SteinMusic Highline Bobby S

A small speaker can still be a serious one. The Highline Bobby S is the smallest loudspeaker in SteinMusic's Highline family: a compact full-range two-way with a horn-loaded tweeter, built for coherent, relaxed sound and an excellent impulse response in rooms that don't have space for a floorstander. Positive Feedback's Bob Levi reviewed the Bobby S Ultimate and recommended it highly.

A horn speaker that grows with your demands.

The Design

SteinMusic started from the idea of a coherent, relaxed-sounding high-end loudspeaker with an excellent impulse response that's compact enough for smaller rooms. It chose a horn for the tweeter because a horn matches the diaphragm's motion to the air. Compared with a conventional speaker, which has to move all the air in the room directly, SteinMusic says the horn raises the level of fine information significantly. SteinMusic raises efficiency without compression drivers, which in its view often sound thin and hard, and instead spent years matching horns and drivers for a maximum of tonal finesse. Its priorities are an excellent frequency response, linear phase, and excellent transient behavior.

Drivers

The woofer is a 6-inch unit with a carbon-coated natural-fiber cone and extremely low mechanical losses. The tweeter is a horn-loaded silk dome, also carbon-coated. SteinMusic treats both diaphragms with its Maestro lacquer, giving the two drivers a very natural sonic signature that stays the same across the speaker's whole range. SteinMusic sources the drivers from one of the best manufacturers and modifies them to reduce mechanical losses and deliver an open sound with plenty of detail and without coloration.

• Woofer: Vented cast-aluminum frame, natural-fiber cone, soft low-damping rubber surround, non-conductive fiberglass voice coil former, extended copper sleeve on the pole piece, CCAW voice coil, silver-wire leads, and a vented pole piece.
• Tweeter: Copper cap for reduced voice coil inductance, a reflection-free rear chamber with tuned damping, a flow-optimized vented pole piece, a fine-mesh soft fabric dome, a saturation-controlled motor system, a CCAW voice coil, silver-wire leads, and a low resonance frequency.

Crossover and Wiring

SteinMusic developed and builds the crossover by hand. It matched and adjusted the drivers first, so a simple configuration gives the best results, and chose every part after extensive listening tests. The critical tweeter capacitor is an oil-impregnated foil type from Mundorf's range, which SteinMusic receives as a raw winding and finishes in-house. The bass coil is made from individually insulated litz strands, the resistors come from Beyschlag, and SteinMusic's own InLine Matrix and InLine Silver parts address magnetic distortion. Internal wiring is solid copper, 1 mm for the woofer and 0.5 mm for the tweeter, which SteinMusic says improves resolution of the higher frequencies and the coherence of the whole presentation.

Cabinet and Connections

The cabinet is built in SteinMusic's own workshop. It's vented, with short tubes in the front behind the tweeter horn, and wider at the back than at the front in a ratio SteinMusic found empirically. SteinMusic says this prevents standing waves between the side walls, and together with a 40 mm rear wall it makes the cabinet very resistant to unwanted resonance, which lets SteinMusic use no internal damping material. Solid walnut feet add what SteinMusic describes as a transparent but organic sound. Two pairs of speaker terminals take bananas or spades and allow bi-wiring or bi-amping, and two toggle switches on the terminal plate adjust the character and level of the highs to suit placement, room, and taste.

Finishes

The trapezoidal cabinet narrows to 23 cm at the front. Cabinet finishes include Midnight Gloss, Arctic Shine, and Makassar Noir, with a range of front and horn colors, and SteinMusic can use other colors on request. The Ultimate edition adds solid wood options hand-finished with SteinMusic's Maestro lacquer.

Grow the System

SteinMusic offers a passive Bobby Bass Extension with its own crossover, shaped like the Bobby S cabinet so that it works as a stand. One extension under a Bobby S makes a Bobby M, and a second on top makes a Bobby L.

Where It Fits

Choose the Bobby S for a smaller room or a nearfield listening spot where you want horn clarity and finesse, and add bass later if you need it. We're happy to help you choose between the Signature and the Ultimate and plan placement.

Press Recognition

• Positive Feedback, Bob Levi, reviewing the Bobby S Ultimate. Levi wrote that it fits audiophiles who want the best two-way stand-mounted speakers available today, and he recommended it most highly. Read the review at Positive Feedback
• Lite Magazin, Volker Frech (May 2018), reviewing the Highline Bobby S, a German review that praised its lively, impulsive, detailed sound and the almost magical effect of the horn tweeter on voices. Read the review at Lite Magazin
• U-Audio (Taiwan) also reviewed the Highline Bobby S. Read the review at U-Audio

Questions about room size, amplifier matching, or choosing your finish? Give us a call.

Specifications

• Type: Compact horn-loaded two-way, full range
• Sensitivity: 88 dB
• Impedance: 4 ohms
• Frequency range: 45 Hz to 24.8 kHz
• Crossover: 2,400 Hz, 6/12 dB
• Power handling: 80 W sine
• Woofer: 6-inch carbon-coated natural-fiber cone
• Tweeter: Horn-loaded, carbon-coated silk dome
• Diaphragm treatment: SteinMusic Maestro lacquer on both drivers
• Terminals: Two pairs for bi-wiring or bi-amping; bananas or spades; two toggle switches for the highs
• Cabinet: Vented, trapezoidal, 40 mm rear wall, solid walnut feet
• Dimensions: 395 mm H x 230 mm front W x 280 mm rear W x 290 mm D
• Weight: 13.5 kg each
• Editions: Signature; Ultimate (solid wood options hand-finished in Maestro lacquer)
• Maker: SteinMusic, handmade in Germany