Buchardt Audio E50

Our masterpiece

A masterpiece is achieved when you create a product that excels in all areas, from build quality, sound quality to price. The E50 is uncompromised in its materials used, making it a speaker that competes with the best of the best in its size class. With the traditional Buchardt value mindset, you can be sure that, compared to its price competitors, the E50 is exceptional value. This should be obvious from the quality of its parts alone! We hope that you would feel the same, when you see, feel and listen to the E50.

Danish to the core!

A speaker made from so many Danish parts is a rare sight! Many other speakers may qualify to bear the label "Made in Denmark," but having the cabinets, woofers, tweeters, binding posts, as well as all assembly and testing done in Denmark is something few can claim. The only part of the E50 sourced outside the EU is the passive radiators, which are made by SB Acoustics—though they are specially engineered by Danish engineers specifically for this speaker.

Solid wood cabinets - Natural beauty shaped by skilled craftsmanship

The cabinets are made in-house from 19 mm and 28 mm (front baffle) solid wood, CNC machined into perfect pieces, and then assembled by experienced and passionate woodworkers. The E50 is a handcrafted, high-quality speaker, and with its solid wood cabinets, it has an exceptional natural look and feel that even the finest veneers in the world can't match. The cabinets are designed to last a lifetime and withstand the test of time and wear. All the wood used for the E50 is FSC certified, ensuring a much lower environmental impact compared to typical MDF/HDF, and ensuring good working conditions for the logging workers.

Building upon previous experience

The E50 features Purifi woofers, as these have proven to perform exceptionally well in our A500SE and Anniversary 10 speakers. There is a good reason for this: the Purifi woofer is by far the best choice for a 2-way compact design. It holds a number of patents that enable it to achieve a level of performance never seen before in woofer designs. The use of passive radiators dates all the way back to one of our very first designs, the S200, which is now 12 years old. Over the last decade, passive radiators have been a cornerstone in most of our passive speakers. This feature is also implemented in the E50, ensuring that customers get the fullest sound possible from a compact stand-mount speaker.

Crossover design and components

Excellent crossover design with premium components is another hallmark of Buchardt Audio, and with the E50, we are once again raising the bar for the quality of parts used in speakers within its price range. Jantzen Audio crossover components, such as foil-based Cross Coils and their Superior Z-Caps, are among the high-end parts used in the E50. For the internal wiring, we use the finest oil- and cotton-insulated copper cables from Duelund Coherent Audio, a legendary Danish parts manufacturer.

Sound characteristics

The E50 has a very mature sound. It plays large and powerful and is truly in competition with much larger speakers in terms of scale and SPL capabilities. The balance can be described as clean, open, dynamic, and pleasant. Overall, the perception is neutral, with a slight focus on voices/midband without being too forward in that regard. One surprising aspect of the E50 is its ability to shine during low-level listening. This is an area you would not expect anything special, given that it is a low-sensitivity design. One of the custom design choices we made with the Scan-Speak tweeter is to thank for this. It has resulted in a very "free" and open sound at low volumes.

Comparison to previous designs

Compared to our previous designs, namely the popular S400s, the E50 is significantly more transparent, dynamic and detailed while still being relaxed and easy to listen to. This is an unusual combination, as transparency and ease of listening often swing one way or the other. It also offers significantly deeper bass and more power, thanks to the extended long-stroke X variant of the Purifi woofer. This ensures incredibly low distortion from the drivers, even at high SPLs. Considering the size of the speakers, the bass they produce is absolutely incredible. They reproduce lower frequencies that most larger floorstanders can't, while still sounding incredibly clean and maintaining a well-controlled soundstage—something 2-way speakers typically struggle with when you crank up the volume.

Soundstage and overall performance

You still get the magical soundstage that 2-way standmounts are known for. Soundstage presentation is one area we've worked harder on than ever before. The crossover design, choice of exact components, and the custom-engineered waveguide are key to providing an immensely holographic presentation, with a pitch-black background and air around the instruments. It's an incredibly realistic and enjoyable experience, especially if you have the gear and room to help them perform at their peak.

Versatility

Many high-end speakers tend to be genre-specific, but we wanted the E50 to serve an all-around purpose, where any type of music would be enjoyable. Even poorly recorded material is bearable to listen to with these speakers.