Legendary Australian speaker company Richter celebrated its 35th year in 2023 by releasing two Series 6 ‘Special Editions’ – one a super-black souped-up Wizard, the other a new flagship, recalling a past classic floorstanding design: the Excalibur S6SE.
But there’s more to come.
“Thanks to the work achieved in 2023 with the development and launch of our Special Edition models, we can now focus on taking the performance of the Series 6 range to another ‘Plus’ level, as well as adding to the range a long awaited new Centre / LCR speaker for our home theatre customers,” we are told by Richter’s Brian Rodgers.
The three models now receiving the ‘S6plus’ treatment are the standmount Merlin, the smaller floorstanding Harlequin, and the larger floorstanding Wizard.
The Series 6plus model all now adopt the new tweeter developed for the Special Edition models, providing better sensitivity, a lower resonance frequency and double the power handling.
“This results in a new level of clarity and engagement,” says Brian Rodgers “We’ve also given it a little bling to make sure it stands out from the predecessor models.”
The improved mid–bass driver used in the Special Edition models also appears in the 6plus speakers, allowing “a smoother cleaner performance where it matters,” says Rodgers. “While they look the same, they exhibit notable advancements, particularly in the 1kHz range. There's a commendable reduction of approximately 10% in nonlinear distortion compared to the predecessor.
The Harlequin and Wizard further gain improved bass management and tuning with an additional Bass Port Puck to offer a level between fully plugged (not enough bass) or unplugged (too much bass). The Wizard S6plus has also been treated to a re-tuned crossover to make the most of the new drivers.
A versatile Unicorn
But Richter's biggest news is the arrival of a whole new model, and perhaps Richter’s most versatile speaker ever, it seems, the new Unicorn S6plus Centre / LCR speaker.
“This new Unicorn will be a Richter first and a truly unique and versatile speaker allowing for numerous configurations via its switch modes,” says Brian Rodgers.
It is indeed a neat solution, the rear switches (see above) allowing adjustment for using the Unicorn in any of various scenarios – and notably either horizontal or vertically. So one Unicorn could operate as a centre speaker, or two of them as a stereo pair, or three of them for LCR in a home cinema set-up, with the left and right offering that choice of vertical or horizontal.
The right switch on the speaker’s rear selects between ‘LR’ and ‘C’: optimal Richter tuning for left or right positioning, but with a 1-1.5dB lift over 3-10kHz to improve dialogue as an optimal centre speaker.
The other switch gives the ability to select which driver is the bass driver and which the mid-bass driver, Richter explaining that this unusual ability is critical for the best performance in either a stereo or LCR set-up, ensuring that when vertical the bass drivers are the lower ones, but if used horizontally the left speaker would have the bass driver on the left and the right speaker to the right (it doesn’t much matter for the centre speaker, Richter notes).
The new pricing has also been announced for the upcoming range:
MERLIN S6plus: AU$1299
HARLEQUIN S6plus: AU$2199
WIZARD S6plus: AU$2899
UNICORN S6plus: AU$1299
THOR 10.6: AU$1699
There'll be the chance to hear the new speakers at the Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney this April; Richter is in Room 19, on Level 9.