Saw this on FB marketplace:
A speaker can have perfectly flat frequency response and yet sound dreadful because of the way it responds to change from equilibrium or steady state. It is not enough to have flat frequency response; a first-rate speaker must be able to handle the dynamics of sudden transients and complex passages, without blurring the sound.
This is a two-way system containing (4) 2 1/8” full range drivers mated to a dedicated 10”woofer, a phase-accurate first-order series crossover at 300 hertz without Zobel correction, elite-quality inductors and capacitors, three dimensional power response, absence of comb-effect lobing, physical (non-electronic) baffle step suppression, and a non-resonant enclosure.
WHY MAGNETIC ARC OXIDIZED FULL RANGE HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVERS (MAOP)?
1. The cones are made with a plasma electrolytic oxidation process, which is a chemical conversion whereby the front and back surfaces of the aluminum/magnesium cone are converted into crystalline oxide, with the crystal growing inward and outward. The microscopic crystalline voids (not a coating) provide constrained-layer damping for a stiff and lightweight structure that provides the best attributes of both metal and paper cones.
WHY SPIDERLESS FULL RANGE HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVERS?
1. The full-range driver has no corrugated spider. A conventional voice-coil/cone assembly is suspended between a flexible surround at the outer edge of the cone and a flexible spider at the base of the cone. Because the subject cone is so light (moving mass of 1.4425 grams) and has such a flat profile, the flexible surround at the outer edge of the cone works well without the inner spider. The air contained in a sealed baffle, acting alone, provides a more linear and predictable spring.
WHY A FIRST-ORDER CROSSOVER?
1. Both parallel and series first-order crossovers are phase-accurate, i.e. have perfect transient response. Time and frequency are not independent of each other. Phase accuracy is necessary for a loudspeaker to correctly respond to changes to or from equilibrium, or to or from a steady state.
WHY A SERIES (RATHER THAN PARALLEL) CROSSOVER?
1. Series crossovers are less sensitive to component variations (due to temperature and/or manufacturing tolerances) because in a series configuration such variations cause only a minor shift in crossover frequency with no effect on amplitude response (as with a parallel network).
2. Series crossovers effectively shunt the drivers outside their bandwidths.
3. Series crossovers require no Zobel impedance-correcting network.
3. Series crossovers provide better amplifier to loudspeaker damping.
WHY THE 300 HERTZ CROSSOVER FREQUENCY?
1. Going much below this frequency requires an iron-core inductor, which due to saturation outputs a saw tooth shaped sine wave. To go lower with air-core inductors is impractical because the wire gauge required for a usably low dc resistance becomes too large.
2. Going much above this frequency involves shorter wavelengths that are prone to cancellation at the crossover frequency if not equidistant from the high and low range drivers.
3. The 300 Hertz crossover frequency can be executed with low distortion air-core foil inductors and low distortion polypropylene film capacitors.
WHY A 2-WAY INSTEAD OF A 3-WAY?
1. As noted above, the relatively high frequency of a midrange to tweeter crossover can cause destructive interference due to driver offset.
2. Coincident midrange/tweeter drivers reduce destructive interference, but suffer from undesirable waveguide effects and intermodulation distortion.
WHY FOUR (4) SMALL DIAMETER (2 1/8” DIAMETER CONE) FULL-RANGE DRIVERS?
1. Four 2 1/8” drivers have the equivalent radiating area of a single cone that is 4 ¼” in diameter, which in a sealed .7 Q enclosure is ample cone area for a 300 Hertz crossover frequency.
2. Four drivers axially opposed cancel reactive forces on the housing baffle, providing an infinitely rock-solid base for outputting sound.
3. Four small drivers mounted on each side of the smallest possible cabinet initiate sound at roughly the same position as that coming off the up-firing 10-inch woofer.
4. Such high dispersion, small-driver/woofer configuration exhibits a coincident spherical output bubble providing accurate power response.
5. The 360 degree, narrow and tall, full range-driver, sealed cabinet, virtually eliminates baffle step and edge reflection anomalies without employing electrical compensation that would otherwise compromise transient response.
WHY A PYRAMID SHAPED UP-FIRING WOOFER CABINET?
1. The pyramid shape of the woofer baffle provides a smaller reflective surface at the inception of the sound bubble referred to above, and at the same time provides the volume necessary for low frequency tuning of a cabinet height optimal for a sitting listener.
2. The pyramid shape provides rock-solid support for the woofer driver as its basket pushes against the unyielding top of the vertical sides of the cabinet.
3. The pyramid shape has nonparallel walls, which suppresses standing waves.
WHY A HARD-PAPER CONE WOOFER?
1. The high-frequency breakup of a paper woofer is naturally damped, providing the outside-bandwidth smoothness necessary with the moderate slope of a first order crossover.
WHY A RELATIVELY SHORT PORT LENGTH?
1. Utilizing the shortest practical port length pushes pipe-resonant frequencies above the bandwidth of the sound being generated inside the baffle.
WHY A CLOSE-TO 20 HERTZ TUNING FREQUENCY FOR THE WOOFER?
1. The lower the woofer resonant frequency, the more articulate bass response. A loudspeaker woofer tuned to a fundamental resonance of 43 Hertz can provide nice sounding bass, but going another octave lower can be exhilarating.
WHY 8-OHM DRIVERS INSTEAD OF 4-OHM?
1. Higher impedance coupled with low phase shift is an easy load for partnering amplifiers, which typically have rising distortion and more demanding current needs when driving lower impedances, especially at higher frequencies.
WHY SEPARATE CABINETS?
1. Separate cabinets are necessary to aim frequencies in the range of the crossover at a common point in free space, which provides coincident output, which eliminates destructive interference.
A speaker can have perfectly flat frequency response and yet sound dreadful because of the way it responds to change from equilibrium or steady state. It is not enough to have flat frequency response; a first-rate speaker must be able to handle the dynamics of sudden transients and complex passages, without blurring the sound.
This is a two-way system containing (4) 2 1/8” full range drivers mated to a dedicated 10”woofer, a phase-accurate first-order series crossover at 300 hertz without Zobel correction, elite-quality inductors and capacitors, three dimensional power response, absence of comb-effect lobing, physical (non-electronic) baffle step suppression, and a non-resonant enclosure.
WHY MAGNETIC ARC OXIDIZED FULL RANGE HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVERS (MAOP)?
1. The cones are made with a plasma electrolytic oxidation process, which is a chemical conversion whereby the front and back surfaces of the aluminum/magnesium cone are converted into crystalline oxide, with the crystal growing inward and outward. The microscopic crystalline voids (not a coating) provide constrained-layer damping for a stiff and lightweight structure that provides the best attributes of both metal and paper cones.
WHY SPIDERLESS FULL RANGE HIGH FREQUENCY DRIVERS?
1. The full-range driver has no corrugated spider. A conventional voice-coil/cone assembly is suspended between a flexible surround at the outer edge of the cone and a flexible spider at the base of the cone. Because the subject cone is so light (moving mass of 1.4425 grams) and has such a flat profile, the flexible surround at the outer edge of the cone works well without the inner spider. The air contained in a sealed baffle, acting alone, provides a more linear and predictable spring.
WHY A FIRST-ORDER CROSSOVER?
1. Both parallel and series first-order crossovers are phase-accurate, i.e. have perfect transient response. Time and frequency are not independent of each other. Phase accuracy is necessary for a loudspeaker to correctly respond to changes to or from equilibrium, or to or from a steady state.
WHY A SERIES (RATHER THAN PARALLEL) CROSSOVER?
1. Series crossovers are less sensitive to component variations (due to temperature and/or manufacturing tolerances) because in a series configuration such variations cause only a minor shift in crossover frequency with no effect on amplitude response (as with a parallel network).
2. Series crossovers effectively shunt the drivers outside their bandwidths.
3. Series crossovers require no Zobel impedance-correcting network.
3. Series crossovers provide better amplifier to loudspeaker damping.
WHY THE 300 HERTZ CROSSOVER FREQUENCY?
1. Going much below this frequency requires an iron-core inductor, which due to saturation outputs a saw tooth shaped sine wave. To go lower with air-core inductors is impractical because the wire gauge required for a usably low dc resistance becomes too large.
2. Going much above this frequency involves shorter wavelengths that are prone to cancellation at the crossover frequency if not equidistant from the high and low range drivers.
3. The 300 Hertz crossover frequency can be executed with low distortion air-core foil inductors and low distortion polypropylene film capacitors.
WHY A 2-WAY INSTEAD OF A 3-WAY?
1. As noted above, the relatively high frequency of a midrange to tweeter crossover can cause destructive interference due to driver offset.
2. Coincident midrange/tweeter drivers reduce destructive interference, but suffer from undesirable waveguide effects and intermodulation distortion.
WHY FOUR (4) SMALL DIAMETER (2 1/8” DIAMETER CONE) FULL-RANGE DRIVERS?
1. Four 2 1/8” drivers have the equivalent radiating area of a single cone that is 4 ¼” in diameter, which in a sealed .7 Q enclosure is ample cone area for a 300 Hertz crossover frequency.
2. Four drivers axially opposed cancel reactive forces on the housing baffle, providing an infinitely rock-solid base for outputting sound.
3. Four small drivers mounted on each side of the smallest possible cabinet initiate sound at roughly the same position as that coming off the up-firing 10-inch woofer.
4. Such high dispersion, small-driver/woofer configuration exhibits a coincident spherical output bubble providing accurate power response.
5. The 360 degree, narrow and tall, full range-driver, sealed cabinet, virtually eliminates baffle step and edge reflection anomalies without employing electrical compensation that would otherwise compromise transient response.
WHY A PYRAMID SHAPED UP-FIRING WOOFER CABINET?
1. The pyramid shape of the woofer baffle provides a smaller reflective surface at the inception of the sound bubble referred to above, and at the same time provides the volume necessary for low frequency tuning of a cabinet height optimal for a sitting listener.
2. The pyramid shape provides rock-solid support for the woofer driver as its basket pushes against the unyielding top of the vertical sides of the cabinet.
3. The pyramid shape has nonparallel walls, which suppresses standing waves.
WHY A HARD-PAPER CONE WOOFER?
1. The high-frequency breakup of a paper woofer is naturally damped, providing the outside-bandwidth smoothness necessary with the moderate slope of a first order crossover.
WHY A RELATIVELY SHORT PORT LENGTH?
1. Utilizing the shortest practical port length pushes pipe-resonant frequencies above the bandwidth of the sound being generated inside the baffle.
WHY A CLOSE-TO 20 HERTZ TUNING FREQUENCY FOR THE WOOFER?
1. The lower the woofer resonant frequency, the more articulate bass response. A loudspeaker woofer tuned to a fundamental resonance of 43 Hertz can provide nice sounding bass, but going another octave lower can be exhilarating.
WHY 8-OHM DRIVERS INSTEAD OF 4-OHM?
1. Higher impedance coupled with low phase shift is an easy load for partnering amplifiers, which typically have rising distortion and more demanding current needs when driving lower impedances, especially at higher frequencies.
WHY SEPARATE CABINETS?
1. Separate cabinets are necessary to aim frequencies in the range of the crossover at a common point in free space, which provides coincident output, which eliminates destructive interference.
