Introduction of Vera Audio Coherence 12 - a high quality speaker many can afford

[Bjorn]

We're looking at adding a grill to the speaker as an option. With magnets.

One way is only covering the drivers plus the midsection for a seamless look. Please disregard the finish of the speaker here.

Or we could cover more of the whole front which likely would be acoustically better. However, the best acoustically solution is obviously no grill. So not sure how important this is.

Thoughts?

 

[unmutual]

I like the magnetic grill that Arendal uses. What are the acoustic effects of adding a grill?

 

[Bjorn]

FIY:
If you're using a hotmail email account and have problems reaching us or haven't received a reply this is because of issues with hotmail and Microsoft. When I've tried to email my own hotmail account, most emails haven't come through for several months now.

 

[Bjorn]

I like the magnetic grill that Arendal uses. What are the acoustic effects of adding a grill?

We will use a magnetic grill, but the size and what it's going to cover is still be worked at.

1. The fabric itself is never 100% acoustical transparent. It will obviously lower the level for some frequencies but biggest issue is uneven dampening at different frequencies.

2. The frame can cause diffraction. The Coherenece 12 is an extremely diffraction free speaker (unlike most other speakers BTW), so obviously we don't want to ruin that.

Unless one needs to use a grill for protection, it's also best to remove it.

 

[TimVG]

Since the ribbon is already more or less protected, why not just offer one for the woofer? Should be better acoustical this way as well..

 

[Bjorn]

Since the ribbon is already more or less protected, why not just offer one for the woofer? Should be better acoustical this way as well..

Yes, that's interesting idea!
May look a bit strange with only grill covering the woofer but it makes sense. We'll make a sketch of it.

 

[Bjorn]

Here's with the woofer covered only.

 

[TimVG]

Looks pretty nice this way - and with the woofer that close to the floor some protection is always a good idea I think.

 

[Bjorn]

Quick mock up for walnut veneer. We plan to offer the speaker in both walnut veneer in matte and in glossy.

 

[Bjorn]

Someone commented at a Norwegian forum that it might be better to cover both drivers to avoid too many black variations. I think's a valid point. So here are some other possibilities.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Someone commented at a Norwegian forum that it might be better to cover both drivers to avoid too many black variations. I think's a valid point. So here are some other possibilities.
View attachment 519868


View attachment 519870

View attachment 519871

Both of these are much better than the double grille option. I think I prefer the rectangular one. Lovely renders too.

 

[unmutual]

I think you will get answers all over the map about the design in audiophile forums, but personally I liked the 2 below, with a preference for the large panel. Not so fond of the "tennis racket" look. Will the grill be available for existing owners as well?

 

[TimVG]

I think it also depends on the interior of the home which will suit best. The woofer only maybe does look worst, but acoustically it should have the least impact. It depends on your priorities. The complete cover may also help with the psychological aspect of the large CTC.

 

[Bjorn]

Looks like

I think you will get answers all over the map about the design in audiophile forums, but personally I liked the 2 below, with a preference for the large panel. Not so fond of the "tennis racket" look. Will the grill be available for existing owners as well?

View attachment 519942
View attachment 519943

Most likely we'll end up the tennis racket somewhat similar to the one below as standard. But also offer a grill only covering the woofer as a second option. Yes, it's impossible to please everyone when it comes to aesthetics. I'm always surprised at replies in threads about beautiful speakers etc.

Grills for those few pairs we have sold is unlikely possible.

 

[Bjorn]

We're also working on a subwoofer design that will match the Coherence 12 well. With the high SPL the Coherence 12 has, it had to be an 18" subwoofer.
And it will become a sealed design in order to reach a larger market with a smaller footprint as a great bassreflex design with an 18" woofer simply becomes too big. That means we need a driver with high excurision and good power handling. We're using the best driver I've tested to this date.

It's still a fairly large subwoofer, but not huge. A first rendering.

 

[tehas]

ok, i'm super curious - what is this best driver? Ribbed cone and foam surround seem to be unusual ...

 

[Duke]

ok, i'm super curious - what is this best driver? Ribbed cone and foam surround seem to be unusual.

I think it's a rendering. The mounting screws aren't consistently spaced, which isn't something I've seen in a real driver.

As far as "what is the best driver for this application", that's probably a valid trade secret, and I wouldn't expect @Bjorn to give away to his competitors information that probably cost him considerable time and money to find out.

 

[Bjorn]

Yes, it's a rendering. It's the same driver we're using in our dual 18" subwoofer.

Why sealed enclosure?
As already mentioned size is important. A bass reflex subwoofer with the dimension in the area of 180-200L is simply not a great commercial product. It's too big to reach a larger market, especially here in Europe. This subwoofer will have a net volume of 95-100L.
This means we need a driver with high Xmax and a powerful amplifier in order to reach high SPL. And that's the case here.

I think another good reason to go with something smaller is the benefit of using several subwoofers today. Combined with Dirac Art, it's now possible to both achieve an excellent frequency response and time domain behaviour up to 150 Hz. This hasn't been possible before without a dedicated room with large amounts of acoustic treatment. It's really a game changer. We can now focus on the frequency area above 150 Hz with treatment and which is a lot easier. Here the RPG Broadsorbor with 7,9 cm (3") depth is an excellent product to use by the way.

So with the use of several subwoofers, we can get away with smaller subwoofers and still achieve high SPL and low distortion. With at least two subwoofers together with the Coherence 12 and Dirac Art, it's likely most customers can have a very even frequency response with a resonance free time domain behaviour up to 150 Hz. Some might want to buy three or four subwoofers, but two of our 18" together with the Coherence 12 should achieve a great result in most rooms.

Another benefit is more output in the very lowest frequencies when we go with sealed because of a less steep roll off. This is clearly mainly beneficial for movies/surround.

There's always been a discussion of the lower group delay with sealed subwoofers makes them better. Personally I find that doubtful and believe the main reason why audiophiles find sealed subwoofer tighter than ported is more related to the latter not being designed with big enough enclosure and too small ports. The Coherence 12, which is ported, sounds extremely tight.

So dimension, the clear benefit of several subwoofers, and more output in the lowest region is why we're going with a sealed subwoofer.

 

[Bjorn]

Why not smaller than 18"
Even in a sealed box, a 18" with a well designed enclosure isn't small. Non audiophiles would consider it huge.
However, going with for example a 15" driver would mean that customer would had to buy a minimum of three units in order to achieve the same output as a pair of the Coherence 12 has. And that's more expensive than two 18" subwoofers. So it doesn't make sense to design such subwoofer to sell with the Coherence 12 speakers.


For those who only would like to buy one single subwoofer and require a SPL higher than a pair of the Coherence 12, we will also have the dual 18". That's a passive subwoofer which is recommmended to use with our M1600 mono block (2500W in 4 Ohm). It was designed to work with our horns and has massive output. It's approximately 150L.

 

[tehas]

I think it's a rendering. The mounting screws aren't consistently spaced, which isn't something I've seen in a real driver.

As far as "what is the best driver for this application", that's probably a valid trade secret, and I wouldn't expect @Bjorn to give away to his competitors information that probably cost him considerable time and money to find out.

thats fair, I didn't think that through before asking lol. The rendering got me excited
@Bjorn thanks for explaining the rationale regardless