2 kHz frees the midrange driver from higher frequencies and, in conjunction with the deliberately small design, ensures an exceptionally wide dispersion pattern. An efficient protection circuit watches over the safety of the drivers and the crossover. If there is a risk of thermal overload, it cuts the amplifier current and automatically returns to normal operation once the danger has passed.

Switching options

The upper switch between the terminals of the terminal allows a threefold modification of the high-frequency range from "soft" to "neutral" to "brilliant", which allows the speaker to be individually adapted to different living rooms with more or less textile sound damping or personal listening preferences. With the second tone selector switch, the bass level can be moderately lowered. This switch variant ensures that an undesired increase in the bass level can be compensated for when the speaker is placed close to a wall.

Connection terminal

The extremely solid, gold-plated screw terminals of the bi-wiring terminal are also suitable for cables with a very large cross-section. Bi-wiring terminals allow the tweeter and low/midrange to be connected separately to the amplifier. This is a measure that can prevent sound loss with long cable lengths. In addition, the sound selector switches described above are located on the terminal.

More info in Technology

For all technically interested music and home cinema lovers who are not put off by hard facts and metrological details, Günther Nubert's ""Technik satt"" offers plenty of technical correlations and electro-acoustic background knowledge as well as the topic of sound optimisation and insights into the development and history of Nubert loudspeakers and devices.