Buchardt readies S400 MKII standmount loudspeaker

On the hunt for a pair of high-end passive loudspeakers? Mads Buchardt wants a word: his just-announced MKII S400 standmounts (€2000/pair) are an upgraded take on the now discontinued (?) S400 (which sold for €1800/pair).

On the face of it, the new model looks mighty similar to the original but ask the right questions and you’ll learn that a) the MKII swaps the original’s alumimium mid-bass driver for a paper-coned version, b) the cabinet adds 40mm to the original’s 240mm depth to c) require extra internal bracing and that – perhaps most significantly of all – d) the crossover has been completely overhauled; so much so that Buchardt wants us to see it naked:

The man from Denmark explains further: “We have spent so much time testing different components over the years to achieve the sound that we wanted. Carefully selected components from the respected manufacturer, Jantzen Audio Denmark. Here we have a mixture of Crosscaps capacitors, Mox and Superres resistors, Inductors with high-purity copper wire to a thick 1,6 mm. We also use one ultra-high-end capacitor from Miflex, namely the KPCU-1. We even upgraded the PCB board’s copper thickness and the internal wires as well.”

Buchardt has also introduced some minor cosmetic changes to the MKII S400’s terminal plate and has reportedly made the new model easier to repair, “should customers accidentally blow a driver”.

But you won’t find the S400 MKII in any hi-fi store. Like all Buchardt products, the passive standmounts are sold directly from the factory to our door, which means their €2000 sticker contains no dealer or distributor margin. Shipping charges are included in the price, irrespective of destination and we get 45 days to make sure we are happy with our purchase. Can we reasonably ask for more? No, we cannot.

The first fifty pre-ordered pairs of S400 MKII attract a 10% discount with the custom stands selling for €400/pair.

Further information: Buchardt Audio