Transparent, yet super 'green' speakers

Woman-size speakers make a big, room-filling sound

(Credit: Ferguson Hill)

Heard, but hardly seen speakers aren't new.

There's a number of glass and clear plastic speakers on the market, but these fetching British models are something else again. People seem to want speakers and audio gear that "disappears" and still sound great. Ferguson Hill makes a full line of see-through designs, and from the looks of it the FH001 just might be a real contender.

It's a "horn" speaker made of clear acrylic, and its ultrahigh efficiency design allows it to play nice and loud with as little as 3 to 50 watts. So there's no need to use the FH001 with power hungry amplifiers! Horn speakers are easily the "greenest" of speaker types, and work well with even the smallest, most power-efficient amplifiers. I first heard about Ferguson Hill on the Ultimate AV Web site.

The spherical subwoofer.

(Credit: Ferguson Hill)

With a claimed frequency response of 150 Hertz-20 kHz the FH001 doesn't need separate tweeter and midrange drivers, most of the sound comes from one driver in the apex of the horn. Bass is the job of the FH002, a 24 inch acrylic sphere fitted with a 12-inch woofer.

A complete Ferguson Hill stereo system built around the FH001 and the company's matching electronics would run a tidy $26,000.

How's it sound? I have no idea, but based on my experience with similar designs, it'll probably be an acquired taste.

[soundman45]

At 26k the only thing green about these speakers is the huge amount of green you'll have to shell out to own a pair of them. As far as appearance, lets just say they probably wouldn't match anything in the decor of my home.

[rickhigginshtbr]

Clear or not, how are you supposed to hide something that large?

[borispmchan]

The horn part is supposed to house a 3" full range driver, but I'm not sure if the horn will load the mid-bass well. Horns are "green" in terms of efficiency, but you need to spend even more power and materials in building them. If yours do not last for more than a century, they may not be "green" at all!

[paskunyak]

Acquired taste is right! Horn speakers are good in huge halls, like movie theaters, but I've always found them harsh sounding in living rooms. Plus these are gigantic. Who would want something that large in their home?

[one_flat_monkey]

my wife and i enjoy living in a cavern, 28 feet below the surface of our planet. such a horn speaker would be poorly suited to that kind of echo-y environment.

the cost seemed quite reasonable. clear acrylic is very expensive.

[borispmchan]

You've to use chloroform to paste acrylic together...and that's not green at all.