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Airpulse A100 Review (Powered Speaker)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 3.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 149 39.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 205 53.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 12 3.2%

  • Total voters
    380

respice finem

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Yes, anyway, last time I needed phono was also in the last millennium :)
The only thing I remember well is when I had to re-solder such a 5-pin socket, which was pretty cumbersome.
The other problem this stuff had was loose connections, which I never encountered with XLR.
 

sarumbear

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Yes, anyway, last time I needed phono was also in the last millennium :)
The only thing I remember well is when I had to re-solder such a 5-pin socket, which was pretty cumbersome.
The other problem this stuff had was loose connections, which I never encountered with XLR.
if you don‘t use phono or DIN does that mean you only use XLR?
 

respice finem

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For connecting to active speakers, XLR, yes. Passive = only in the cinema system, oldschool banana plugs.
For the rest of my "zoo", cinch in the old DAC/HPA, Toslink for PC- digital out, HDMI in the cinema stuff/AVR/TV, obviously.
 

sarumbear

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Last edited:

Newman

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There is now a poll where you can vote what rating this speaker should get.
I was looking for the poor value option (piggy bank panther). I would probably have chosen it.
 

spacevector

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@amirm thanks for the review and very interesting on the polling option! Are you able to add the poll to previously reviewed products?
 

Newman

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Airpulse A100 Measurements Frequence Response Powered Speaker Monitor.png
It has a mild case of smiley-face curve on-axis. That long steady rise of about 5 dB from 2000-14000 Hz should be clearly audible and a candidate for a bit of EQ, IMO.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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@amirm thanks for the review and very interesting on the polling option! Are you able to add the poll to previously reviewed products?
I can. Question is whether I want to. :) Which do you have in mind?
 

spacevector

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I can. Question is whether I want to. :) Which do you have in mind?
Nothing specific really and likely more work than is worth. May be some of the more controversial ones would be interesting. :p
 

sweetchaos

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What's fascinating to me, is that the # of voters is substantially higher than people who clicked the "like" button.
1634677101593.png

1634677122035.png

That's 500% more people who voted on the poll, rather than people who liked the 1st post.
It seems there's a lot of lurkers who sit quietly just waiting to jump on any poll. :D
 

pseudoid

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There is now a poll where you can vote what rating this speaker should get.
I notice there have been over 230 votes for this poll but I am confused (again and often).
Do these votes also equate to the number of owners who are also ASR members?
Or are these votes strictly based on the evaluation of the @amirm's always informative test results.
I ask because of the trailing "...should get."
We are an educated/wise bunch of audio shoppers and the results will be skewed from the getgo.
Heaven forbid if the manufacturers try to boost the positive ratings in neferious ways.
 

pseudoid

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It's a 180 degree 5 pin. The Europeans and the English loved them. Truly horrible connector. But very cheap.
Define very cheap?:confused:
Original wired remote controls used DIN-5 before IR/RF/Etc. took over the market.
I still have one for my HK cassette deck.
I just emptied out a box of old cables and all the DIN/SCSI/IDE/D-sub cables in the inventory are now gone.
DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung
 

Remlab

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Whenever I see a ribbon tweeter, I almost always know what to expect, terrible power handling below 5khz (Even horn loaded ones) and compromised vertical dispersion. They are a gimmicky option that's used to sell more speakers, mainly because they're exotic looking.

"Battle of the non-domes" posted several years ago on Zaph audio is very revealing. The BG planar magnetic was the only good one. Not only that, but the cheap Vifa dome used in the comparison smoked them all.
 
Last edited:

restorer-john

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Define very cheap?:confused:
Original wired remote controls used DIN-5 before IR/RF/Etc. took over the market.
I still have one for my HK cassette deck.
I just emptied out a box of old cables and all the DIN/SCSI/IDE/D-sub cables in the inventory are now gone.
DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung

DIN connectors were used for tape loops on pretty much all amplifiers and preamplifiers, tape and cassette decks through the 1970s and into the 1980s and sat alongside/duplicated RCAs. The levels however were much lower, noisier and had a ton of crosstalk.

As I said, cheap and horrible for audio, especially when you are running L/R in/out through one cable with a single shield on a 5pin.
 

pseudoid

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Sancus

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What's fascinating to me, is that the # of voters is substantially higher than people who clicked the "like" button.
View attachment 160213
View attachment 160214
That's 500% more people who voted on the poll, rather than people who liked the 1st post.
It seems there's a lot of lurkers who sit quietly just waiting to jump on any poll. :D

Well they're pretty different, the poll is at the top and seeing the results is interesting, the Like button is at the bottom and not interesting.

I generally only click the Like button if the review was something I was particularly interested in.
 

sarumbear

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It's a 180 degree 5 pin. The Europeans and the English loved them. Truly horrible connector. But very cheap.
DIN connector is ground isolated from the case and carries two channels. On the other hand you need two phono connectors and the type with panel isolation. Not to mention live wire is connected before ground causing huge signal spikes.

So what’s it that the DIN connector is truly horrible for the user?

The only thing against DIN is difficulty in soldering as the pins are very near to each other. However, the standard device owner normally buys their cables ready made and never have an issue.
 
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