XTZ 99.36mkII Floorstanding Loudspeaker Walnut, Pair

• High-End sound quality
• Highest quality of drivers
• SEAS Excel drivers
• Ribbon tweeter with highest performance
• Room Tuning - Possibility to adapt to the room
• Adjustable tweeter level in 4 steps
• Adjustable bass level in 2 steps

 When the XTZ 99.36mkII was constructed the resulting quality of the loudspeaker had a greater importance than the resulting cost. Still we claim that with the right skills and production volume, it is possible to obtain a great deal of High End quality without making the price of the speaker so high that only a few people can afford it.

* High-End sound quality
* High mechanical quality materials and components at a competitive price
* Relatively small cabinet
* Pure and timeless design
* Flexible with a wide range of settings
* Can be used as monitor speaker and centre speaker as well

XTZ 99.36mkII is the full range speaker of the XTZ 99 series.  99.36mkII is exactly the same loudspeaker as 99.26mkII and 99.25mkII except the extra 6,5” woofer. Therefore, they match perfectly.

Cabinet design
The cabinet is constructed with a thin baffle - not only an esoterically neat shape but also an advantage in terms of sonics since the more stable construction effectively reduces resonances in the cabinet.  The cabinet is made in 19mm MDF board, which has good sonic qualities.  Internally the cabinet is physically separated in two parts, one for the midrange and tweeter, and one for the two woofers. This makes it possible to optimize the cabinet volume for the woofers. It also lets the midrange driver to provide the best possible sound without being interfered by the woofers.  The cabinet is further strengthened with internal bars, which in total ensures a very stable construction.

Tweeter
We have chosen a ribbon tweeter that provides superior transient response and a very flat frequency response.  The ribbon cone is super light and only 18 microns thin. It is a rosin-aluminium-rosin sandwich construction that has been hardened at 320 degrees Celsius.  The magnet system is a 2 row highly efficient neodymium construction in a moulded chassis of ceramic carbon steel.  Fishbone shaped contactors in aluminium provide a low connection resistance and good heat dissipation.  The driver has a high power capacity and handles frequencies up to 40000Hz which makes it DVD-Audio and SACD-ready.

Woofer/Midrange driver
After evaluating a large number of drivers from different manufacturers we selected one from Seas, a company that has a solid reputation in the area of high quality speaker drivers. You find Seas drivers in many well-known High End speakers. For the woofer/midrange we decided on a 6,5" magnesium driver from the Seas Excel series that have extreme performance. We claim that finding a better 6,5" driver on the market is a very difficult task.

The surface treated magnesium cone is extremely light but still extremely stiff and effectively reduces resonances.  The rubber surrounding makes sure that no edge resonances are present.  The moulded metal basket is a "high flow" type that is acoustically transparent and has high precision since the basket is shaped exactly due to the moulding process. This makes sure that the basket is very stable and efficiently reduces resonances. The basket is absolutely non-magnetic, which contributes to a higher efficiency of the driver.

A strong magnet combined with the light cone ensures high efficiency and a good transient response.  Heavy copper rings mounted above and below the T-shaped pole piece reduce non linear and modulation distortion and increase the overload margin.  The copper plating of the top and bottom plates along with a solid copper phase plug improves the heat conduction and thus contributes to the high power durability.  Gold plated terminals reduce contact resistance and serve as anti-corrosion. Large windows in the basket both above and below the spider reduces sound reflections, air flow noise and cavity resonances.

Woofer driver
For the bass register we also selected a SEAS driver of the type coated paper, a very well tried type with an unbeatable relation between price / performance. The coated paper cone is extremely light but still extremely stiff and effectively reduces resonances.  The rubber surrounding makes sure that no edge resonances are present.  The moulded metal basket is a "high flow" type that is acoustically transparent and has high precision since the basket is shaped exactly due to the moulding process. This makes sure that the basket is very stable and efficiently reduces resonances. The basket is absolutely non-magnetic, which contributes to a higher efficiency of the driver.  A strong magnet combined with the light cone ensures a high efficiency and a good transient response.  Gold plated terminals reduce contact resistance and serve as anti-corrosion.  Large windows in the basket both above and below the spider reduce sound reflexion, air flow noise and cavity resonances.

Crossover
The crossover is a two way –12 dB Linkwitz/Riley-filter that has a fast transient response and a minimum of phase shiftings. The crossover is made from quality capacitors and coils with low resistance.  The crossover is designed to allow adjustments of the tweeter level as well as the bass level to obtain a perfect adaptation to the room.  Read more under the heading of Room Tuning.

Binding post
The bi-wiring connectors are gold plated so you can connect to the amplifier with double cables (bi-wiring), or connect to two amplifiers (bi-amping) for further improving the sound.
Read more in the manual on how to connect the speaker.

Settings and sound shapes
To perfectly adapt the speaker to your room and / or preference we have equipped the XTZ 99.36mkII with Room Tuning.

Room Tuning - Mechanical boundary frequency control
By using the supplied bass reflex plugs, it is possible to mechanically alter the lower boundary frequency on XTZ 99.36mkII.

This makes it possible to alter the sound character of the speaker. You can choose from eight different sound shapes in the bass range by using the bass plugs.  The figure below shows three basic settings.  These settings also depend on the size and shape of the room, and also on your own preference, so please have patience when trying out your preferred setting. 

Click here to view the HiFi Choice full system review using this product.

Technical Details

Construction type
2 1/2-way with separates boxes for woofer and woofer/midrange
Bass reflex cabinet that may be set as a closed box, a total of eight distinct bass modes (Room Tuning).
The trebble and bass level are adjustable in four different levels each.

Customer Reviews:

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