Castle Speakers now in India

HiFiVision

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Castle Speakers now in India

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Castle Speakers are now available in India through the official Indian distributors Designer Audio and available for sale online at www.HiFiMART.com

About Castle Speakers
Since 1973 Castle has been a loudspeaker manufacturer in the truest possible sense with both design and manufacture of their world famous speakers housed entirely in one factory. Castle is rare amongst loudspeaker manufacturers in that they not only manufacture the drive units and electronic components found in their speakers but also the beautifully hand crafted real wood veneered cabinets used to enclose them. When Castle was formed the founding concept was to be a complete loudspeaker manufacturer and despite changing times and the globalisation of manufacturing Castle still retain this as the basis for the company.

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Knight Series
The Castle Knight series is born of a complete understanding of acoustic principles, exceptional high-frequency clarity, depth of character and lustre remarkable traits which reflect its outstanding performance. Featuring Castles trademark of smooth and rich performance, a new standard in build and value in a package dedicated to high-quality stereo audio, whilst performing with speed and accuracy, characteristics that are important in enabling close acoustic matching to achieve the highest level of performance. Detail and neutrality are of utmost importance when building a loudspeaker, an evident characteristic shown throughout the design and construction of the Knight series.

High frequency driver
The Knight series was designed and manufactured using drive units and components built in-house, from the ground up only possible because of our world-class research and development. The Knight series achieves superb high-frequency performance using a soft-dome tweeter which produces a more controlled performance than metal equivalents and an innovative aluminium-core voice coil which matches and even exceed the bandwidth possible from metal domes without having to worry about inherent problems. Accuracy of high frequencies is core to the ability of any loudspeaker to render three dimensional soundstages whilst providing high class acoustic performance.

Cabinet design & Bass driver
In most loudspeaker designs, room modes are easily excited by forward or rear-firing reflex ports, which can cause resonance and a resulting boom at particular bass frequencies. Whilst giving an impression of an impressive bass response, this boom frequency masks all others making bass indistinct and slow. Using TPT (Twin-Pipe Technology), a new generation of transmission-line, vented through the speaker base a system that couples the bass response within the cabinet enclosure using a twin-pipe quarter wave design to provide a smooth and even bass response which augments that from the main bass driver with clarity. Using a rigid yet light mixed-fibre cone material in the bass driver makes it fast enough to track the most complex score and its unique TPT (Twin-Pipe Technology) transforms the performance of all its floor-standing speaker models, using the internal volume of the cabinet to extend the bass response without using unruly reflex ports. Adorned with the highest quality genuine wood veneer, the Knight series offers more than just a taste of high-end luxury.

Finish
Made from fine real-wood veneer that is sourced from sustainable timber, with the most beautiful deep-figured slices and cut from real trees. Each speaker pair being hand-finished using mirrored, book-matched veneers before being sealed and waxed in a process which takes over 5 days.

Peter Comeau, Castles Director of Acoustic Design, is responsible for voicing the Castle Knight Series speakers. Here, he further explains the TPT bass loading system:

In essence, TPT a meld of Castles established quarter-wave loading and reflex loading, achieving what is essentially a mass-loaded quarter wave reflex pipe. The Twin Pipe refers to the internal layout where the drive unit is positioned part way down a folded, tapered column. This exits through the base of the cabinet and is mass loaded by the air trapped between this port and the plinth.

The tuning of the TPT system can be altered by adjusting this air mass for the optimum bass extension and control. Castles existing Harlech S2 floorstanding speaker uses a similar Twin Pipe Quarter Wave system; the difference between this and the TPT system lies in the level of mass loading and damping used which, in the case of Knight Series, shifts closer to typical reflex performance, without the often associated boominess and lack of bass control, whilst still maintaining the benefits of improved bass extension.

The following models are available for immediate sale:


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To hear these speakers in Mumbai please contact us.
 
I’ve been a satisfied user of Castle Knight 2 speakers. The sound signature is slightly warm and less fatiguing. It especially excels at emotional mids/vocals. Combines well with my hybrid amp combination.
 
I’ve been a satisfied user of Castle Knight 2 speakers. The sound signature is slightly warm and less fatiguing. It especially excels at emotional mids/vocals. Combines well with my hybrid amp combination.
I so wanted to buy them. They sounded amazing when I auditioned them with a Marantz AVR.
However, I decided to get Zensor 1 as I have a small room. I love my setup but I think I’ll buy Castle Knight 2 when I move into a bigger house!

What amp have you paired them with?
 
I so wanted to buy them. They sounded amazing when I auditioned them with a Marantz AVR.
However, I decided to get Zensor 1 as I have a small room. I love my setup but I think I’ll buy Castle Knight 2 when I move into a bigger house!

What amp have you paired them with?


Yeah, they serve a large room fine. Mine is about 20x14 and it is more than capable. I drive them with Audiolab 8200 (from the same parent company) and they pair well. I also have a Lyrita DHT preamp. I don’t have to exceed the 10 am volume setting on the preamp. You can read my entire train in my signature. Essentially warm components coupled with bright ICs, plugs and cables and that gives me the balanced signature I like.
 
@SachinChavan, could you share your impression on your Audiolab 8200 ( I presume, they are the mb8200 monoblocks) ?
I am considering the mb8300 since mb8200 is no longer available.
My speakers are Monitor Audio Silver 500, 90db/250W, and plan to use my existing Marantz SR6013 AVR as a preamp for stereo listening.
Thank you
 
@SachinChavan, could you share your impression on your Audiolab 8200 ( I presume, they are the mb8200 monoblocks) ?
I am considering the mb8300 since mb8200 is no longer available.
My speakers are Monitor Audio Silver 500, 90db/250W, and plan to use my existing Marantz SR6013 AVR as a preamp for stereo listening.
Thank you

Nagaraj, no. It’s the 8200A integrated. I am using the power amp section. When I started I bought it with the Castle speakers. It’s later that I learnt about and went for tube pre. It’s the cost of learning as you go.
 
Ok, in the last few days I got to listen to two amplifiers driving my Castle Knight 2 with the rest of my system remaining same.

First, it was the Cambridge Azur 851A (power mode with my tube pre) which is almost twice the cost of the Audiolab. Surely more powerful, it did not distort at very loud volumes. The bass was very good too. But it lagged the Audiolab in two parameters - delicacy (and nuances) of sound and soundstage. I just couldn’t get the wonderful 3D soundstage (caution: you need tube pre for the depth) with the Azur. Also Azur’s vocals sounded thicker/bolder while Audiolab’s vocals are honeydrop in comparison. It was like bold font vs calligraphy.

Next I tried the Primare A30.2 dual mono poweramp with the Castle Knights and the rest of my system. Now this amp is in a different league - though discontinued long back, it would have been almost thrice the price of the Audiolab if new. First impression: wonderful, stadium like sound that more than fills the room. Then you notice it’s calmness. This is almost a monk! while that’s great for certain kinds of music (especially western classical), I felt it lacked the enthusiasm needed for highly ornamented Indian songs. You could meditate with its sound, but difficult to imagine dancing to it (misses the ‘khanak’). But I’d still rate the sound as better than Audiolab’s.

What I realised after these experiments is how well my Audiolab is matched to my speakers and rest of my system. Though a modest amp, it has wonderful soundstage, one that you can submerge in. And it shines in the vocals - brings out the nuances in the singing for deeper appreciation. And has a good balance between excitement/energy and poise. Surely for its price. It’d take me a better amp at a good deal for me to upgrade from. And it’s a soulmate to the Castle Knight speakers.
 
@SachinChavan can it be alternative to zensor 3. Which budget amp suits this speaker

My experience with the amps I tried with the speakers is right up there in the previous comment. I find the Audiolab 8200A matching well. Both Audiolab and Castle are from the same group. There’s a budget amp from Audiolab, the 6000 that’s been recently introduced. You can check it’s reviews.

I haven’t heard the Dalis so can’t compare. The Castles have dual binder posts so one can do bi-wiring (I have).
 
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