理性派HiFi X5 Speaker Review

[AndreaT]

It's the designer's response (Google Translate):



View attachment 268850View attachment 268851View attachment 268852View attachment 268853View attachment 268854Amir's review is accurate and impeccable. Furthermore, Amir replies to criticism, when documented and illuminated, with the habit of an open society that knows how much we care about improving products and how important is to avoid the scholasticism of "ipse dixit" and invoking the arrogant authoritarianism when dealing with a problem and trying to find the best solution. The reply of the manufacturer tells a different story, and in accordance with the new forum's rules I will be extremely brief. Sufficient to say, had a similar attitude pervaded the research and science community in the Western world, we would still believe in aether permeating all space, Galileo's books would still be forbidden and we would communicate at a distance by horse courier on hand-written parchment paper. Not a single line of the manufacturer's reply is documented by reproducible data and references, it is mostly hearsay.

View attachment 268850View attachment 268851View attachment 268852View attachment 268853View attachment 268854

Amir's review is accurate and impeccable. Furthermore, Amir replies to criticism, when documented and illuminated, with the habit of an open society that knows how much we care about improving products and how important is to avoid the scholasticism of "ipse dixit" and invoking the arrogant authoritarianism when dealing with a problem and trying to find the best solution. The reply of the manufacturer tells a different story, and in accordance with the new forum's rules I will be extremely brief. Sufficient to say, had a similar attitude pervaded the research and science community in the Western world, we would still believe in aether permeating all space, Galileo's books would still be forbidden and we would communicate at a distance by horse courier on hand-written parchment paper. Not a single line of the manufacturer's reply is documented by reproducible data and references, it is mostly hearsay.

 

[oversky]

Since it potentially makes others to want to purchase these products, some have validly stated if we even should be reviewing these products here at ASR? I would say yes, but I at the time, and now, I think we need to state at the outset that such reviews are strictly for the purposes of objective evaluation of performance, and should not be used for anything beyond that. I too agree that steering business towards such companies is indeed very bad form, and bad for the industry as a whole due to the poor practices it encourages.

Well, someone has asked 119鬼斧神工 to send sample to ASR 3 months before,
and they preferred not to.
They have some concerns about nfs measurements, even before this ASR review is published.

I have posted the link of this ASR review on the youtube yesterday,
and they decided to hide it.

 

[Ricardojoa]

Is amirm charging anything for the measurements?

 

[amirm]

Is amirm charging anything for the measurements?

For reviews? No. I even pay for return shipping in most cases.

In a few rare cases manufacturers have asked me to measure their prototypes and such. Since I can't publish such measurements, I ask them to (partially) reimburse me for my time and equipment cost.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

So, bottom line, it's an older design off patent everywhere, and there was never a patent on it in PRC, anyway. So why is everyone getting so excited? There's lots of stuff that is now in free public use that for profit concerns charge money for. I can remember paying hard earned cash to Penguin books for a copy of Pride and Prejudice and I'm quite certain neither the author nor that person's estate received even a pence in royalties.

 

[oversky]

Does anyone remember when did Scan-speak invent the "sliced paper cone"?
If the patent already expired, anyone can use it freely.

I find a post back to 2006.

Scan-Speak sliced cone drivers .

For their sliced paper cone drivers Scan-Speak state :- "reduces break-up modes in the membrane dramatically" . I don't expect perfection , but these are expensive compared to conventional cone types made by SEAS ; Peerless ; Morel etc ... thus can any users of any of the Scan sliced cone...

www.diyaudio.com

 

[tktran303]

Last century.

(See post #135)

 

[amirm]

OK, here is the teardown.

I checked the screws on the woofer and one was a bit loose. The others were pretty tight. Screws used were long and coarse threaded. Unfortunately the rabbet is not sized correctly for the screws used, causing the holes to blow out:

On the positive front, the enclosure is made out of some kind of hardwood, not a laminate on chipboard or MDF. You can see the grain travelling through the rabbet. You could guess the same from rounded over corners.

Here is the woofer with no branding on it:

The crimped connection for the positive terminal of the connecting wire felt flimsy, possibly indicating some of the strands were cut.

I took the stuffing out which exposed the second order crossover for each driver on a PCB:

I assume the air core inductor is for the tweeter and iron core one for the woofer. Couldn't see the markings on the capacitors but look to be non-electrolytic.

Half-way up or so there is a brace:

It seemed to be solidly glued in there. Above that is of course the tweeter. I could not find an easy way to take it out so took a picture with a mobile phone:

As with the woofer, it seems like a generic part with no marking on it.

That's all I have for you.

 

[dogmamann]

The dome tweeter’s waveguide. Well, obviously. But the potential IP theft on the horn speaker. That is no good, and there are other undesirable characteristics to some of these Chinese electronics, such as their checkered reliability. The Chinese have been quite good at the numbers game, but not so much on innovation. More just perfecting. I have worked and gone to school with Chinese nationals. They are very nice and intelligent people, but with the CCP at the helm, saying Chinese society is having a bit of a crisis with respect to principals and credibility is putting it mildly. It’s one of the many reasons companies are pulling out of China and setting up shop elsewhere in Asia. The CCP and it’s culture of corruption are the kiss of death to innovation and quality control.

Look at KEF speakers. Look at iPhones. I don’t see any quality issues there being manufactured in china. Again, you cannot just generalize every Chinese company that all they do is copy and perfect it. About the jbl, again that’s how horns look like. Since long, minor variations from that is how public address speakers look like.

 

[dogmamann]

The cabinet is particle board (aka mdf), there are other finishes available including painted over variants.

Particle board and mdf aren’t the same. But I guess this speaker was made of MDF.

 

[dogmamann]

OK, here is the teardown.

I checked the screws on the woofer and one was a bit loose. The others were pretty tight. Screws used were long and coarse threaded. Unfortunately the rabbet is not sized correctly for the screws used, causing the holes to blow out:
View attachment 268934

On the positive front, the enclosure is made out of some kind of hardwood, not a laminate on chipboard or MDF. You can see the grain travelling through the rabbet. You could guess the same from rounded over corners.

Here is the woofer with no branding on it:
View attachment 268938

The crimped connection for the positive terminal of the connecting wire felt flimsy, possibly indicating some of the strands were cut.

I took the stuffing out which exposed the second order crossover for each driver on a PCB:

View attachment 268935

I assume the air core inductor is for the woofer and iron core one for the tweeter. Couldn't see the markings on the capacitors but look to be non-electrolytic.

Half-way up or so there is a brace:
View attachment 268936

It seemed to be solidly glued in there. Above that is of course the tweeter. I could not find an easy way to take it out so took a picture with a mobile phone:

View attachment 268937

As with the woofer, it seems like a generic part with no marking on it.

That's all I have for you.

Normally aircore is used with tweeter and iron core for woofer

 

[dtaylo1066]

So, bottom line, it's an older design off patent everywhere, and there was never a patent on it in PRC, anyway. So why is everyone getting so excited? There's lots of stuff that is now in free public use that for profit concerns charge money for. I can remember paying hard earned cash to Penguin books for a copy of Pride and Prejudice and I'm quite certain neither the author nor that person's estate received even a pence in royalties.

There is great prejudice in your pride in that statement!

Jane Austen died in 1955, at the astounding age of 180, attributing her amazing life span to the listening 6 hours per day to her 1906 Victrola, and thus has 3 years remaining on her copywrite.

 

[amirm]

Normally aircore is used with tweeter and iron core for woofer

Thanks. Fixed.

 

[Triliza]

About the jbl, again that’s how horns look like.

Gramophones were first patented in 1887 from what I read...

 

[AndreaT]

It is a pity to see a nice hardwood marred by choosing the wrong screws and making the holes/rabbet size wrong. Not impressed by the overall quality of the construction. Unsurprisingly the woofer and tweeter are not from ScanSpeak or other known manufacturers. It seems to me there is room to improve the speaker.

Thank you Amir for the tear down!

 

[damirj79]

So is there any clue where the resonance comes from?

 

[amirm]

So is there any clue where the resonance comes from?

My guess is that it is internal to the driver.

 

[Mario Sanchez]

Particle board and mdf aren’t the same. But I guess this speaker was made of MDF.

Well, guess I owe everyone an apology for assuming things here, looks like it is hardwood.

My guess is that it is internal to the driver.

Can the driver be tested without the enclosure to check if the resonance is still there?

 

[Mario Sanchez]

Gramophones were first patented in 1887 from what I read...


View attachment 268941

I would believe that there is a implied "computer assisted formally optimized" modifier on the word "horn" there.

 

[thewas]

It's the designer's response (Google Translate):



View attachment 268853View attachment 268854

I am surprised that noone mentions the vertical reference axis which can lead to differences in spinoramas, if manufacturers don't provide them they should be not surprised about different results.