Sigberg Audio SBS.1 Active speakers development thread

[Sigberg Audio]

The SBS.1 system was released back in 2021. Performance wise it is a very potent system, so not really much need for change there. I'm however considering a visual revision of the monitor, and I envision three possible directions:

1. Update the design to more closely match the Saranna, with veneered side panels and the same color options as the Saranna (a dark and a light version). The grille would be shortened so the logo becomes visible beneath it, and changed to gray on the light version. I would likely also adjust the dimensions slightly (a bit deeper).
2. Lean even more heavily into the studio direction — essentially keeping the current version as it is, but simplifying it to only be offered in black and without a grille.
3. Keep it as it is now, but just shorten the grille and change it to gray on the white version.
4. A combination of 1 and 2, where both options are available. One “hi-fi” version with veneer, and one studio version (covers the largest market but is more demanding in terms of logistics, inventory, marketing, etc.)

A quick Photoshop of option 3:

Thoughts and reflections are very welcome! And since option 4 is a bit of a "have your cake and eat it too" choice, I'm perhaps most interested to hear what you'd prefer of the first three.

 

[Soniclife]

I think the existing versions are better than any of those suggestions.

 

[Sigberg Audio]

I think the existing versions are better than any of those suggestions.

Hehe, that's interesting! Thank you for chiming in, would you care to elaborate a bit?

 

[Soniclife]

Hehe, that's interesting! Thank you for chiming in, would you care to elaborate a bit?

Not sure I have anything intelligent to say, but the existing ones are a small clean design without obvious areas to improve. FWIW I'm not keen on the short grill suggestion.

 

[AHo]

I think compared to the manta and saranna, the SBS is less visible in a room. Any of the design changes you propose would make it stand out more. I prefer the current design where it blends into the background over them being more visible. So no need to change in my opinion.

 

[Vacceo]

Aesthetics wise, a set matching Sarannas for multichannel is perhaps among the best options in the market. Chances are that something of that level can compete with mixing studios that have traditionally used Genelec, and since the SBS have, in fact, a presence in studios, probably the level is just up there.

That said, how much improvement would you get on something you can acomplish with the existing speakers? If one of your customers is OCD enough, I guess getting everything in the same veneer would look as impressive as it sounds. So focusing on aesthetics I´d ask back the following questions:
-Would offering the veneer option vs. "naked" (studio version) impact the production substantially? If the answer is "not much", I´d go ahead and offer both versions.

-The SBS are not bass reflex, hence, it´s expected that you can place them very close to the walls. The angle backwards looks steeper than it is in real life, hence why adding a bit further depth should not be an issue for any potential customer (the change would be centimeters at most).

 

[Sigberg Audio]

I think compared to the manta and saranna, the SBS is less visible in a room. Any of the design changes you propose would make it stand out more. I prefer the current design where it blends into the background over them being more visible. So no need to change in my opinion.

Yes, that was the design goal initially as well. They extrude a simple elegance when seen in the flesh, and the finish is of a very high standard. But especially if the grille is left on, the design is perhaps too subtle.

What I have learned since they were originally designed, is that at least some potential customers might expect something with a bit more flair and details when they pay this much for a speaker.

 

[Sigberg Audio]

Aesthetics wise, a set matching Sarannas for multichannel is perhaps among the best options in the market. Chances are that something of that level can compete with mixing studios that have traditionally used Genelec, and since the SBS have, in fact, a presence in studios, probably the level is just up there.

That said, how much improvement would you get on something you can acomplish with the existing speakers? If one of your customers is OCD enough, I guess getting everything in the same veneer would look as impressive as it sounds. So focusing on aesthetics I´d ask back the following questions:
-Would offering the veneer option vs. "naked" (studio version) impact the production substantially? If the answer is "not much", I´d go ahead and offer both versions.

-The SBS are not bass reflex, hence, it´s expected that you can place them very close to the walls. The angle backwards looks steeper than it is in real life, hence why adding a bit further depth should not be an issue for any potential customer (the change would be centimeters at most).

From a pure cabinet production perspective, offering both alternatives isn't a huge deal. But it adds to logistics with regards to having to stock three different options instead of two, having product photos of three different options, website support and information for all three options, etc etc.

An option with veneered panels would also be wider, so probably I would have to have different versions of the shipping boxes for the two variants ("naked" and veneered). Might figure out a way to have different inlays in the same base box.

So it's a possible route, but not without complexity.

 

[Keith_W]

Have you considered automotive vinyl wrap? You can supply speakers in any colour the customer wants, including metal effect. I think those speakers would look quite nice with a brushed aluminium finish. You don't have to apply it yourself, you could contract it out to an automotive vinyl wrapper in your area. That way, customers can have a speaker finished in almost anything they want. Here are some examples:

Okay, maybe not the last one

 

[Sigberg Audio]

That is not a quality of finish I would want to provide, no. It is flexible with regards to appearance, but not durable enough or of high enough visual quality.

 

[Keith_W]

Your call, but I would put to rest any concerns about durability. Those vinyl wraps go on cars. They endure baking sun, cold, rain, salt, bird poo, careless owners, and all sorts of abuse that loudspeakers do not have to endure. I normally hate that fake metal look when I see it on plastics but I don't mind that metal wrap.

 

[ryanosaur]

Your call, but I would put to rest any concerns about durability. Those vinyl wraps go on cars. They endure baking sun, cold, rain, salt, bird poo, careless owners, and all sorts of abuse that loudspeakers do not have to endure. I normally hate that fake metal look when I see it on plastics but I don't mind that metal wrap.

I would have agreed had I not just seen a wrapped car that looked like it got in a fight with a frisky liger and lost. Dunno what that dude did to his car, but d@mn. It was gnarly AF.

They can look nice if kept safe, and in a home environment might well last much longer. I would still prefer a proper finish, though.

Anybody have memories of a Black Ash Vinyl Wrap peeling off their gear?
*shyly raises hand

I’ll pass on that. Hard pass.

 

[JohnnyNG]

@dogmamann Let me quote our homepage to explain what we do differently, so perhaps it becomes clearer what I mean:

"When we know that our speakers will be used with subwoofers, we can do a number of things differently than other speaker manufacturers. To dramatic effect. Our speakers do not have bass drivers. Instead they have dedicated drivers specifically designed to handle midbass. Almost no speakers do this, because they're typically 2-way or 3-way speakers, and there's simply no room in the design for a dedicated midbass driver. Our systems are 4-way by design, the subwoofer making up the 4th channel.

(..)

The midbass drivers in our speakers cover roughly 90-600hz, which one typically refers to as upper bass and lower midrange. Almost all speakers have a driver sharing this area either with the bass or with the midrange.

This frequency range happens to contain something quite important: A large part of both male and female voices. As if that wasn't enough, there's an incredible amount of drive, punch and attack in this frequency range. The fundamental of a lot of percussion and rhythm instruments live here.

A second point is that bass is extremely demanding to reproduce. When our speakers are never asked to that, the added capacity and dynamic range is significant. We're not only cutting away the bass, we're using different drivers (less mass, different suspension, higher sensitivity), specifically designed for midbass duty and with extreme dynamic capacity"


A final, more practical aspect, is that the enclosures can be made smaller when you don't need volume to allow the drivers to play deep bass.

These are well above my pay grade, and I can't begin to grasp what goes into designing them (I'm only 1/4 Norwegian), but I was reading through and this post really hit home as I had a recent revelation about dedicated midbass speakers and this explains it quite well.

Instead of going with larger mains to address the shortcomings of my Revel M106 in the midbass as they transition to my sub, I added a 12" Eminence Kappalite 3012LF in a sealed cabinet actively crossed/amplified between 80-300Hz under each M106. Wow! I can't believe all the added punch, dynamics, and detail and of course the M106 are now coasting at any level.

Although I've not heard the Revel F208 I do believe this is a better solution (used with a sub, of course) since the F208 has bass drivers below 300Hz as opposed to a dedicated midbass speaker.

J

Post in thread '3 way active with real punch.. which way would you go.? Pro driver or .?'

May 30, 2025

B&C 12NBX100, Eminence 3012LF. The latter has a 3" voice (instead of 4") and no shorting rings, but the designer (Jerry McNutt of Eminence) did a superb job with the motor geometry, and imo this very reasonably-priced woofer punches well above its weight class.

Appreciated, sir. The 3012LF looks pretty perfect in a ~1ft^3 sealed box. The idea is to use a pair crossed (actively) between a single *sub* woofer (<80Hz) and the mains (>300Hz). Thinking of placing one below each main.

Thanks again for the 3012LF recommendation, Duke. I wound up doing exactly this under my Revel...

• JohnnyNG

• 

Anyway, nothing to do with Sigberg Audio so sorry for the derail but I do appreciate this post and your awesome products. Skål!

 

[Sigberg Audio]

These are well above my pay grade, and I can't begin to grasp what goes into designing them (I'm only 1/4 Norwegian), but I was reading through and this post really hit home as I had a recent revelation about dedicated midbass speakers and this explains it quite well.

Instead of going with larger mains to address the shortcomings of my Revel M106 in the midbass as they transition to my sub, I added a 12" Eminence Kappalite 3012LF in a sealed cabinet actively crossed/amplified between 80-300Hz under each M106. Wow! I can't believe all the added punch, dynamics, and detail and of course the M106 are now coasting at any level.

Although I've not heard the Revel F208 I do believe this is a better solution (used with a sub, of course) since the F208 has bass drivers below 300Hz as opposed to a dedicated midbass speaker.

J

Post in thread '3 way active with real punch.. which way would you go.? Pro driver or .?'

May 30, 2025

B&C 12NBX100, Eminence 3012LF. The latter has a 3" voice (instead of 4") and no shorting rings, but the designer (Jerry McNutt of Eminence) did a superb job with the motor geometry, and imo this very reasonably-priced woofer punches well above its weight class.

Appreciated, sir. The 3012LF looks pretty perfect in a ~1ft^3 sealed box. The idea is to use a pair crossed (actively) between a single *sub* woofer (<80Hz) and the mains (>300Hz). Thinking of placing one below each main.

Thanks again for the 3012LF recommendation, Duke. I wound up doing exactly this under my Revel...

• JohnnyNG

• 

Anyway, nothing to do with Sigberg Audio so sorry for the derail but I do appreciate this post and your awesome products. Skål!

Skål!

Yes, that's a cool solution! So the only thing "wrong" now is that the M106 woofer is still a woofer. So you are now using a relatively heavy, low sensitivity driver as a pure midrange driver. I am sure your setup sounds awesome, this is just a point "on topic" for this thread - that this is the benefit we get when we design the SBS speakers from the ground up to be 4-way. We can use dedicated drivers even more suited for midbass and midrange duty than what you find in a typical 2-way speaker.

 

[Sokel]

These are well above my pay grade, and I can't begin to grasp what goes into designing them (I'm only 1/4 Norwegian), but I was reading through and this post really hit home as I had a recent revelation about dedicated midbass speakers and this explains it quite well.

Instead of going with larger mains to address the shortcomings of my Revel M106 in the midbass as they transition to my sub, I added a 12" Eminence Kappalite 3012LF in a sealed cabinet actively crossed/amplified between 80-300Hz under each M106. Wow! I can't believe all the added punch, dynamics, and detail and of course the M106 are now coasting at any level.

Although I've not heard the Revel F208 I do believe this is a better solution (used with a sub, of course) since the F208 has bass drivers below 300Hz as opposed to a dedicated midbass speaker.

J

Post in thread '3 way active with real punch.. which way would you go.? Pro driver or .?'

May 30, 2025

B&C 12NBX100, Eminence 3012LF. The latter has a 3" voice (instead of 4") and no shorting rings, but the designer (Jerry McNutt of Eminence) did a superb job with the motor geometry, and imo this very reasonably-priced woofer punches well above its weight class.

Appreciated, sir. The 3012LF looks pretty perfect in a ~1ft^3 sealed box. The idea is to use a pair crossed (actively) between a single *sub* woofer (<80Hz) and the mains (>300Hz). Thinking of placing one below each main.

Thanks again for the 3012LF recommendation, Duke. I wound up doing exactly this under my Revel...

• JohnnyNG

• 

Anyway, nothing to do with Sigberg Audio so sorry for the derail but I do appreciate this post and your awesome products. Skål!

How did you measured that build? Integrating a bass driver with a mid at 200-500Hz is just about one of the hardest things to do as it needs difficult measurements.
All the male voices and energy are centered there.

 

[JohnnyNG]

Skål!

Yes, that's a cool solution! So the only thing "wrong" now is that the M106 woofer is still a woofer. So you are now using a relatively heavy, low sensitivity driver as a pure midrange driver. I am sure your setup sounds awesome, this is just a point "on topic" for this thread - that this is the benefit we get when we design the SBS speakers from the ground up to be 4-way. We can use dedicated drivers even more suited for midbass and midrange duty than what you find in a typical 2-way speaker.

Absolutely understood! I've got the DIY sub and midbass tackled so replacing the M106 is the next step for which I'm looking at sourcing the Sica 5,5 C 1,5 CP and Sica's own passive crossover so I can't screw it up too badly. Maybe.

 

[JohnnyNG]

How did you measured that build? Integrating a bass driver with a mid at 200-500Hz is just about one of the hardest things to do as it needs difficult measurements.
All the male voices and energy are centered there.

I don't want to hijack this thread any more but I guarantee my methods would not withstand ASR scrutiny.

After wiring them in I really just ran a quick REW sweep to check levels then ran Dirac Live and was so taken with the midbass improvement I haven't touched anything in a couple months. I'm sure there are issues which I'll eventully try to measure and address but for now the overwhelming impression is one of a big improvement in punch and dynamics which is fundamental to lots of my music.