This transparent horn speaker system blends jaw-dropping looks with sky-high prices
Just when you think you've seen it all, a speaker system comes along and, like a jet engine, blows you away. Much like Sonus Faber's recently announced super high–end Suprema collection, Ferguson Hill's new Jetstream speaker system is awesome to behold and stratospherically expensive: just £105,200 for the entire package!
Ferguson Hill talks of a desire to make the "ultimate sound system", and while we've heard such claims made rather frequently, it's hard to deny just how impressive the Jetstream looks, both in pictures and on paper. The Jetstream Loudspeaker System comprises a pair of Jetstream Horn Loudspeakers, a pair of Jetstream Bass Speakers, and a Jetstream Bass Amplifier, and has been "reworked from the ground up" with bespoke drive units, improved driver designs and luxury high-end materials.
Ferguson Hill's founder and designer Tim Hill says: "I have incorporated all the changes I have wanted to do since the launch of the FH001 twenty years ago."
Central to the entire package are the two Jetstream Horn Loudspeakers, with full-range drive units working alongside a Neodymium motor. Metal ring supports and an acrylic horn design give the speaker a "smooth, stable soundwave", while specially crafted dampening structures seek to reduce unwanted vibrations within the speaker cabinet. The distinctive horns' complex shape is designed for sound waves "to propagate freely and expand evenly, ensuring minimal distortion and maximum clarity". Each speaker weighs 32kg.
The Jetstream bass speakers, meanwhile, provide low-end oomph, and customers will be treated to a pair of 600mm acrylic spheres using 300mm neodymium drive units. Working alongside the bass speakers is the Jetstream Bass Amplifier, a stereo amp which offers 200 watts per channel for a total of 400 watts. The Class D amplifier uses an aluminium block construction and a low pass filter which matches the bass speakers' output, helping the system coalesce into a cohesive, high-performance package.
All of this comes together to form one of the most visually striking systems we've ever come across. Whether you have the money to spend on it, the space to put it in or indeed the correct domestic aesthetic into which such an outlandish hi-fi set-up can easily slot, however, are all separate questions.
If you've got some serious cash to burn (or want to dream of owning such a system), you'll want to know how much this all costs. The Jetstream System is available now, with prices as follows:
- Ferguson Hill Jetstream System: £105,200 / $133,440 / AU$202,380
- Ferguson Hill Jetstream Horn Speaker: £72,955 / $92,540 / AU$140,350 per pair
- Ferguson Hill Jetstream Bass Speaker: £22,295 / $28,280 / AU$42,890 per pair
- Ferguson Hill Jetstream Bass Amplifier: £9950 / $12,620 / AU$19,140
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