New Cabasse Murano Alto: flagship technology in compact cabinets

Cabasse’s goal: to pack technology and engineering from its spherical, telescope-resembling flagship L’Océan (£100k) and La Sphère (£185k) speakers into a much more conventional, compact and affordable model.

(Focal recently announced some very similar thinking with its Kanta speakers.)

The upshot: the Murano Alto floorstanders.

Coming into Cabasse's floorstander range below the Pacific 3SA, the Murano Altos feature the BC13 tweeter/midrange driver that lies at the heart of L’Océan’s coaxial driver design. It's been fitted with a new aluminium wave broadcast system for optimal integration with the bass drivers.

The Murano Alto's specially designed 17ND36 bass drivers are miniaturized variants of the 55cm honeycomb membrane woofers developed for La Sphères.

Available in three glossy finishes – white, black or mahogany – the Murano Alto floorstanders cost £8000 per pair.

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Simon Lucas is a freelance technology journalist and consultant, with particular emphasis on the audio/video aspects of home entertainment. Before embracing the carefree life of the freelancer, he was editor of What Hi-Fi? – since then, he's written for titles such as GQ, Metro, The Guardian and Stuff, among many others.