So, what's the value proposition you'd make for this speaker? It seems like a good design, the measurements are great, seems well thought out. Does this blow away other small speakers in terms of output?
Also did you figure out the source of the 350hz issue? I doubt it's significant if it doesn't show up in the FR, but I'm curious if you've isolated it.
The value proposition? Well first thing is these will be custom made to your aesthetic taste, be it colour or the wood finishes that are available. There are a lot of reasonable performing speakers out there but many of them are aesthetically terrible IMO. Im not interested in cheap ugly plastic finished boxes however good they may technically be.
So, how does it sound? Yes it does blow away many small speakers. Firstly the bass goes down a very long way. F3 about 45Hz and F6 about 38Hz. Dont know of many, if any speaker of this size (w24cm x d21cm x h45cm) that goes down that low. It does it with exceptionally low distortion. Whilst there are a bunch of active speakers out there that feign going that low, they often do it with massive distortion as they are actively equalised.
I generally have a preference for closed box speakers because to my ears many ported boxes can sound quite loose and uncontrolled in the bass. They often have artificial peaks in their bass too. Whilst the passive radiators in the Sointuva do the same job as a port, they seem to do it much better. No chuffing noises from air flow and tight controlled bass like a closed box, but extends much further down like a ported box can.
The quality and depth of the low frequency response makes a disproportionate impact on the perceived sound quality, its extremely important. I will try and find the Floyd Toole quote on this.
The low distortion means that the sound is crystal clear – you sort of realise how much “fuzz” other speakers are introducing into the sound, and how difficult it is then to hear subtle details which are plainly obvious on the Sointuva. The high frequencies have a “liveness” (only way I can describe it), yet the sound is warm and not over bright like many speakers in my experience.
I lost half of yesterday afternoon because I ended up so engaged listening to music on them
They just sound fantastic, but I would say that
yes we know what the 350Hz issue is, will be sorted. Im also going to bring down the 2.5kHz bump.