Ensemble Ondiva

P.O.A.

With a track record of monitors counting among the finest available and thereby looking back on a long production span of 20 years, it was a particular challenge to produce a true reference monitor for the 21st century.

 

The ONDIVA speakers are the result of an all-out design effort, bringing new ideas and a careful evaluation of every single parameter together. Part of this comprehensive design approach was to include the stands, still largely und unjustly treated as a kind of afterthought. The ONDIVA ARC stands thus equally reflect both innovation and Ensemble’s accu mulated knowledge on the properties and effects of complex materials with regard to resonance damping and vibration control, just as applied in the construction of the ONDIVA speaker cabinets.

 

Apart from their sculpted shape most striking of all is that the ONDIVAs behave like a natural music source, leaving behind all those countless speaker designs that presuppose a precise optimal listening position. With the ONDIVAs playing you can walk around in a room without ever losing the three-dimensional information. Listening to music becomes a sensation comparable to listening to musicians in real life.

 

This extraordinary quality is made possible by another, very striking feature of the ONDIVAs: they play like big speakers , especially in terms of controlled bass extension, yet excel in razor-sharp rendition of transients and pinpoint 3D imaging, characteristic of the very best mini monitors. They handle every genre of music with the same natural ease, whether large-scale or intimate, ‘raw-bone’ or delicate, at loud or late night listening level.

 

Highly articulate, musically coherent, with an uncanny sense of timing and rhythm, and fast dynamics, they have all the qualities to make them sound so effortlessly natural.

 

And best of all : the ONDIVAs are equally at ease in a room of 60 m ² ( 600 – 700 sq. feet ) as in a small room. Listening to them up-front they become true monitors, imparting precise information of mike placement, etc. And positioning them is not hyper-critical.

 

Elegant, light-footed in aspect yet very stable, sculpture-like the ONDIVA speakers with ONDIVA ARC stands are distinctly different, they have the power to transform a living room into a living acoustic space, making listening to music a new, engulfing kind of experience. They take their name from French o n d e ‘wave’ and diva ‘highly distinguished female singer’.

 

ONDIVA – THE MAIN FEATURES

 

(ALSO SERVES AS A CHECKPOINT LIST FOR COMPARATIVE PRODUCT EVALUATION)

 

OVERALL CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES

 

•	cabinet construction meets extreme dynamic conditions in a sympathetic, non resonant way. 7 different materials are used in complex interaction

•	time-aligned baffle

•	acoustically transparent grille; frame machined from solid piece of aluminium, mounted by means of unobtrusive Swiss precision fasteners

•	reflex port designed to handle fast pulses effortlessly

•	left and right channel crossovers matched for perfect balance

•	matched tweeters

 

ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES

 

•	play like a natural music source; no precise optimal listening position required, three-dimensional information stays intact in any listening position

•	play like large floor-standing speakers in terms of controlled bass extension, yet with razor-sharp transient handling and holographic 3D imaging

•	play in large and small rooms, with uncritical positioning

•	up-front they act as true monitors, capable of imparting precise information on a recording

•	play every genre of music with the same ease, at loud or low volume levels

 

CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS

•	Ensemble SYNERGIA™ 4-way binding posts: gold-plated copper, 6 mm lab grade ( 100 A rated ) bananas as preferred connection. Alternatively 4 mm bananas or pins, and 8 mm spade lugs

•	grounding pole ( 2 mm banana socket ) connecting chassis of drive-units, to link up chassis ground of amplifier via loudspeaker cable shield

•	anti-resonance mounted crossover

•	Ensemble PROCAP™ capacitors and inductors ( linear up to 100 KHz )

•	screened internal wiring: Ensemble DALVIVO™ and MEGALINK ™ conductors

•	gold-plated internal contacts, Ensemble CONTA+™ treated

•	custom-made amagnetic screws with extremely flat head for flush mounting

•	resonance-damped mounting of drive-units

•	high-gloss polished lacquer

•	custom-made, coated textile dome tweeter, machined aluminium chassis

•	custom-made woofer, coated sandwich diaphragm

 

ONDIVA™ REFERENCE MONITOR SPEAKER

 

SPECIFICATIONS

•	ported, dynamic 2-way system

•	18 cm woofer

•	28 mm tweeter, matched pair

•	12dB / oct crossover ( 1800 Hz ), matched

•	nominal impedance 8 ohm

•	88.5 dB sensitivity ( 1m / 2.83 V / pink noise )

•	38 Hz – 25 kHz ( – 6 dB, in-room )

•	0.8 % harmonic distortion ( average, above 100 Hz )

•	recommended amplifier power 50 – 180 W v4-way binding posts: 6 mm ( preferred ) and 4 mm bananas / pins / 8 mm spades

•	35 cm ( width ) x 38 cm ( height ) x 31 cm ( depth ) ( 13.8 x 15 x 12.2“ )

•	102 cm ( 40” ) overall height on ONDIVA ARC stands

•	15.8 kg ( 34.7 lbs. )

•	single speaker in double boxed packaging, 46 cm (w) x 45 cm (h) x 42 cm (d)19.5 kg ( 43 lbs. ) ( 18.1 x 17.7 x 16.5“ )