When you think of grass, I take it that most of you would normally associate it with your green front lawn where you can run barefoot, the golf course, the football field, a wide open landscape, or perhaps even the weed that some may smoke as an enjoyment.
But how many of you would think of grass as the building material for a speaker cabinet?
Meet the Bach full-range speaker from the small Danish manufacturer Quali-fi.
This speaker cabinet is composed of many small strips of bamboo (yes, it´s grass…) that have been laminated, layer after layer, into a super strong board using environmentally friendly glue. At the end of the process, the cabinet is given a finishing treatment with organic beeswax which protects the surface and brings out the bamboo’s natural warm colours and beautiful structures. So there you have it – an environmentally friendly speaker.
The choice of bamboo as the building material for a speaker cabinet
According to the manufacturer, the process of using bamboo boards glued together in several layers, along with the built-in strength and sturdiness of bamboo, assures superb stability and resistance against resonance. Carbonised bamboo is used in the process, which suggests that the bamboo has been heated resulting in the natural sugar becoming brown or “caramelized”.
Design
The Bach speaker is a very simple construction following the “less-is-more” principle. It is based on the Tapered Quarter Wave Tube (TQWT) and consists of a long conical horn with a fold at the bottom and the horn opening facing upwards. The speaker unit employed in my version of the speaker is the Markaudio Alpair 7P (paper cone) and is mounted at a precise and purpose distance from the closed end of the horn.
Initial listening impressions
Given that these speakers use the room actively, their placement is material to finding an overall good sound. Correctly placed – in the corner or at least against a back wall – they provide a lovely three-dimensional image with loads of details and with a bass that is both wonderfully open and controlled. With the bass being fired upwards towards the ceiling instead of downwards along the floor (as the case is with most conventional speakers), furniture and other things placed in the sound range will not affect the sound.
Please bear in mind that placing the speaker further away from a wall will result in a bass that is nearly non existant. The construction is thus such that correct placement is central to obtaining a good result.
I have tried the speaker with both the Alpair 7M (metal cone) and the Alpair 7P (paper cone) driver. Whilst the 7M in this cabinet design presents a more laid back, less refined sound (which, however, is fully enjoyable and therefore easy to live with), the 7P is more direct and provides a close to full spectrum of details. The downside of the latter is that the sound can sometimes be perceived as a bit bright or even nasal/congested.
I have also heard this speaker model with the smaller Alpair 6P (paper cone). This is probably my first choice.
Final remarks
All in all, the Bach speaker is a most enjoyable and highly unconventional speaker that, rightly placed, will surprise you with its openness, details and musicality. It works best with classical music, jazz, male/female vocals, electronic music. If you, on the other hand, prefer to listen to head-banging music, it is probably not your first choice of speaker.