nuLine CS-174

Box type and placement

The nuLine CS-174 is a top-class centre speaker that fits particularly harmoniously into a surround system with the three-way floorstanding speakers nuLine 264, 284 and 334. Considering the low cabinet height and the two relatively small 12 cm woofers, it has a surprisingly deep bass response and, with 230 watts, an amazingly high power handling. The horizontal dispersion exceeds that of our two-way centres in terms of homogeneity, so that even listeners sitting sideways can fully enjoy the sound. The loudspeakers 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 centre speaker in bass reflex design. The high sound quality of the nuLine CS-174 is realised with the filter optimisation of the three-way principle adopted 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 achieving a very even horizontal dispersion behaviour.

The elaborately crafted cabinet is made of 19 mm thick, veneered or multi-layer lacquered MDF material and is manufactured by an experienced sound furniture specialist in Germany. To ensure that the rear sound components of the woofers and midrange drivers do not interfere with each other, the midrange/tweeter group has its own acoustically precisely tuned inner cabinet, which also serves to reinforce the outer walls. This high constructional effort results in a total weight of 18 kg and is reflected in a rarely realised precision of the sound image, which is maintained up to the highest dynamic jumps.

Tweeter

In the tweeter range, the nuOva tweeter, a completely new development for nuLine, is used with special sound guidance and a specially damped rear volume chamber. 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. At the same time, the chassis can be moved closer to the midrange drivers, which is in line with the ideal of a point source without having to accept the disadvantages of a coaxial system.

Midrange speaker

For the first time Nubert uses flat diaphragm drivers. 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 the multi-layer diaphragms, which have a honeycomb structure (honeycomb technology), it was possible to shift the disturbing natural resonances step by step into the high frequency ranges, where the midrange driver no longer works at all, but the radiation is almost completely done by the tweeter. In contrast to cone speakers, the majority of the surface of these optimised midrange drivers is flush with the baffle, creating a favourable environment for the adjacent tweeter, which helps it to achieve even better radiation characteristics.

Woofer

Another new development is the 12-centimetre long-stroke woofer, two of which are used in the nuLine CS-174 centre speaker. These high-tech drivers, equipped with double magnets, enable an optimum ratio of large cone excursion, maximum bass response and amplifier-friendly efficiency. This has resulted in highly resilient long-stroke woofers whose polypropylene diaphragms can deflect up to 20 mm in extreme cases.

Crossover

The crossover of the nuLine CS-174 is a masterpiece in itself when it comes to filter technology. Here, the signals arriving from the amplifier are divided into three frequency ranges with particular precision using a special crossover technology, whereby the drivers receive their final sonic polish via sophisticated compensation circuits. In order to realise the typical Nubert quality standards, no less than 34 high-quality components were necessary, including close-tolerance film capacitors in the midrange and treble range. The low crossover frequency at 2.05 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 three-stage modification of the high-frequency range from "soft" to "neutral" to "brilliant", which allows the speaker to be individually adapted to the acoustics of different living rooms 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.