Burmester B38 Loudspeakers

Complimentary White Glove Delivery • Travel Reimbursement*

The Burmester B38 Loudspeakers are substantial 3-way floorstanding speakers engineered to deliver the scale and low-frequency authority of a large reference loudspeaker without overwhelming the listening room visually. A newly developed Air Motion Transformer tweeter, 170 mm fiberglass midrange driver and massive 320 mm side-firing woofer combine with a sophisticated bass-reflex enclosure and adjustable room compensation to create a loudspeaker that can be optimized for its environment.

With a frequency response extending from 37 Hz to 33 kHz, the B38 is capable of genuine full-range performance. Just as important, Burmester provides multiple ways to control that performance in the room. Adjustable bass response and a tunable bass-reflex system allow the B38 to accommodate different placement conditions, room sizes and low-frequency behavior.

Every driver is also subjected to Burmester's extensive run-in and measurement process before closely matched drivers are selected for each stereo pair.

3-Way Bass-Reflex Architecture

The B38 is a 3-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker built around three specialized drivers rather than asking one transducer to cover an excessively broad frequency range.

Its driver complement consists of:

Burmester Air Motion Transformer tweeter
170 mm fiberglass midrange driver
320 mm paper-sandwich woofer

Crossover points at 150 Hz and 2.4 kHz divide the frequency spectrum between the drivers, allowing each transducer to operate within the range for which it was specifically designed.

The result is a loudspeaker capable of combining substantial low-frequency output with the speed and articulation required through the midrange and upper frequencies.

Air Motion Transformer Tweeter

High frequencies are reproduced by a specially developed Air Motion Transformer, or AMT, tweeter.

Rather than operating like a conventional dome tweeter, an AMT uses a folded diaphragm that moves air as its pleats contract and expand.

The low moving mass and large effective radiating area make the design particularly well suited to reproducing fast transient information and extending response beyond the conventional audible range.

In the B38, the AMT contributes to a published upper-frequency extension of 33 kHz.

170 mm Fiberglass Midrange Driver

A dedicated 170 mm fiberglass-cone driver handles the critical midrange.

Separating the midrange from the large bass driver allows vocals and instruments to be reproduced without requiring the same driver to simultaneously generate the deepest bass frequencies.

The midrange operates between the B38's 150 Hz and 2.4 kHz crossover points, covering a substantial portion of the musical spectrum before handing high-frequency reproduction to the AMT.

320 mm Side-Firing Woofer

Low frequencies are generated by an unusually large 320 mm, approximately 12.6-inch, side-firing woofer using a paper-sandwich diaphragm.

Mounting the woofer on the side of the cabinet allows Burmester to provide the radiating area of a very large bass driver while maintaining the B38's relatively narrow 210 mm front baffle.

The woofer and bass-reflex enclosure extend the B38's response down to a published 37 Hz, giving the loudspeaker genuine low-frequency capability without requiring an unusually wide cabinet.

Adjustable Room Adaptation

Bass performance is heavily influenced by the listening room, so Burmester gives the B38 multiple methods of adapting its low-frequency response.

The rear connection panel incorporates a Room Adaptation control that changes bass output to better suit the loudspeaker's placement and the acoustic characteristics of the room.

This becomes particularly useful when the speakers must be positioned closer to room boundaries, where reinforcement from walls can significantly increase low-frequency energy.

Rather than requiring the owner to accept a single factory bass alignment, the B38 provides meaningful control over how the loudspeaker interacts with its environment.

Adjustable Bass-Reflex System

The B38's bass-reflex port provides another level of room optimization.

The port can be operated normally or acoustically modified using the supplied foam insert. This changes the behavior of the low-frequency system and provides an additional method of controlling bass output when room placement creates excessive low-frequency reinforcement.

Combined with the Room Adaptation control, the system provides four possible bass configurations.

That flexibility is one of the B38's most useful design features because low-frequency room interaction is often one of the greatest challenges when installing a large full-range loudspeaker.

Decoupled Cabinet Design

Burmester also developed a mechanical isolation system for the B38's enclosure.

The cabinet incorporates a spring-mass damping system intended to decouple the loudspeaker from the floor and reduce the transfer of mechanical energy between the enclosure and the room.

This approach treats the loudspeaker, its cabinet and the floor as interacting mechanical systems rather than assuming that enclosure construction alone determines resonance behavior.

The result is a floorstanding speaker designed to control both the acoustic energy produced by its drivers and the mechanical energy generated by the cabinet itself.

Computer-Matched Stereo Pairs

Burmester takes an unusually rigorous approach to matching the two loudspeakers in a stereo pair.

Before assembly, every loudspeaker chassis is run in for seven days. Its parameters are then measured, and computer analysis is used to select drivers with extremely close tolerances for installation as matched stereo pairs.

The objective is straightforward: accurate stereo imaging depends on the left and right loudspeakers behaving as similarly as possible.

This manufacturing process allows Burmester to address channel matching at the driver level rather than relying only on nominal component specifications.

Substantial Cabinet Construction

At 1,165 mm tall, 460 mm deep and 210 mm wide, the B38 combines the internal volume required for its large woofer with relatively slender proportions when viewed from the listening position.

Each loudspeaker weighs approximately 51.5 kg, or 113.5 lb, reflecting the substantial cabinet, large bass driver and mechanical isolation architecture.

The narrow front baffle and side-mounted woofer also allow the B38 to present a more architectural profile than its internal volume and bass capability might suggest.

Technical Details

The B38's combination of a 320 mm side-firing woofer, 170 mm fiberglass midrange and AMT tweeter produces a published 37 Hz to 33 kHz response, with 4-ohm nominal impedance and 86 dB sensitivity. The crossover operates at 150 Hz and 2.4 kHz.

Burmester B38 at The Grid HiFi

The Grid HiFi in Houston specializes in Burmester high-end audio and complete reference two-channel systems. With a loudspeaker like the B38, amplifier selection and room setup are critical parts of extracting its full performance.

Its 4-ohm impedance, 86 dB sensitivity and large 320 mm woofer make quality amplification particularly important. We can match the B38 with the appropriate Burmester integrated amplifier or separate preamplifier and power amplifier combination, then optimize placement and the speaker's adjustable bass system for your room.

We can also design the complete system around the B38, including digital or analog sources, amplification, cabling, power infrastructure, equipment support and final system setup.

Complimentary White Glove Delivery • Travel Reimbursement*
Qualifying purchasers may receive airfare reimbursement for your private audition.
Considering the B38? Let’s build your dream system around it. Call (713) 218-8120.
*Restrictions apply. Contact us for details.