Burmester B38 Loudspeaker

Burmester introduced the B38 in 2020, on what would have been Dieter Burmester's seventy-fifth birthday, as the top of the B-Series: the range of slim, furniture-like loudspeakers that sit below the BX100 and the BC150 and BC350 reference models. The design problem it solves is an old one. A cabinet 210 mm wide cannot carry a large bass driver on its front, so the B38 mounts a 320 mm woofer on the inner side wall, facing the opposite speaker, where it loads a large internal volume through a rear reflex port. The cone is a paper sandwich driven by a large neodymium magnet, and because its output below 150 Hz is almost omnidirectional, the side mounting costs nothing in integration while giving the B38 the bass of a much wider enclosure.

Above 150 Hz the front baffle takes over. A 170 mm midrange with a fiberglass membrane covers the band to 2.4 kHz; above that an Air Motion Transformer co-developed with Burmester handles the treble to 33 kHz. The AMT's folded diaphragm moves air several times faster than it moves itself, which is why it reaches so high with so little mass, and Burmester specifies it with low horizontal directivity so that the tall, narrow baffle produces a wide listening area rather than a narrow one. The crossover uses Mundorf components, the drivers are made exclusively for Burmester and selected in matched pairs, and each speaker is run in for a week in Berlin before it ships.

The cabinet is two-layer, with walls up to 38 mm thick, bracing and damping placed by finite-element analysis, and a stainless-steel ring integrated into the structure. Instead of spikes the B38 stands on a spring-mass decoupling system, adapted from the smaller B18, that isolates the enclosure from the floor and the floor from the enclosure. Two adjustments tune it to the room: a rear toggle marked + and − raises or lowers the bass output for placement near or away from walls, and two foam cylinders can be inserted into the ports to tighten the low end in a small or lively room. Terminals are gold-plated and arranged for bi-wiring or bi-amping, with bridging links supplied. The screwless aluminum front panel, in silver or black, and the matt lacquer or walnut veneer are designed to read as furniture.

Burmester rates the B38 at 86 dB for 2.83 V, 4 Ω nominal, 37 Hz to 33 kHz within 3 dB and 225 W power handling. Those figures describe a speaker that is not hard to drive but is not forgiving of a small amplifier: the 4 Ω load and the 32 cm driver want current and damping, and every reviewer has said the same. Alan Sircom in hi-fi+ (May 2021) found powerful, dynamic and natural bass with well-defined note shapes, extended and detailed treble and a wide stage with a solid center image, and wrote that "this is not a loudspeaker that can be 'grown into'" with modest amplification; he judged the ideal room between roughly 4 × 6 m and 6 × 8 m. Hi-Fi News heard strong bass extension, grip and control from the 32 cm woofer, a lively and direct rather than warm balance, and open, wide staging, and gave it 87 percent, concluding that "with models like this, Burmester's rock-solid reputation can only grow." Michael Lang in STEREO (January 2021) found imaging "with pinpoint accuracy in all dimensions" and authority and scale from the first note.

In a system the B38 is the B-Series model for a medium to large room. We pair it with the 232 streaming integrated or the 032 integrated for a two-box system, and with the 216 or 218 power amplifiers and the 035 or 088 preamplifier when the room or the listener asks for more; the 111 Musiccenter driving a 218 is a complete Burmester system in three boxes. For non-Burmester electronics it suits any solid-state amplifier comfortable into 4 Ω, including Luxman and McIntosh integrateds. Four matt finishes are offered at the same price, white, middle-grey, black and American walnut, each with a silver or black front; custom colors are available through Burmester's BESPOKE program.

Burmester's loudspeakers run from the B18 and B28 through the B38 to the BX100, BC150 and the Signature Line BC350. The B28 is the same three-way principle with all drivers on the front and a smaller cabinet, for medium rooms; the B38 adds the side-firing 32 cm woofer and the bass extension that goes with it; the BX100 above it is a four-way design with configurable finishes for larger rooms and larger budgets. Choose the B38 if you want the deepest bass available from a cabinet this slim and the room has space for it to breathe.