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Speakers
big, speakers tall, speakers phat, speakers small... We got horns, electrostatics, cones
and much more!
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ATC, the famous studio/professional speaker manufacturers, were
showing their new SCM 20 A Pro self-powered minimonitors which many engineers were crying
for. These speakers incorporate a biamplified total of 350 watts per speaker. The mid/bass
unit is driven by 300 watts, while the tweeter has a full 50 watt of Class A
amplification. The150mm mid/bass driver operates from about 60 Hz - 600 Hz while the 75 mm
centrally mounted within the woofer midrange unit operates from the crossover point up to
where the built to high-spec. tweeter comes into play. The computer optimized cabinet has
no parallel or flat surfaces to minimize standing waves within the enclosure. On the rear
of this speaker is a standard XLR input, a level trim control with up to 12db of gain fine
adjustment, and a bass contour control for up to 6db of lift at 40 Hz. Pricing isn't set
though should be around $5,000.
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ProAc
had these beautifully finished new speakers called the Model Five. The tweeter consists of
a 3/4" soft dome driver with a honeycomb wound voicecoil while the midrange is a
3" soft dome speaker that uses a 3" ribbon wound voicecoil and double
suspension. Two 7" special fiber bass drivers bring in da boom-boom into zee room.
Sensitivity is rated at 87 db/w/m at an 8 ohm load. Frequency response is claimed to be
from 20 Hz - 30 kHz. It come in many different finishes and colors and is 54" x
10" x 15" (HxWxD). Priced at $14,000 a pair Wes Phillips was talkin' 'bout
getting a pair for a magazine he writes for while i was there. |
Gallo Acoustics
has balls! Not just big balls like we've all seen, but now they have small balls too!
Their famous spherical enclosures have been shrunken down to a teeny tiny four inch
sphere! They have a two channel version that includes an 8" woofer for $500 and
another version for home theater which consists of five of the small balls with dual
8" woofer for only $1000.
Thiel was showing
their new CS 7.2 speaker. All the drivers use their short coil/long gap design, aluminum
diaphragms, and copper sleeves in the magnet system to stabilize the the magnet field
strength among other things. The tweeter is a dome unit mounted coaxially in the midrange
driver. A passive twelve inch woofer and twelve inch passive radiator cover frequencies
below 200 Hz. They're only 86 db/w/m sensitive and are a 4 ohm load. Well, break out the
monster amps. Upon hearing them i couldn't help but feel they were very hifi. Personally i
hate hifi and love to enjoy the music. Your mileage may vary.
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Kharma
is showing their entire line including the Ceramique 3.0 speaker. This 'high-end'
speaker uses an extremely stiff, solid, hard as a rock hand rubbed acrylic cabinet.
Non-resonant ceramic cone technology is used for the tweeter and woofer in this two way
design. Crossover parts are first class which also includes heavy gauge silver wire to all
the drivers. Frequency response is 35 Hz-25 kHz with an 86 db/w/m sensitivity.Though kinda
small at 36" x 16" x 12" (HxDxW) they weigh in at 70 lbs each and cost
$6,499 msrp. |
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Tannoy
brought to the show the rarely seen in the USA Churchill speaker. As some of you know, i
grew up listening to dad's circa 1969 12" Gold Monitors which still can hold their
own to newer designs to this day. The Churchill uses Tannoy's 15" dual-concentric
driver is a large ported cabinet. So what makes these Tannoy speakers so special. It's in
the music they reproduce! With a sensitivity of 95 db/w/m you don't need much wattage to
reach good volume levels. This speaker combines a still yet lightweight Duralumin tweeter
center mounted within the 15" precision molded mid/bass driver. The dispersion is
rated at 90 degrees conical. |
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Loth-X
blew me away with the great sound of their speakers. What basically starts out as a
Lowther-Voigt silver voicecoil driver is modified in their factory and mounted in very
impressive, and drop dead gorgeous, cabinets which can actually be ordered in waaay too
many wood finishes to mention here. For those unfamiliar with the underground fave
Lowther-Voigt driver, they are considered unmatched for dynamics both big and small with a
midrange definition unparalleled by any other driver/speaker. After hearing the Azimuth,
in the medium wood color, i was in awe. With a sensitivity of 104 db/w/m even 8 watts can
easily fill most normal sized listening rooms with loud music! What Loth-X does is start
with the Lowther-Voigt driver's basket and magnet then make their own special paper
tri-axle (three way) cone, and then add their own wooden phase plug. The voice coil is
made if silver and silver speaker wire is used internally of course. The
black colored speakers are called the Polaris and seem to use basically the same speaker
with a smaller cabinet which achieves a sensitivity rating of "only" 98 db/w/m.
Loth-X speakers are priced from $6,000 to $14,500 and come with a 20-year warranty. If you
ever have a chance to hear these speaker i highly and humbly recommend it. |
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Von
Schweikert Research has now released the new VR-4 Gen II speaker. With all the
knowledge gained from their new VR-6 and VR-8 speakers, new engineering has now trickled
down to this new version of the VR-4. Custom designed low loss capacitors and inductors
are now used and a better aluminum tweeter is used for the ambiance which now matched the
front tweeter. A new midrange elcosure, new tweeter baffle, aperiodic venting with flares,
and cosmetic improvements are just a few improvement utilized in this upgraded design.
Priced at $3,950 this could be that diamond in the rough we are all looking for. A big
thanks goes to Frank Derrigo of VSR because he's the typea dude at VSR who spent hundreds
of hours auditioning crossover variation until the final design was decided upon. |
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Platinum
Audio's new PT 806 dual purpose center channel/large bookshelf speaker is being
premiered. Amazingly sensitive at 92 db/w/m @ 6 ohm rating and finished in semi-gloss
rosewood vinyl. Now i've personally visited their manufacturing facility and their
cabinets are way better then you'd expect for what is priced at only $599 pr. i mean way
better! The frequency response is clamed as 42 Hz - 20 kHz. The PT 806 uses two
polypropylene 7" woofers in a unique design. One 7" covers the mids and bass
whereas the other 7" driver is basically the woofer. A high quality 1"
ferrofluid cooled tweeter to reproduce the upper frequencies is center mounted between the
two 7" drivers. Hmmmm... gonna get me a pair of these for review reeeeal soon man. |
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Genesis
is showing their model 500 speaker which features three 8" servo-controlled woofers
powered by the supplied G-SAT 500 watt amplifier, one 6 1/2 aluminum cone midbass driver,
one 5 1/2" solid titanium cone midrange and two 1" circular ribbon tweeter (one
front, one rear). This model supersedes their previous model 5 yet is lower priced at
$10,000 a pair! Better and cheaper! Baby, this is the first room i've visited
during the WCES and i love this show already! Can ya dig it? Genesis is also using the CEC
CD transport, Genesis Digital Lens, Manley Reference DAC, Audio Research Reference One
amplifier, Audio Research VT200 amplifier, and completely wired with NBS cables.
Sensitivity for the 500's are rated at 90 db/w/m. |
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Here's the rear view of the 500
(my humble apologies for the lack or resolution). The top left is an RCA input, the knob
to it's right is the crossover frequency, to it's right is the gain, and the lower set of
knobs are for adjusting the midrange and tweeter output with the power switch rounding off
the rear panel. Ok, i forgot about the high quality gold plated five-way speaker binding
posts too (oops). |
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NEW STUFF!!! Genesis just
announced a few new speakers! One of which is the model APM-1 as seen to the left. Like
all Genesis speakers, it's a dipole design. Specifically, the APM-1 has one tweeter in the
front and one in the rear. The front panel measures only 11" wide yet this goodie can
reproduce a big sound with its side mounted 15" aluminum cone servo-controlled 500
watt self-powered woofer. Genesis says servo controlling of the woofer is the best way to
decrease subwoofer distortion while enhancing musically accurate "floor shaking"
bass. Two 6 1/2" pure titanium drivers handle the midbass, one 5 1/4" for the
midrange, and two 1" planar ribbon tweeters for the highs. The tweeter's membrane is
made of aluminum and measures only .0005" thin! That's not a misprint my brother. i
aint jivein' you man. The specifications for the APM-1
are as follows: 64.5"H x 11"W x 25"D, 20 Hz - 36 kHz +-3 db, 4 ohm
resistance, 90 db/w/m, weighing in at 240 lbs. each and priced at $7,500 per pair. The
front panel is made from beautifully finished 10-layer cherry wood. In my humble opinion
it must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. As for the other new speaker Genesis is
showing, i'll let cha know more about it shortly. Until my next update, stay loose baby.
Click
here to see Genesis' www site. |
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
