Wilson Benesch OMNIUM Loudspeaker, Floor Standing, 2.5-Way Design

Press Release from Wilson Benesch:

SHEFFIELD, SOUTH YORKSHIRE – Wilson Benesch the leader in high-performance loudspeaker design and manufacture, is pleased to announce the latest addition to the Wilson Benesch reference loudspeaker line, Omnium.

Omnium is a celebration of the “modular design” that Wilson Benesch added to their design philosophy when it released the ground-breaking Odyssey Range in 2001. With each new design, the modular design approach builds upon the subtle lessons of its predecessor. Like the Porsche 911, the Omnium is then not a singular design, but rather the latest evolution of a living lineage – more than 30-years of incremental improvement in the pursuit of genuine world class audio reproduction. It is this heritage that can be seen to have honed every single detail of the new Omnium loudspeaker.

Omnium – from the Latin “of all”

The name Omnium was chosen in recognition of this landmark, the name means of all, and it is a reference to heritage of three decades of research and development that has come before it.

Whilst the Omnium references all that has come before it, it is also a product that marks the dawn of the next generation of materials technologies developed through a collaborative research and development project – SSUCHY.

On Wednesday 9^th February, Wilson Benesch Design Director Craig Milnes will be one of twenty project partners to present in public for the first time, the outcomes of a Four-and-a-half-year project entitled SSUCHY (Sustainable Structural & Multifunctional Biocomposites from Hybrid Natural Fibres and bio-based Polymers). Wilson Benesch presentation will be entitled

 “Next Generation Advanced Composite Technologies”.

Sustainable Structural & Multifunctional Bicomposites from Hybrid Natural Fibres & Bio-Based Polymers – SSUCHY

The world’s first ‘Green Loudspeaker’ is just one of numerous deliverables that was the ambition of the pan-European SSUCHY Project which began in 2017. Europe’s ‘Horizon 2020’ invested €7.4 million to enable 13 Universities, 4 SME’s and several Blue-Chip companies to come together, collaborate and innovate. The objective was to deliver cutting edge science and materials technologies required by the circular economy – with the mission to replace oil based non-recyclable materials or in effect deliver next generation materials technology.

Decades of Pioneering Work

In 1994 the A.C.T. One loudspeaker disrupted the audio market. The curved carbon composite flanks, sloping top and metal baffle were radically different from the wooden enclosures of the day. The A.C.T. One loudspeaker was based upon the same honeycomb Nomex core and skins of Carbon Fibre prepreg that had been researched and used in the development of the Wilson Benesch Turntable.

In 1999, P.E.R.A. International collaborated with Wilson Benesch to enable the company to commit to investing in Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) manufacturing technologies. Wilson Benesch was one of four organisations to pioneer this process in the United Kingdom. The successful results paved the way for the development of the Odyssey Range that was launched in 2001. Thanks to continual reinvestment of profits made by the company, the move to Vacuum based systems or VRTM soon followed and in 2011 the Geometry Series was launched. Wilson Benesch’s proven track record of successful collaborative R&D project outcomes and manufacturing excellence was central to the invitation for Wilson Benesch to become a partner in the SSUCHY Project.

Next Generation Performance

SSUCHY brought together scientists from across Europe who are at the very forefront of developments in their field. Together with applied engineering expertise it has been possible to accelerate work that would have taken decades for even the largest of companies. The scientific understanding of how the materials behave at the microscopic level has been validated by measurements of the actual materials. The outcome for Wilson Benesch, is the new A.C.T. 3Zero Monocoque. This advanced composite technology structure is the largest single component in the Wilson Benesch loudspeaker enclosure, and it is at the heart of the Eminence loudspeaker. The independently supplied data shows that in terms of both stiffness and damping, the monocoque delivers significant (orders of magnitude) superior damping capabilities than the previous generation A.C.T. Monocoque.