British loudspeaker manufacturer, Castle, has announced two new series of speakers, Tintagel and Walmer, each featuring one standmounter and one floorstanding model.
According to Castle, the Tintagel Series is “the accessible bedrock of Castle’s new line-up”, while the Walmer Series is positioned further upmarket, “utilising sophisticated material and technologies” for “a new level of performance”.
The four new models are the first loudspeakers from Castle since the Windsor Series released in 2023. Like the Windsor Series, all of the new speakers will be designed and manufactured in the UK.
The new Tintagel series aims to bring Castle's "typical warmth, craft and musicality" in hand-crafted cabinets that use real-wood veneers.
The Tintagel 1 is a two-way standmounter, with 13cm mid/bass advanced fibre driver and a 28mm silk dome tweeter. The speaker uses a large, rear-firing bass port for low frequency extension.
The Tintagel 2 floorstanders use a twin 15cm advanced fibre drivers alongside the same 28mm silk dome tweeter as the Tintagel 1. A downward-firing port runs through the speaker’s plinth, which Castle says makes the Tintagel 2 “easier to position” in your listening room.
The speakers’ 'advanced fibre' cones are made from a fibre blend designed to provide light weight and diaphragm damping. Castle says that the cones’ material qualities “avoid the hard, exposed character that can come from less controlled diaphragm materials”.
The silk dome tweeters use a large dome and shallow waveguide to control high-frequency dispersion for “a stable tonal balance, both on and off axis”.
The more expensive Walmer Series features two speakers, the Walmer 1 and Walmer 2, which are designed for listeners who want more "technical refinement" and greater speed, openness and scale above the Tintagel models.
The Walmer 1 is a two-way standmount speaker, featuring a 13cm woven carbon fibre mid/bass driver and a 12x45mm ribbon tweeter. The three-way Walmer 2 floorstanders, on the other hand, use the same ribbon tweeter and twin 15cm bass drivers and a 11.5cm midrange unit, both made from woven carbon fibre.
Ribbon tweeters were chosen for the Walmer Series speakers due to their lightweight diaphragms, which can “respond quickly to resolve fine detail with delicacy and natural extension", while it also offers a wider horizontal dispersion of sound.
The drivers' carbon fibre material has a high stiffness-to-weight ratio, which Castle says delivers “bass notes [with] cleaner leading edges, reduces low-level colouration and allows the midrange to retain fine detail without becoming brittle”.
The Walmer 2’s midrange unit is also housed in its own enclosure, which isolates the driver from low frequency pressure changes inside the cabinet, “elevating clarity through the most critical part of the audio band”.
Additionally, the Walmer 2 featues a mass loaded transmission line system for controlled bass extension. Castle says the objective was to retain the brand's "natural warmth and musical ease" while also adding precision and transparency without sounding overly analytical.
The Castle Tintagel and Walmer Series are available from September, in finishes of Walnut and Black Oak. Prices are as follows:
Tintagel 1: £1999 / $2749 / AU$3749 per pair
Tintagel 2: £2999 / $3999 / AU$5499 per pair
Walmer 1: £2499 / $3499 / AU$4748 per pair
Walmer 2: £4999 / $7499 / AU$10,499 per pair
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