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Sigberg Audio SBS.1 Active speakers development thread

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sigbergaudio

sigbergaudio

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I'm hapyp to share that our Sigberg Audio SBS.1 active speakers has now been reviewed in-depth at audioholics.com! :D

It's a thorough review covering everything from technical solutions and design choices, via listening impressions and of course measurements. So reading this review should give you a pretty good impression of the speakers.

Without spoiling too much, the total score ended at 4.5 / 5 :cool:


Read the full review here: https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/sigberg-audio-sbs.1-1



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Rednaxela

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Congratulations on the great review @sigbergaudio. Also kudos for the courage to offer the world such a unique product. I hope many will find their way to their target market!
 
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sigbergaudio

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Congratulations on the great review @sigbergaudio. Also kudos for the courage to offer the world such a unique product. I hope many will find their way to their target market!

Thank you, I appreciate it! :)
 
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sigbergaudio

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For fun I thought I'd compare/overlay the measurements from Audioholics with our last round in the Klippel at Seas, and it looks pretty similar. Nice verification of accuracy on both parts.

Klippel is the thin green line in the upper part of the graph, while the thick lines are from Audioholics. The blue one is on-axis and comparable to the thinner green line from the Klippel.

1651694257482.png
 
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sigbergaudio

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A recorded live stream from Audioholics where they talk about the SBS.1 speakers are also available now :)

 
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sigbergaudio

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We've got some requests for an SBS center channel, and/or whether these are speakers that are suitable for home cinema systems or combined systems. And the answer is obviously yes. They're designed to play with a subwoofer and have great dynamic range. SBS.1 will do a great job in any channel in a surround system, including the center channel given the even vertical and horisontal dispersion. From a visual standpoint the SBS.1 isn't perfect for a center channel since it won't look 100% symmetrical when placed vertical, and additionally the cabinet has a slight tilt. You could of course place it slightly tilted so the baffle ends up straight, but still.

Soo, I'm toying with the idea of an LCR version of the SBS.1. Given the number of people with pretty high-end cinema / combined systems, the idea seems to have some potential. James over at Audioholics also mentioned several times in his review that a surround system with SBS.1 in all channels would be a killer setup.

So what I'm thinking is to design a symmetric version that can serve as a center channel placed vertically, and also as L/R when placed in the horizontal position for those who want even more power than the SBS.1 can provide. So you could have the LCR version either just in the center channel and SBS.1 in all others, or the LCR version in both front and center channels, and SBS.1 in rear/surround.

The LCR version would have the same drivers, but with an additional midbass driver. So a MTM (or MCM) configuration with a midbass driver on each side of the coax driver. It would likely be a pure 3-way (as opposed to 2.5-way in the SBS.1), and have a more powerful amplifier. It would probably be made available for sale as individual units, so one could order as many as one needs.

Interested to hear reflections and / or potential interest in such a speaker.

Rough sketch:
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HooStat

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Makes sense to me. One other random, and maybe bad, idea. If it is a 3 way, then would the cross-over allow you to put the bass driver on the side or back? Probably the amp would get in the way. I was thinking that shorter would allow more people to orient all 3 speakers the same way. I always thought that something < 12" tall (but probably deep) would be a better solution for LCR than tall speakers. But given the relatively simple transition from your current model to the version you depict above, your solution makes the most sense.
 
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sigbergaudio

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Makes sense to me. One other random, and maybe bad, idea. If it is a 3 way, then would the cross-over allow you to put the bass driver on the side or back? Probably the amp would get in the way. I was thinking that shorter would allow more people to orient all 3 speakers the same way. I always thought that something < 12" tall (but probably deep) would be a better solution for LCR than tall speakers. But given the relatively simple transition from your current model to the version you depict above, your solution makes the most sense.

The amp takes up most of the space in the back, yes. If you want to have all speakers vertical, you could just use the SBS.1 I guess, they're just 41cm tall.

The SBS.1 LCR will probably be 50cm. And yes, it will be a relatively speaking moderate change from the SBS.1, so won't have to design everything from scratch.
 
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sigbergaudio

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An update on pricing: For a while now we've had all included pricing, which meant that the price on the website included shipping and any import taxes and duties. This means we've basically had fixed, world wide pricing. In practice, import taxes and duties are obviously not the same in all countries, and especially the USA often have relatively low import duties and these types of products (6-10% depending on the state as far as I've understood). This means our products have been more expensive than they could have been in the US and other countries with low import taxes.

As a result I've decided to go back to our more traditional pricing model, where foreign customers (anyone not from Norway) will pay an ex VAT/duties price. It will still include door to door shipping.

Note that prices are still fixed to NOK currency so will vary somewhat depending on currency rates, so the pricing below is based on USD currency rate as of today October 2nd 2022.

What does this mean in practice for international pricing?
  • Inkognito 10 subwoofer is now 1983USD (was 2479USD)
  • Inkognito 12 subwoofer is now 2351USD (was 2939USD)
  • 10D subwoofer is now 2645USD (was 3300USD)
  • Set of dual 10D subwoofers is now 4761USD (was 5950USD)
  • The SBS.1 active speaker is now 4629USD per pair (was 5786USD)
This includes shipping, but does not include local import taxes and duties.


Feel free to follow up (here or in a direct message) if you have any questions. :)
 
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Vacceo

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Have you considered designing a height speaker too to create a complete multichannel system?
 
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sigbergaudio

sigbergaudio

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Have you considered designing a height speaker too to create a complete multichannel system?

There is currently no plans for that, no. But the current SBS would do a fine job in all surround channels including placed horisontally as a center speaker. Smaller height speakers would have to be from a different brand at this time.
 

Vacceo

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There is currently no plans for that, no. But the current SBS would do a fine job in all surround channels including placed horisontally as a center speaker. Smaller height speakers would have to be from a different brand at this time.
It would be interesting to consider them just as thought experiment. I think no company has designed active height speakers.

For the ones you offer, all I can say is bravo! Clean and classy execution of a well-performing speaker.
 
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sigbergaudio

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It would be interesting to consider them just as thought experiment. I think no company has designed active height speakers.

For the ones you offer, all I can say is bravo! Clean and classy execution of a well-performing speaker.

We've thought a bit about LCR and atmos/height, but might have to consider external amplification then, since the speaker would typically be so small that it would be difficult to integrate a plate amp. But who knows what may come in the future. :)

Thank you for the compliment! :)
 

Vacceo

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We've thought a bit about LCR and atmos/height, but might have to consider external amplification then, since the speaker would typically be so small that it would be difficult to integrate a plate amp. But who knows what may come in the future. :)

Thank you for the compliment! :)
Weight is a concern, but as you probably know, Genelec ones have been applied for height channels.

Actives can allow quite a lot of leeway in design bypassing elements such as ports or reducing volume while providing a great output.
 
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sigbergaudio

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Weight is a concern, but as you probably know, Genelec ones have been applied for height channels.

Actives can allow quite a lot of leeway in design bypassing elements such as ports or reducing volume while providing a great output.

Not sure what kind of capacity people are expecting from height channels, but I guess a version with just the coax driver and a 2-way amp could be a solution. But we're actually not primarily focused on the home theatre market (targeting more towards the 2 channel / hifi segment), so this isn't a high priority at the moment.
 

Vacceo

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Not sure what kind of capacity people are expecting from height channels, but I guess a version with just the coax driver and a 2-way amp could be a solution. But we're actually not primarily focused on the home theatre market (targeting more towards the 2 channel / hifi segment), so this isn't a high priority at the moment.
That is what you get on a KEF R8a minus the amp.

Still, I think what you have already released is quite impressive. I also like the concept of getting the same overall sound with a strong emphasis on volume reduction. I would even say that it is no harder to integrate than any other system, multichannel or stereo, when a subwoofer is included.
 
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sigbergaudio

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A couple of pictures of SBS.1 in satin black in assembly in our new shop and storage facility. :)



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