New development thread: Sigberg Audio SBS Generation 2

[sigbergaudio]

Congratulations on the new product launch!

Have you thought of designing cabinets with smooth, rounded edges or corners? That looks really cool and safer to move about without injuring yourself.

The older version had more rounded corners and edges, so I'm moving in the opposite direction. On the plus side our speakers are designed to be placed quite close to the wall, so they're less in the way. Less risk of accidently tripping over them!

 

[sigbergaudio]

Good luck with the development and sales for your speakers after all your work and investment.

The pedant in me wondered what is the difference between using a Fibonacci sequence and being inspired by a Fibonacci sequence, although Fibonacci is undeniably a cool name.

Hehe, good question, that I can't answer.

Here is the full description of this driver (including their description of the fibonaaci inspired cone) from the manufacturer:

The membrane design is the core of the "Fibonacci" collection by RS Speakers. The diaphragm features a custom para-elliptical profile, enhanced with a folded edge structure to increase rigidity in this critical area of the cone. The patented "Fibonacci" technology involves a precise erosion of the cone's outer surface by laser marker, following a path inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, named after the Italian mathematician who numerically defined the "Golden Ratio," a harmonious form found in nature. The primary advantage of this technology is the reduction of unwanted resonance modes in the cone. The diaphragm is treated with an acrylic coating on the front and a damping layer on the back, creating a "sandwich" structure that balances rigidity and damping. Special attention has been given to the suspensions, both in terms of geometry and materials: the NBR butyl rubber surround has a dual-wave profile to ensure symmetrical cone excursion. The Conex spider is meticulously crafted with controlled moulding depth to maximize excursion while minimizing dynamic offsets. The voice coil is built on a fiberglass former, maintaining perfect mechanical stability even at high temperatures and under extreme dynamic conditions. The magnetic circuit is designed to ensure maximum symmetry of the magnetic field flux in the gap, and an aluminum demodulating ring is included to reduce the overall inductance of the coil and harmonic distortion. The Fibonacci Mid-Woofers incorporate a custom-designed aluminum phase plug, replacing the traditional dust cap dome. This ogive extends the woofer's usable frequency range, facilitating a smoother crossover with tweeters.

 

[Salt]

That's a rabbit hole to dig in

 

[sigbergaudio]

Product photos now live on the website:

SBS Gen 2 Speaker System

SBS.1 SBS Active Speaker System delivers compact floorstanding speakers with full-range sound, deep bass, active speaker design, and precise high-end performance.

www.sigbergaudio.com

And for those still in doubt, the monitor is not a standalone speaker, this is a speaker system accompanied with one or two of our subwoofers as well:

 

[Mnyb]

Small differences but suddenly it looks more premium

 

[sigbergaudio]

Small differences but suddenly it looks more premium

Thank you, yes that was the intention. One gets the same impression when seeing it in real life as well. The new driver adds some interesting visuals, the harder edges on the cabinet makes it look more modern, and finally both the white color is deeper, softer and more exclusive looking (same ultra light grey color as the Saranna), and the black is also even deeper and better looking than before.

I know some think I should have made larger changes, but this sort of made it what the SBS perhaps should have been from the beginning. A monitor with more significant changes may come at some point, but then probably as a different model.

 

[dpturner]

... the black is also even deeper and better looking than before.

blacker blacks? even, dare i say, "inkier" black?

 

[sigbergaudio]

blacker blacks? even, dare i say, "inkier" black?

Hard to describe the difference between two black variants. It looks better (but relatively similar).

 

[sigbergaudio]

I had this idea of possibly offering a way to upgrade the SBS.1 from the beginning, since the drivers use the same chassi. I have also got many questions about this, and the first couple of people have already purchased this upgrade - so I've decided to officially offer an update path from the original SBS.1. It will essentially be a Generation 2 in a SBS.1 chassis, so I've called the result the SBS Generation 1.5.

SBS.1 Upgrade kit (Generation 1.5)

This kit will be available for delivery as soon as SBS Generation 2 is finalized. Expected shipping: March 2026. Upgrade your original Sigberg Audio SBS.1 speakers with this upgrade kit! This kit transforms your SBS.1 pair to what is essentially an SBS Generation 2 in an SBS.1 cabinet. We've...

www.sigbergaudio.com

 

[David_M]

I had this idea of possibly offering a way to upgrade the SBS.1 from the beginning, since the drivers use the same chassi. I have also got many questions about this, and the first couple of people have already purchased this upgrade - so I've decided to officially offer an update path from the original SBS.1. It will essentially be a Generation 2 in a SBS.1 chassis, so I've called the result the SBS Generation 1.5.

SBS.1 Upgrade kit (Generation 1.5)

This kit will be available for delivery as soon as SBS Generation 2 is finalized. Expected shipping: March 2026. Upgrade your original Sigberg Audio SBS.1 speakers with this upgrade kit! This kit transforms your SBS.1 pair to what is essentially an SBS Generation 2 in an SBS.1 cabinet. We've...

www.sigbergaudio.com

So, the SBS v1.5 and v2.0 are identical and sound exactly alike?

 

[sigbergaudio]

So, the SBS v1.5 and v2.0 are identical and sound exactly alike?

They are not visually identical in the sense that the cabinet is not the same, if you had the SBS.1 you would be re-using your existing cabinets, but the sound would be 99% identical yes.

 

[daniboun]

Question please : how do you measure an "Accurate, natural sound and zero listening fatigue." ?

 

[sigbergaudio]

Question please : how do you measure an "Accurate, natural sound and zero listening fatigue." ?

Feels like a trick question? Or no? What type of answer are you expecting?

 

[kharan]

I don't know the intent of the question, but I don't think it is absurd on the face of it. I would assume that over the course of your designing activity, you have made decisions that you thought would more make the sound have this or that characteristic and that those decision also had an impact of how the speaker measured.

I personally think that a combination of a lack of resonances, high enough SPL capability, low distortion, a smooth directivity and a largely flat on axis FR make a speaker sound natural and non fatiguing. But that's a top level view of things, as a designer you must have some idea of the importance of each factor, when they can be compromised and to what extent, and which to prioritize... And maybe you have some hypotheses that extent beyond Floyd Toole's work (and also other than cardioid radiation and coaxiality, because you have already spoken at length about those.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I don't know the intent of the question, but I don't think it is absurd on the face of it. I would assume that over the course of your designing activity, you have made decisions that you thought would more make the sound have this or that characteristic and that those decision also had an impact of how the speaker measured.

I personally think that a combination of a lack of resonances, high enough SPL capability, low distortion, a smooth directivity and a largely flat on axis FR make a speaker sound natural and non fatiguing. But that's a top level view of things, as a designer you must have some idea of the importance of each factor, when they can be compromised and to what extent, and which to prioritize... And maybe you have some hypotheses that extent beyond Floyd Toole's work (and also other than cardioid radiation and coaxiality, because you have already spoken at length about those.

Sure. I will not necessarily elaborate on the perfect recipe of what makes our speakers sound as balanced as they do, but I will answer in general terms

@daniboun

Accurate
When I write this I simply mean in terms of tonality, that they are not intentionally coloring the reproduction of sound, and could for instance be used for monitoring. So technically this would mean that the have an overall smooth / gently sloping / neutral response in-room.
Natural sound
This is immediately a more complex term. When I write this I mean that the sound feels "right", vocals sounds like humans with the right tone, weight and harmonies. People familiar with the live sound of various instruments find them to be reproduced in a natural way. The opposite would be some kind of "artificial" feeling, which can come from distortion, it can come from panel resonances, it can come from phase issues, it can come from the artifacts produced by too hard EQing in the digital crossovers, etc. It can also come with improperly reproduced soundstage and imaging.
Zero listening fatigue
No deviations in the frequency response, especially in the, say, 800hz-4khz range, very low compression and distortion. Correct tonal balance.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Serious question: should we expect low "listening fatigue"?

Having been in recording studios, the sound is frequently hard and intense. A drum kit in a well designed recording studio is a phenomenal beast and quite an intense experience, especially leading edges of cymbals and rim shots. Even an unamplified grand piano being played really loud can feel overwhelming when you are close to it. Accurate reproduction should not necessarily be smooth and mellifluous, if the recording faithfully captures the smash and crash of percussion.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Serious question: should we expect low "listening fatigue"?

Having been in recording studios, the sound is frequently hard and intense. A drum kit in a well designed recording studio is a phenomenal beast and quite an intense experience, especially leading edges of cymbals and rim shots. Even an unamplified grand piano being played really loud can feel overwhelming when you are close to it. Accurate reproduction should not necessarily be smooth and mellifluous, if the recording faithfully captures the smash and crash of percussion.

A live drum kit is louder than most hifi systems can faithfully reproduce. If you play that loud at home, I agree you would expect to get listening fatigue, in the same way as you would probably be best off wearing hearing protection in the studio.

What you should not get is listening fatigue even when playing loud at home, which would still be a much more moderate level than an actual live studio recording. Beyond that, if you are at a live, mostly unamplified concert, or see a marching band or something like that at a normal distance; while it is loud, it is typically full and pretty rounded. Most instruments aren't harsh or hard at a typical listening distance. Which is only natural, why would we make instruments that aren't pleasant to listen to?

 

[daniboun]

Feels like a trick question? Or no? What type of answer are you expecting?

This question does make sense, though. I often read manufacturers mentioning this argument, so I imagine that scientifically speaking it must be measurable, right?

 

[daniboun]

Serious question: should we expect low "listening fatigue"?

Having been in recording studios, the sound is frequently hard and intense. A drum kit in a well designed recording studio is a phenomenal beast and quite an intense experience, especially leading edges of cymbals and rim shots. Even an unamplified grand piano being played really loud can feel overwhelming when you are close to it. Accurate reproduction should not necessarily be smooth and mellifluous, if the recording faithfully captures the smash and crash of percussion.

That's interesting. I've been a drummer for many years and I sincerely find that recordings from the 80s and 90s are more natural and impactful than current recordings. When you listen, for example, to The Cure in Orange live album from 1987 and then listen to a Cure live album from after 2000, even with the same song, you immediately hear this general compression of the instruments, which in my opinion greatly distorts the very essence of certain instruments, particularly the drums and percussion.

 

[daniboun]

Une batterie acoustique est plus forte que ce que la plupart des systèmes hi-fi peuvent reproduire fidèlement. Si vous jouez aussi fort chez vous, il est normal de ressentir une fatigue auditive, tout comme il est conseillé de porter des protections auditives en studio.

A contrast is necessary here. Drum tracks are recorded separately on most studio albums. Recording implies arrangements, and therefore drastic modifications to the original sound. Many drummers today use electro-acoustic drum kits with lower sound pressure levels. Since recordings are, by definition, all more or less optimized, it's not really a problem for hi-fi systems to reproduce them. Therefore, there are good and bad recordings, just as there are good and bad speakers.