John
French loudspeaker company Cabasse has this week announced a new pair of active standmounts with streaming smarts and TV connectivity. Into the quirky-looking Rialto, Cabasse’s engineering team has put a 13cm coaxially-aligned midrange/tweeter unit where each driver is powered by 300 Watts of internal amplification. Lower frequencies come from a 17cm ‘HELD’ (High Excursion Low Distortion) rear-firing bass driver juiced by a third (450 Watt) amplifier. On DSP tuning, Cabasse has gone with something called ‘DEAP’ (Digital Enhancement of Acoustical Performance) to produce a low-frequency reach of 30Hz.
Hook-ups? Beneath the bass driver on the primary loudspeaker’s back panel, we find connectivity options for HDMI eARC, TOSLINK, analogue RCA and Ethernet, the latter feeding an internal streaming board that supports Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Apple AirPlay plus Qobuz and Deezer via Cabasse’s own StreamCONTROL app. The speakers talk to each over a wireless connection or via hard-wired TOSLINK interlink.
This news story’s twists number two: 1) The aforementioned internal DSP and StreamCONTROL app also execute Cabasse’s in-house developed room compensation software and 2) atop the primary loudspeaker sits a volume control ring that encircles a touch panel display for further playback controls and (bizarrely) cover art display.
The Cabasse Rialto will sell for €2990/pair. Your choice of black or white.
Let us never forget that loudspeakers like this, when placed 1.5 – 2m apart, even on a TV unit or credenza, offer far better stereo s e p a r a t i o n than the majority of high-end soundbars.
Further information: Cabasse
