Sigberg Audio SBS.1 Active speakers development thread

[DNM]

Not sure whether the cardioid capabilities of the 8c/Kii will help at the lowest frequencies with regards to subwoofer integration.

I agree, I was referring to their cardioid adjustability/optimisation above 100hz depending on where you place them relative to side walls. The Kii's can be placed up against a side wall for example, 8c's need a bit of space around them for optimal performance but probably less than the SBS.1's. Whether this results in any audible improvement is another matter of course.

I do like your approach and hope you're successful with it.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I agree, I was referring to their cardioid adjustability/optimisation above 100hz depending on where you place them relative to side walls. The Kii's can be placed up against a side wall for example, 8c's need a bit of space around them for optimal performance but probably less than the SBS.1's. Whether this results in any audible improvement is another matter of course.


I do like your approach and hope you're successful with it.

The SBS.1 will be actively designed to be placed very close to the the front wall, or even on-wall. They're currently located around 10cm from the wall. Haven't yet decided / thoroughly tested whether one DSP configuration will be sufficient both for a placement like that as well as further out on the floor, or whether we will provide several presets. The end-user would also be able to do the necessary adjustments in the onboard EQ to adapt the response to different locations. Since they roll off as early as they do, they're less affected by the front wall in the lower bass as opposed to "fullrange" speakers.

When it comes to sidewalls, you are correct to assume it will of course be beneficial to not have them too close, as is the case with most conventional speakers.

 

[BDE]

For those who like to get some more information about the used speakers, from the picture it looks like:
Coax: Sica 5,5C1,5CP 8+8
Woofer: Sica 5,5H1,5CP 8
Hypex Fusion Amp FA 123

Sica - Sica Loudspeakers

In the DIY community Sica is known for speakers with a very good price performance ratio!

 

[hex168]

For those who like to get some more information about the used speakers, from the picture it looks like:
Coax: Sica 5,5C1,5CP 8+8
Woofer: Sica 5,5H1,5CP 8
Hypex Fusion Amp FA 123

Sica - Sica Loudspeakers

In the DIY community Sica is known for speakers with a very good price performance ratio!

Does anyone know of a US distributor?

 

[sigbergaudio]

Soon ready for assembly

 

[sigbergaudio]

Someone asked us how the tweeter survives when we use 1.order crossover. We're now using 1.order + 2.order assymetric crossover on the treble. The roll-off ends up something like this:

As we can see, the phase is still perfect:

--

 

[sigbergaudio]

Pre-production models up and running tomorrow probably. A small teaser has been posted to instagram

http://instagr.am/p/CMkrbTgsY1x/

 

[sigbergaudio]

Here are some preliminary pictures, mostly of the white pair, the black ones haven't been assembled yet.

--

 

[HooStat]

Is the whole unit slanted, or just the front baffle? Looks like the whole unit but a little hard to tell. Also, what inputs and outputs do you have (though I think you may have already mentioned this)?

 

[sigbergaudio]

Is the whole unit slanted, or just the front baffle? Looks like the whole unit but a little hard to tell. Also, what inputs and outputs do you have (though I think you may have already mentioned this)?

Hi, the whole thing is slanted. The production units will also be about 10% deeper than this. Due to a misunderstanding these ended up 230mm deep included the slant (so from the bottom front to the top rear), while the actual bottom and top panels were supposed to be 230mm. The top is 25mm further back than the front. It's relatively subtle so you don't even notice it from all angles.

The production units will also have machine bolts on both drivers and amplifiers as opposed to these "regular" screws.

Connections:

RCA In
XLR In and Through
Digital AES In and Through
Digital S/PDIF (coax) In and Through
Digital Optical Toslink In

 

[sigbergaudio]

..but these speakers weren't designed to do their thing alone. This is how it can look when pairing the SBS.1 with one of our Inkognito 10 subwoofers. The result is an extremely subtle 3.5-way full range system. Jaws are guaranteed to drop when you put on something a bit bass heavy and all you can see are the speakers.

With a bit of help from EQ, SBS.1 + an Inkognito 10 wall mounted like this plays flat to 25hz in this room (normal sized European living room). This will of course vary depending on your room. The normal setup in this room is one Inkognito 10 on the wall behind the TV and one Inkognito 12 on the floor. That combination plays comfortably down to 20hz. The setup in our somewhat smaller test room (SBS.1 + one 10D subwoofer) does the same.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Some preliminary measurements from the pre-production models after a morning of some DSP adjustments as well. Green curve (15deg off-axis) is the one we're targeting to flat as the speakers are designed to play without toe-in. Pretty happy with the consistency on/off-axis now, and also the general frequency response. Oh, and it sounds freaking awesome.

These are still in-room measurements, so some room noise.

This is 0-15-30-45 degrees @1m (1/12 smoothing)

 

[NYfan2]

I enjoy to follow this thread it's an interesting product.

I have a few questions you maybe can explain.
Is it correct that the crossover is around 2200Hz? And what happens at 11500Hz and above.
It's not a criticism but I'm still learning to read Spinorama and I'm curious about what we see here.

 

[sigbergaudio]

And a couple of quick and dirty pics of the black speakers in our test room. Black stands and better pictures coming soon

Production speakers will have machine bolts instead of "regular" screws on the drivers, and will be 30mm deeper.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I enjoy to follow this thread it's an interesting product.

I have a few questions you maybe can explain.
Is it correct that the crossover is around 2200Hz? And what happens at 11500Hz and above.
It's not a criticism but I'm still learning to read Spinorama and I'm curious about what we see here.

The crossover between the tweeter and midbass is currently ~2900hz.

A tweeter is typically increasingly directional at higher frequencies, so the upper frequencies roll off much quicker off-axis than the lower frequencies. There is very little musical energy above 10-12khz anyway, and it's also good to have a controlled and relatively steep roll-off at the top to avoid too much total high frequency energy in "normal" rooms (that have little to no acoustical damping). Otherwise the result will be way too bright.

With zero toe-in with these speakers, your typical listening position will be 10-15 degrees off-axis, which is represented by the green graph. So on-axis is a bit hot to achieve a flat response at 15 degrees, and at 30-45 degrees the response is rolling off.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Finally got some black stands to the black speakers as well. Dual black 10D pre production subwoofers coming to accompany them soon.

 

[Inner Space]

Finally got some black stands to the black speakers as well. Dual black 10D pre production subwoofers coming to accompany them soon.

@sigbergaudio, may I ask a tangential, OT and general question: there seems to be a lot of exciting and fresh thinking coming out of Norway right now - is this random and cyclical, do you think, or have there been recent or current educational or other policies that make it more likely?

 

[sigbergaudio]

@sigbergaudio, may I ask a tangential, OT and general question: there seems to be a lot of exciting and fresh thinking coming out of Norway right now - is this random and cyclical, do you think, or have there been recent or current educational or other policies that make it more likely?

Are you thinking about within hifi, or in general? There's no huge change in the educational system that I'm aware of, but it is very good in Norway, and everything including University is free. I guess there may have been a positive shift in available support and incentives for new innovations, new startups etc in the last decade or so.

There are also a lot of highly educated, competent people and advanced technology coming out of the offshore/oil industry (going back to the 70s), who are now gradually shifting to other areas.

 

[Inner Space]

Are you thinking about within hifi, or in general? There's no huge change in the educational system that I'm aware of, but it is very good in Norway, and everything including University is free. I guess there may have been a positive shift in available support and incentives for new innovations, new startups etc in the last decade or so.

There are also a lot of highly educated, competent people and advanced technology coming out of the offshore/oil industry (going back to the 70s), who are now gradually shifting to other areas.

Interesting, thanks. I visited 3 times recently, pre-pandemic, and came away with an excellent impression. Great country, lovely people.

 

[sigbergaudio]

We've now set up a preliminary product page on our homepage, and hope to start pre-sales in April.

https://www.sigbergaudio.no/en