Kudos Cardeas C20

If you’re seriously tempted by the sound of our Cardea Super 20A but have a little less budget to play with, then the Cardea C20 is the one to audition. Built along very similar lines to the Super 20A, it offers a “gratifyingly spacious but precisely defined soundstage” (Hi-Fi News) and “jaw-dropping transient abilities” (Hi-Fi World), but with a more compact footprint. In common with all of our Cardea series models, the C20 is a terrific communicator. It brings the full, vivid detail of your music to life – from soaring and swooping highs, to an agile and precise bass, and never leaving out those ever-vital minutiae such as the skin-tingling background sounds of a great live session. Its easy 8-ohm impedance means that the C20 will partner effortlessly with a wide range of valve and solid state amplifiers.

EXCEPTIONAL, CUSTOM-MADE CROSSOVERS
Kudos’ one-of-a-kind drivers are custom designed in collaboration with leading European experts, SEAS. All four Cardea series models feature our Crescendo K2 fabric dome tweeter, a development of SEAS’ superb (and justifiably costly) Crescendo unit re-engineered exclusively for Kudos. The mid/bass drivers are unique to each model.
The drivers are precisely matched and seamlessly aligned to work together, as one, delivering an effortless ‘just right’ sound. You’ll know it when you hear it.

The C20’s key features and benefits are comparable to those of the C10 standmount, but as a floorstander, the C20 has one key advantage: size. So while both the C10 and the C20 deliver seamless, holographic midrange and superb stereo sound-staging, the C20 uses its larger 27-litre size to add improved bass extension and greater scale.

Like the C10, the C20 features what must surely be one of the world’s finest tweeters: the 29mm Crescendo K2 fabric dome tweeter, driven from a six magnet array and with a moulded alloy back chamber. Based on the legendary (and justifiably costly) Crescendo unit from Norwegian specialists SEAS, the Crescendo K2 has been further developed by SEAS exclusively for Kudos to deliver an exceptional ability to accurately reproduce high frequencies without smearing of fine detail or compression.

The mid/bass driver is an 18cm unit manufactured with a cast chassis for high stability and incorporating a coated paper cone, which offers high power handling with a clean bass and very smooth frequency response.

As with all Kudos loudspeakers, the two drive units are carefully matched to integrate seamlessly, requiring only a simple low-order crossover which ensures minimal electrical interaction with the signal and reduces phase errors, blurring and other unwanted effects. To fully enable the best performance from the superb tweeter, the high quality crossover components include capacitors made specifically for Kudos by Clarity Caps to the highest possible tolerances.

The 27-litre reflex-ported cabinet is constructed from 18mm high density MDF specifically chosen for its acoustic properties. Internally, the cabinet is optimally damped and braced to minimise resonance. Externally, it is handsomely finished in a choice of real wood veneers or a satin white paint. Both of the drivers are neatly flush-mounted into the cabinet and the grille is held by magnets to maintain a clean appearance.

The reflex port is situated on the bottom of the cabinet to enable more flexibility in placement within the listening room. The substantial MDF plinth is firmly bolted via metal spacing cylinders, providing a fixed boundary gap for the port to work optimally as well as giving additional stability. Steel spikes are included for optimum grounding of the loudspeaker to the floor.

The easy 8 ohm impedance means that the C20 will perform smoothly with a wide range of valve and solid state amplifiers.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type
2-way
Bass reflex
Floorstander
Nominal impedance
8 ohms
Mid/bass driver
Kudos 180mm unit with cast chassis, coated paper cone and 26mm voice coil
Recommended amplifier power detail
25W – 200W
Frequency range
30Hz – 30kHz AIRR (average in-room response)
Dimensions
925mm (h) x 200mm (w) x 270mm (d)
Sensitivity
@1W
1m
88 dB
Tweeter
SEAS-Kudos Crescendo K2 29mm fabric dome
Weight (per loudspeaker)
18 kg

*Precio de la pareja