Ascendo The Black Swan Be PRO

The Black Swan is the reference screen channel in the Ascendo range and the loudspeaker the rest of the catalogue is measured against — The Halo 10 exists because integrators wanted its performance in less depth. Here there is no such constraint, and the design answers only to the sound.

The mid and high unit is a 3-inch pure beryllium compression driver on a proprietary elliptical horn, with an ultra-high-precision diaphragm-centering system and a BEM-optimised four-slot phase plug. Beryllium is used because it has the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any known metal and passes sound roughly two and a half times faster than aluminium or titanium, which pushes cone breakup and its attendant distortion clear of the audible range. Beside it sits a custom-built 15-inch mid-woofer, and the Reference Cinema version carries two.

It is an Active EXT design, meaning the DSP and amplification live in a rack rather than in the cabinet, connected by speaker cable. That yields 125 dB continuously and 132 dB peak from 55 Hz to 21 kHz, controlled over audio-over-IP through a system interface built for the person calibrating it rather than for the person selling it. At 900 by 1,385 millimetres and 52 kilograms before the waveguide, it stands on the floor rather than hanging on a wall.