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New Audiophysic medeos New Hi-End 5-way

mwmkravchenko

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I think at a certain point it becomes audiophile marketing - 'we have an insane, proprietary and very delicate driver devoted to the human voice'. This doesn't disqualify the technical competence of the speaker, mind you. Using multiple midrange drivers is an excellent way of smoothing DI - indeed the only way besides waveguides and DSP/Dipole/Cardioid madness.

AP sort of resides in this audiophilish but technically competent category for me. It's clear they make concessions to appearance (their speakers are very refined in terms of design and silhouette) but they aren't spouting bullshit either. It's very German and I like it.
Waveguides are not that difficult to design I have a few already in use by different places. DSP well timing offsets and such can help in dispersion. But I'm not sure these speakers are active. It is the best way to drive a loudspeaker by leaps and bounds. Going active and having the power design in the hands of the the people that designed the loudspeaker. The trouble is that most people devoted to audio have been convinced that they can read opinions of others and make rational decisions better than people that actually design and understand what is required for the proper reproduction of music. Long been a pet peave of mine. Most audio reviewers are technically incompetent. Having no engineering background informally or formally. And yet they write and influence millions of people. Oh well. If you are of a certain age watching TV in the 70's Lemmings is an apt description of many thing sin audio.
 

Few

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I just ran across a recently posted YouTube video on a new version of the Audio Physic midrange unit. It looks like the new support structure uses more members with smaller cross-sections, and more contact points with the foil diaphragm. I still haven't seen any measurements, though... At least the interviewed designer refused to allow the interviewer to get away with calling the driver "faster."

Few
 

Axo1989

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This is a center driven planar that has some damped points. It is not a completely new idea. But it is a good implementation of the idea. Mechanically speaking. I am not sure if they have pulled this off successfully. A round soft planar will have modes where the membrane will not move along with the rest of the membrane. You can map these out a few ways and try and address the problem areas. Listening will tell you a lot.

Seeing this thread due to the bump.

On that driver, they mentioned a while back that the ability to cheaply/rapidly iterate the bracing structure via 3D printing was essential to satisfactory progress. Previously, they've managed to make a cone tweeter with rather low distortion, and get good sonics via clever use of somewhat novel but relatively prosaic materials elsewhere in their speaker and cabinet implementation, so I expect they have a more than even chance of making things work.

In other words, much of what @617 says. It's not a wide-bandwidth driver though, but they did mention excellent dispersion.

I sure hope those glass panels are not humming along with the tunes. They need some serious damping. But they sure can be a nice design element on those enclosures.
I don't know if they are technically, but sonically I found no indication the glass had a deleterious effect. The newer Audio Physic Avanti that I auditioned "disappeared" as apparent sound sources as any audio physic speaker I've heard, and sounded generally quite neutral.

Their cabinets use MDF, a plastic honeycomb laminate, open-cell ceramic foam, flexible elastomer and glass for different mechanical and acoustic properties. The glass is part of the mixed mass damping, it doesn't hum.

They also use different materials to construct and mount the drivers, like two part plastic and aluminium baskets to damp resonances, pre-tensioning of the aluminium cones to shift resonance/breakup well out of each driver's audio band, damped mounting of drivers to chassis and so on. The current series drivers are all spider-less. Diestertich's thing appears to come from a materials engineering background. It is very German and pragmatic, the materials are used for their intrinsic properties and useful application, not because they are gratuitously exotic, I like their approach too.
 
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Axo1989

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I just ran across a recently posted YouTube video on a new version of the Audio Physic midrange unit. It looks like the new support structure uses more members with smaller cross-sections, and more contact points with the foil diaphragm. I still haven't seen any measurements, though... At least the interviewed designer refused to allow the interviewer to get away with calling the driver "faster."

Edit: watched the new video, yes I liked his response to "faster".
 

mwmkravchenko

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Good video!

Fast. Pleeeeeaaaaasssse. Words used by mental midgets.

Ok what is available from the video. Light weight cabinets, maximally stiff looking at the thin layers and composite designs. I applaud that. The use of 3D dampening. It does what I surmised in the beginning. An attempt at cancelling modal areas out of a round diaphragm.

I love the statement of hearing what you have never heard before. I have developed a few drivers that have done this as well. The frequency response of the driver is similar to many others. But there is a clarity, a lack of distortion that removes a veil from recordings that you may have listened to many many times. I wish this gentleman success. He clearly has some goals to reach and purpose in his design ideas.

Mark
 

mwmkravchenko

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Seeing this thread due to the bump.

On that driver, they mentioned a while back that the ability to cheaply/rapidly iterate the bracing structure via 3D printing was essential to satisfactory progress. Previously, they've managed to make a cone tweeter with rather low distortion, and get good sonics via clever use of somewhat novel but relatively prosaic materials elsewhere in their speaker and cabinet implementation, so I expect they have a more than even chance of making things work.

In other words, much of what @617 says. It's not a wide-bandwidth driver though, but they did mention excellent dispersion.




Their cabinets use MDF, a plastic honeycomb laminate, open-cell ceramic foam, flexible elastomer and glass for different mechanical and acoustic properties. The glass is part of the mixed mass damping, it doesn't hum.

They also use different materials to construct and mount the drivers, like two part plastic and aluminium baskets to damp resonances, pre-tensioning of the aluminium cones to shift resonance/breakup well out of each driver's audio band, damped mounting of drivers to chassis and so on. The current series drivers are all spider-less. Diestertich's thing appears to come from a materials engineering background. It is very German and pragmatic, the materials are used for their intrinsic properties and useful application, not because they are gratuitously exotic, I like their approach too.
Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are trying to describe. And have done very similar types of work in developing loudspeakers that are dead as is possible. No sound of their own has always been my goal. And it is surprisingly difficult to achieve.

Mark
 

MattHooper

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Their cabinets use MDF, a plastic honeycomb laminate, open-cell ceramic foam, flexible elastomer and glass for different mechanical and acoustic properties. The glass is part of the mixed mass damping, it doesn't hum.

They also use different materials to construct and mount the drivers, like two part plastic and aluminium baskets to damp resonances, pre-tensioning of the aluminium cones to shift resonance/breakup well out of each driver's audio band, damped mounting of drivers to chassis and so on. The current series drivers are all spider-less. Diestertich's thing appears to come from a materials engineering background. It is very German and pragmatic, the materials are used for their intrinsic properties and useful application, not because they are gratuitously exotic, I like their approach too.

I had a hunch the glass was part of the damping scheme.

It all sort of reminds me of a product that some small audiophile company marketed, long ago, which was basically a big clamp. You just clamped your speakers in the thing and it purportedly added mass/damping reducing cabinet vibrations, so the speaker "disappeared" better and all that.
 

Axo1989

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I had a hunch the glass was part of the damping scheme.

It all sort of reminds me of a product that some small audiophile company marketed, long ago, which was basically a big clamp. You just clamped your speakers in the thing and it purportedly added mass/damping reducing cabinet vibrations, so the speaker "disappeared" better and all that.

Haha, that product is simultaneously logical and quite mad. :D
 

Axo1989

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Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are trying to describe. And have done very similar types of work in developing loudspeakers that are dead as is possible. No sound of their own has always been my goal. And it is surprisingly difficult to achieve.

Yes, If I had the skills and tools to design and to build loudspeakers I reckon there'd be a lot of interesting stuff to try in that area.
 

Axo1989

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Subsequent thought: I do like my AP Codex, 4-ways which make do with one 7" mid-woofer and one 10" (sub)woofer. Having AP sound with four 7" mid-woofers and eight 11" subs would be an excellent kind of madness.
 
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