Thanks for asking.
More questions for Roland.
(1) How is volume controlled? If I were to input the spidf output of a source (using AES/EBU converter) will there be a way to control overall output volume in the electronics package? A remote control?
It's the same with almost every other active speaker: If you use the analog input, the volume is controlled outside/before via a pre amp. If you use the digital input you can either control the volume within the system via our software (done in the digital domain, no remote control, no mobile app yet) or outside/before with a digital pre amp or DDC (basically a DAC with an digital output and volume control).
We ourself (during demos and shows) and many of our customers use a
Lake People DAT RS 05 for volume control and keep it digital all the way.
(2) Is it possible to plug in a digital and an analog output into the electronics module and choose which input I want the electronics package to play? Again by a remote?
Yes, you can also prioritize each input (in case both are connected) and use different gain setting on each. It's all done in software and does not need to be adjusted every time (except you chose an input that was de-prioritize while both are connected). No remote control as for now.
(3) If, in one of my use cases, I wanted to use the M1s as L-R fronts in a 5.1 multichannel surround set up, would that present any issues with latency? It's obvious the M1s input signals undergo a fair amount of AD to DA + EQ + Fir filtering, etc. How much delay in the worst case is that adding to the output? so much as to make them impractical to use as both an edge-of-the-art two channel and a L-R in a surround set up, or is the processing speedy enough to allow both use cases?
That's something we took care of: Latency all over is
<8 ms, which is pretty low. It's even that low, that you could use it as a PA during live-music. We achieved that because we have a quiet powerful DSP and optimized filter implementation. Also even while doing linear-phase EQ, Model M1 does not need much phase EQ (= latency) in the bass area because of the closed cabinet, which has far less phase distortion.
The remaining latency would be compensated by your AVR in order to fit with your other speakers.
Multichannel und home cinema was a targeted use case right from the beginning. That is also why we made some design decisions, like the use of compression driver, flat cabinet, wide horizontal dispersion, etc. It's really a nice solution if you don't want in-wall or baffle-wall designs in your living room.