Unusual Speaker Designs

[Angsty]

To quote a recent Washington Post article:

“Hi-fi is extremely subjective.”

 

[Rhodo]

Aries Cerat - Aurora speaker

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That has to be the worst possible color you could choose for that shape, but that's what they chose to promote it with, wild!

 

[Axo1989]

Yes, agreed, hence my comment "I need to reduce my snarkiness"!!!
I didn't realize you could go cheaper configuration.
But then I think, $3.5k - $5k for a small two-way!

All that being said, I am eager to see the measurements. It looks well thought out and documented, and for many people will be a fun and the whole enterprise encourages measurement and ability to adjust. Perhaps if this is sold to audiophile community, the customer will get introduced to many of the methods we talk about here, and can learn about what is actually making good sound in their room. And compared to the other tiny 2-way that is being discussed, this seems like a bargain and potentially good sounding!

I missed these posts back in November, but interesting speakers certainly, and I'd love to see how they spin (edit: looks like maybe more measurements up now? At least they say CEA 2034 individual drivers in cabinets ... but not the assembly).

In terms of costs, of course we can assemble the same drivers into a rectilinear box ourselves and spend less money, or rely on someone else doing so and marketing it. But Sun Audio presumably aim to maintain a sustainable business with all the associated overheads and manage certain volumes—probably small—so we need to account for that. As you say, depending on comparison context, we can also see them as a bargain.

 

[Jeremiah Sheets]

Cain & Cain Abby deserves a mention.

 

[zman01]

The Cain & Cain Abby resembles what many single driver aficionados call a "Voigt Pipe".

Scott Lindgren who is active on diyAudio and has done many speaker cabinets designs using transmission line and back-loaded horn alignments (in addition to the more common bass reflex), refers to this as a "Mass Loaded Voigt". If I am not wrong he was friends with the late Terry Cain.

 

[mhardy6647]

The Cain & Cain Abby resembles what many single driver aficionados call a "Voigt Pipe".

Scott Lindgren who is active on diyAudio and has done many speaker cabinets designs using transmission line and back-loaded horn alignments (in addition to the more common bass reflex), refers to this as a "Mass Loaded Voigt". If I am not wrong he was friends with the late Terry Cain.

Quarter Wavelength Loudspeaker Design

Derivation and Correlation of a General Acoustic Model for a Fiber Filled Transmission Line Loudspeaker.

www.quarter-wave.com

Yes, a mass loaded tapered quarter-wave tube (ML-TQWT), also known as the "Voigt Pipe", after Paul Voigt

http://www.roger-russell.com/voigt/voigt.htm

Lowther Voigt Museum - Home Page

One may fold them, too, for a less imposing presence.

(my hifi room, before it was chockablock with junk )


The Abbys are (were) good, but the Foster FE166 (IIRC) twincone used in them is a bit screechy for my taste.
The late Terry Cain is much missed.

 

[pavuol]

Samsung DA-E650
(2012 / dual dock micro USB + i-Phone dock 30-pin)

 

[pavuol]

Limited editions Elac subs, nice:

Elac MicroSub 2010 BT / Rubik’s Cube edition + Art Edition
[pdf]

 

[Descartes]

Aries Cerat - Aurora speaker

View attachment 342607 If they sound as good as they are ugly then they should sound phenomenal!

 

[Descartes]

Yep, really gross.Or ugly cool weird futuristic space like look.
Also weighs quite a bit:
Weight: 1100 lbs. each (499 kg)

____
If you have the opportunity, you might as well consider building a lot of speakers into the wall. Put something acoustically transparent in front of them so you don't have to see the speaker elements/drivers. Should you go all out with something like that, so why not try the wall of sound?

This many might be overkill for home hi-fi, but still:
View attachment 292901
The 'lil" monster had 586 JBL speakers and 54 Electrovoice tweeters powered by 48 McIntosh MC-2300 Amps (48 × 600 = 28,800 watts of continuous (RMS) power!!! A massive wall of speaker arrays set behind the musicians, which they themselves controlled without a front of house mixer. It did not need any delay towers to reach a distance of half a mile from the stage without degradation was and still is the coolest ever sound system ever projected.

How accurate the sound image is with a lot of drivers (plus a lot of other problems, challenges with just slapping in a lot of drivers like in the picture) is a question to think about, but there is probably no one who doesn't believe that it sounds like a lot.

Now having a wall of sound in your living room like that would be cool!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Limited editions Elac subs, nice:

Elac MicroSub 2010 BT / Rubik’s Cube edition + Art Edition
[pdf]
View attachment 345038 View attachment 345039

Before and after room correction.

 

[Axo1989]

Before and after room correction.

Should I worry that I like the neo-Mondrian more?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Should I worry that I like the neo-Mondrian more?

But it's not good for you.

 

[Keith_W]

Should I worry that I like the neo-Mondrian more?

Yeah I don't like that Rubik's Cube one. Makes me want to try to solve it.

 

[pavuol]

nothing shocking, but together with those cabinet shapes, umm..

Visaton FONTANELLA SAT

Well, not the end of the story, while I searched for larger picture, I found some of their customer made a mod and posted on their website's forum.

Fontanella Sat light im "Weinfässchen" / cheers pirates..

[satellites + sub]

 

[mhardy6647]

nothing shocking, but together with those cabinet shapes, umm..

Visaton FONTANELLA SAT

Well, not the end of the story, while I searched for larger picture, I found some of their customer made a mod and posted on their website's forum.

Fontanella Sat light im "Weinfässchen" / cheers pirates..

[satellites + sub]

oh, my -- what goes around (no pun intended) comes around.

mid-late 1960s Zenith "Circle of Sound"

Hegeman Labs Model 1A

EICO HFS-2 (also a Stuart Hegeman design)

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Electronics/50s/1958/Radio-Electronics-1958-09.pdf

 

[pavuol]

another morphing worm interesting bluetooh speaker

Jarre AeroTwist by Aerosystem (discontinued)

 

[Digital_Thor]

JBL S109 (Aquarius IV)

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JBL S119

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Reminds me of John Watkinsons Legend loudspeakers, that even Siegfried Linkwitz thought were going to be the future:
http://www.legendspeakers.com/links.htm

John Watkinson demonstrating with a drum, how his loudspeakers sound exactly like the real thing. When I heard them, it was with a bell. But his recording of a drum set - I was seriously impressed with the illusion of the sound from his speakers.

 

[mhardy6647]

another morphing worm interesting bluetooh speaker

Jarre AeroTwist by Aerosystem (discontinued)

Panasonic beat 'em to it ca. 1970 with the Tootle Loop. I will check spelling anon.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

Panasonic beat 'em to it ca. 1970 with the Tootle Loop. I will check spelling anon.

Ah .... I remember those! It was Toot-a-Loop.

See vintage Toot-A-Loop & Panasonic's other wacky portable radios from the 70s - Click Americana

Far out! Check out these vintage portable radios - like the Panasonic Toot-A-Loop and others from the seventies that came in crazy shapes and colors.

clickamericana.com

Jim