Expert advice
Our top 5 Steinway & Sons speakers for stereo
With Steinway & Sons loudspeakers, the finest stereo systems can be created to reproduce music on the highest quality level. But which speakers are the best, and why?
1. The reference: Model D
The Model D is the original Steinway & Sons loudspeaker. It is not only the largest, but also the most iconic. It laid the foundation for Steinway Lyngdorf, combining the outstanding craftsmanship and musicality of a Steinway & Sons piano with the advanced technologies of Lyngdorf Audio. The promise of reproducing the full sound of a grand piano or the full scale of an orchestra led to a design unparalleled in the world of high-end audio. The Model D features a fully open dipole speaker with no sound coloration, four extra-large woofers, an ultra-light Air Motion Transformer tweeter, and an active speaker design with digital amplification. It is our reference for all other Steinway & Sons speakers.
2. The most outstanding bass: Model B
“The level of power and persuasiveness in the bass is out of this world. This will be the last system you’ll buy.” Not our words, but from Best of High-End audio magazine. With three large woofers visible on the front and three more on the back, it becomes clear this speaker is capable of playing bass. But the outstanding performance is the result of an even more remarkable construction detail. In every conventional speaker, the woofers have to work against the compressed air inside a closed cabinet. Furthermore, any enclosure adds sound coloration. In the Model B, all woofers are mounted on an open, rigid aluminum frame without any enclosure limiting them, allowing a transparent, fast, yet deep bass down to 25 Hz, combined with an equally open-dipole midrange and tweeter.
3. The most surprising: Model A
There are many limitations in high-end audio. One is that any speaker must be placed as far away from the wall as possible to achieve acceptable sound quality. But what if a loudspeaker could be designed and tuned specifically for placement against the wall? What if it takes advantage of the best impulse response at the wall, and avoids all the delayed low frequency reflections smearing the bass? What if the speaker is additionally room-calibrated to achieve the best possible performance near the wall, minus all the side effects? The answer is the latest Steinway & Sons Model A, a speaker with outstanding clarity thanks to its aluminum midrange driver, AMT tweeter, and a deep yet tight bass which surprises even the most experienced listener.
4. The one with the hidden trick: Model O
The Model O is the slimmest and most elegant floor standing Steinway & Sons loudspeaker. Furthermore, its front panel can be lacquered in any color or wood veneer, allowing perfect integration with the room and its furniture. The sound performance is pure Steinway & Sons–very open and transparent, yet never fatiguing. Even the full bass belies the speaker’s size and shallow enclosure. The secret is a second, passive woofer, hidden on the backside of the speaker. The Model O reproduces music down to the lower bass, perfectly integrated and without the acoustic side effects of bass reflex designs or the limitations of closed-cabinet speakers. When placed discreetly against the wall and calibrated with RoomPerfect™, the Model O will look and sound beautiful.
5. The unbelievable one: Model S
The Model S-15 is one of the most popular Steinway & Sons speakers. Everyone who listens to it will never forget it, because the eyes can’t believe what this speaker does. A pair of Model S-15 combined with two boundary woofers can even outperform some speakers higher in this list. There are several secrets behind this unforgettable performance. The Model S-15 is a speaker for on-wall, sideboards, or shelves, with the lowest frequencies outsourced to external woofers, which can easily be hidden in the room corners thanks to RoomPerfect™ calibration and individual speaker distance settings. The rigid aluminum enclosure knows no resonance or sound coloration, while the AMT tweeter is part of an ingenious dipole design which limits sidewall reflections. A loudspeaker that must be heard to be believed.
Multichannel processors
Surround sound processors from Steinway Lyngdorf are built for the demanding connoisseur who requires the ultimate performance in immersive formats as well as stereo.