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Sigberg Audio: Building a "design" subwoofer that actually sounds good

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sigbergaudio

sigbergaudio

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May also be worth mentioning that we have a pretty extensive demo playlist to test your system and not least subwoofers. :)

As opposed to many "high fidelity" playlists, there a pretty broad range of music genres and styles in this list. All they got in common is deep and/or interesting bass content. :cool: New tracks are added on a pretty regular basis.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ClBLtpbMZsGa09WTyx8Fz?si=dUfKwsboTeKJPmPGjEUclA - click this link to go directly to the playlist, or search for Sigberg Audio on Spotify.
 

boXem

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May also be worth mentioning that we have a pretty extensive demo playlist to test your system and not least subwoofers. :)

As opposed to many "high fidelity" playlists, there a pretty broad range of music genres and styles in this list. All they got in common is deep and/or interesting bass content. :cool: New tracks are added on a pretty regular basis.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ClBLtpbMZsGa09WTyx8Fz?si=dUfKwsboTeKJPmPGjEUclA - click this link to go directly to the playlist, or search for Sigberg Audio on Spotify.
May I suggest you give an ear to this?
Some interesting stuff inside.
 
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sigbergaudio

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Our Inkognito 10" version has been tested by Stereopluss now, resulting in 5/5 stars :D

Those that are Scandiavian (it's in Norwegian I'm afraid) can read it on page 50 here: https://view.joomag.com/stereo-stereopluss-8-2020/0232842001604579966?short&

There was a focus on smaller speakers in this issue, so it was tested with KEF R5, KEF LS50, Sonus Faber Lumina-1 and JBL HDI-1600 all with good result. Paraphrased quote: "KEF LS50Meta in combination with Inkognito 10 creates a system that is very, very difficult to match at the price. Adding the subwoofer creates a sound that is bigger, fuller and more balanced.(..) The experience is hard to live without."

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sigbergaudio

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Based on feedback from @JDragon and also others, we're now offering the option of a stand/mount that allows for vertical placement on the floor as well as the existing wall mount. This increases the flexibility even more. Both options also work very well from a sound perspective. We do recommend that the subwoofer is placed close to a wall even when using the vertical floor stand.

Below is the in-room frequency response (living room situation) of an Inkognito 10" using an on-wall configuration on the front wall, combined with an Inkognito 12" placed vertically on the floor off to the side of the listening position:
1604844073003.png



Here's a peek at how it looks with vertical floor placement against the wall, easy to miss. :)
http://instagr.am/p/CHSQrM1pvUD/
 

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I think your picture is really great. I politely suggest that it would be beneficial to get rid of the black label. Then it would truly be invisible. I know everyone does a label, but even a small label is visible. But it is too small to be legible. Hence it causes a visual problem with no real benefit.
 
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sigbergaudio

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I think your picture is really great. I politely suggest that it would be beneficial to get rid of the black label. Then it would truly be invisible. I know everyone does a label, but even a small label is visible. But it is too small to be legible. Hence it causes a visual problem with no real benefit.

Thank you for your feedback. The picture doesn't really make the label/logo justice. It's silver, and gives a different impression in real life. It's form and rounded edges is also similar to the form of the subwoofer itself, giving a visual coherence and in our opinion adds to the look. The subwoofer supports two orientations (both on the floor and on the wall), depending on which side you need the amp to be. In the default orientation the label is on the bottom part of the front, but in this particular position it was "upside down" to get the amp on the left side.

It also actually looks somehow weirder without the logo (a couple of prototypes were without logo), so I think we will stick with it. But this is of course a matter of taste. :)
 
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Feyire

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I chose high quality components (Hypex and Scan-Speak), and the cabinet was designed and prototyped over several months based on driver parameters, measurements (both response and vibration tests) as well as tight collaboration with one of the best cabinet builders in Norway, who have built hundreds of custom subwoofers and loudspeakers including horns, typically massive stuff for custom home theaters.
Amazing, not just the components you used, but to have such a compact and stylish design for the sub woofer. This should make it much easier to convince the lady of the house ;)
 
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sigbergaudio

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Amazing, not just the components you used, but to have such a compact and stylish design for the sub woofer. This should make it much easier to convince the lady of the house ;)

Thank you for your kind feedback! To be able to more easily convince other household members was indeed a design criteria. :D
 
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sigbergaudio

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For those curious about the internals, cabinet production in England (these guys have also been building for REL, Kef, Meridian and more) is now ramping up :)

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IMG-20201120-WA0004.jpg
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sigbergaudio

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A small update, we've now revised our DSP configuration, and in addition to a slightly smoother response, we've also decided to support crossovers up to 200hz (previously 160hz) for those who have subwoofers placed in the front and want to take advantage of clean, punchy bass in the midbass area as well. This applies to all subwoofers currently being shipped.

This means the new frequency response is as follows:

Inkognito 10: 23-200hz (+/-3dB)
Inkognito 12: 20-200hz (+/-3dB)

In-room response in medium sized rooms typically show a low end response of around ~20hz for the Inkognito 10, and ~17hz for the Inkognito 12.
 
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sigbergaudio

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Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who have followed this thread and our work this fall. We've actually had a couple of ASR users purchase subwoofers, due for delivery early next year. I wish to thank you for the faith and support, and think this is a good time to share the philosophy behind our products:

https://www.sigbergaudio.no/en/pages/var-filosofi

I wish you all the best for the holidays, and look forward to sharing our journey in 2021 as well. If all goes as planned, we hope to launch both an new subwoofer - and possibly something else. :)
 
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We are hoping to launch a couple of new products in 2021, and we aim to create threads here at ASR for both. This will allow you to follow the process and progression of the prototyping and builds, which is hopefully interesting to some. This at the same time allows us to be transparent about design goals, measurements, etc.

The first new product is a more traditional subwoofer, some initial information and measurements available here https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-high-end-dual-opposing-10.18812/#post-615905 :)
 
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Congrats on your beautiful design and impressive test data. One question - what's the response latency of your DSP?

Thank you very much! Latency is basically non-existant. Maximum 0.35ms on analog inputs and 1.8ms on digital inputs.

1ms latency roughly equals to moving your subwoofer 30cm/1 feet further away.

So assuming a subwoofer without DSP and zero latency, if you moved that subwoofer 10cm or 4 inches, it would have the same effect as the latency on the analogue input.
 
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Kind of weird to take a photo of a hidden subwoofer, but behind this TV there's a 12" Inkognito 12 on the floor. I can say for sure that the sound catches you by surprise when all you see is the speakers on the wall.

Oh, and what's going on with the speaker stands in the front? :p:cool:


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A quick update on delivery. COVID-19 continues to make it difficult to provide reliable delivery, but we do the best we can. Currently the main limiter is getting enough cabinets. This is partly our fault since we underestimated the number of sales. We got a partial shipment before xmas that went right out again, and we will get another within a few weeks. From that shipment all Inkognito 12s are already sold out, while some Inkognito 10 will still be in stock. So if you are on the fence about the Inkognito 10, now is a good time if you want it quick. We put in a new and even larger order a couple of weeks back, which is due mid/late March. So that is unfortunately expected delivery for the Inkognito 12 at the moment.

Hypex has also recently warned that they will have uncertain availability going forward due to the virus, so we've also ordered a truckload of amplifiers to get ahead of that.

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