Thomann/Swissonic A306 - Review & Measurements by Erin

[feitaishi]

Where’s vertical directivity?

 

[Freckles.Mcgee]

Where’s vertical directivity?

@11:30 in the video. It has around a 15 degree above/below window.

 

[Penelinfi]

So would anyone mind telling me what advantage my Lintons have over these? No Amp required, cost only 25% of a Linton….

They look better, deeper/more bass, should sound a little "fuller" due to not having the lower midrange dip.
Intermodulation distortion?
Reliability

 

[nat1]

Really excellent compression/distortion figures for the price

 

[staticV3]

I just read @Weeb Labs' comment on Erin's review:


Now that's crazy.
Here's a monitor that's competitive based on its acoustic performance alone, and it also has DSP capabilities allowing enthusiasts to apply room correction (and more!) in hardware.

 

[Weeb Labs]

I just read @Weeb Labs' comment on Erin's review:
View attachment 333608

Now that's crazy.
Here's a monitor that's competitive based on its acoustic performance alone, and it also has DSP capabilities allowing enthusiasts to apply room correction (and more!) in hardware.

I am currently working on reverse engineering my dump of the factory EEPROM into a new Sigma Studio project with all of the factory corrections intact, clear labelling of blocks and a ready to use PEQ block for room correction or other purposes. When it is complete, I will be creating a GitHub repository for it.

As explained in my comments on Erin's review, it is fairly straightforward to make adjustments. All that is needed is a TinySine USBi and a copy of the free Sigma Studio application. If you're feeling fancy, an ESP32 can be used instead and enables adjustments to be made wirelessly.

 

[Matias]

I am currently working on reverse engineering my dump of the factory EEPROM into a new Sigma Studio project with all of the factory corrections intact, clear labelling of blocks and a ready to use PEQ block for room correction or other purposes. When it is complete, I will be creating a GitHub repository for it.

As explained in my comments on Erin's review, it is fairly straightforward to make adjustments. All that is needed is a TinySine USBi and a copy of the free Sigma Studio application. If you're feeling fancy, an ESP32 can be used instead and enables adjustments to be made wirelessly.

Awesome. You can also send the correction back to Thomann so the factory can adopt it in the new batches of the speaker.
(Which they could have done as a prototype sending to a lab with NFS and have it right perfect from the beginning, but hey, let's look the glass half full. )

 

[adam2434]

Impressive measurements, especially for the money!

Would be interested to see their 8" 3-way measured on a Klippel NFS.

 

[Weeb Labs]

I have yet to test this thoroughly but as far as I can determine at the moment, the balanced (XLR/TRS) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs on this speaker are each connected to one of the ADAU1701's ADCs and mixed. This means two sources can be connected simultaneously, provided one is balanced and the other is unbalanced.

 

[testp]

heh what i just thought, Swissonic should make a Swiss&Swiss 8C aka D&D 8C but way more cheaper, thinking around ~2000€ price still awesome,

maybe small rerfresh in the looks apartment as well, but thats subjective

 

[KLang1]

If you're feeling fancy, an ESP32 can be used instead and enables adjustments to be made wirelessly.

>A client can be:
> * A PC running SigmaStudio
Oh wow. I want this!

 

[dickiefunk]

I’m very interested in these. I’m also considering the JBL 305/306mk2’s and Kali LP6’s. What would you recommend?

 

[daftcombo]

I’m very interested in these. I’m also considering the JBL 305/306mk2’s and Kali LP6’s. What would you recommend?

Not the 305p. They hiss like crazy and sound bassy and bright to me.

 

[amarsicola]

They look better, deeper/more bass, should sound a little "fuller" due to not having the lower midrange dip.
Intermodulation distortion?
Reliability

They are also much prettier, which is not something to ignore.

 

[8bits]

I am currently working on reverse engineering my dump of the factory EEPROM into a new Sigma Studio project with all of the factory corrections intact, clear labelling of blocks and a ready to use PEQ block for room correction or other purposes. When it is complete, I will be creating a GitHub repository for it.

As explained in my comments on Erin's review, it is fairly straightforward to make adjustments. All that is needed is a TinySine USBi and a copy of the free Sigma Studio application. If you're feeling fancy, an ESP32 can be used instead and enables adjustments to be made wirelessly.

Do you think this would be possible with the Swissonic X8? I remember that you were talking to the developer of these speakers in another thread and he mentioned he uses the same chip in all of them right?

 

[Weeb Labs]

Do you think this would be possible with the Swissonic X8? I remember that you were talking to the developer of these speakers in another thread and he mentioned he uses the same chip in all of them right?

It is possible but the X8's ADAU1701 does not run in selfboot mode from an EEPROM. It is instead configured by an MCU, which prevents permanent changes from being made via USBi without hardware modification.

 

[dweeeeb2]

They look better, deeper/more bass, should sound a little "fuller" due to not having the lower midrange dip.
Intermodulation distortion?
Reliability

FR and directivity:
Estimated in room:
Compression:
IMD:

Swissonic has better directivity, compression, equal bass to 30Hz, equal IMD in terms of audibility at a fraction of a fraction of the price.
I think the Lintons can play louder but you need an amp.
I guess I’m not really so concerned with the comparison as opposed to the metrics used. This example really highlights to me that perhaps another metric is required. As to what that is….well…
EDIT: sorry looks like I’ve inserted the graphs into your post

 

[olymind1]

I'm wondering if that low-mid dip would go away if placed on a desk, or changing dip switches on the back into other settings..?

Also interesting that slight dip at 1.3k mentioned in the video, but if i look at the graph at 11:28 (/or the image), we can notice that 1.3k is bleeding backwards quite strongly, but only that narrow 1.3k frequency if we look it from sideway, almost feels like that 1.3k envelopes the speaker.

But it is not shown if viewing it from the top:

 

[daftcombo]

I'm wondering if that low-mid dip would go away if placed on a desk, or changing dip switches on the back into other settings..?

Also interesting that slight dip at 1.3k mentioned in the video, but if i look at the graph at 11:28 (/or the image), we can notice that 1.3k is bleeding backwards quite strongly, but only that narrow 1.3k frequency if we look it from sideway, almost feels like that 1.3k envelopes the speaker.

View attachment 334154

But it is not shown if viewing it from the top:

View attachment 334157

A narrow dip is unlikely to be audible in my opinion. A narrow peak would be worse.
Try to simulate with EQ a narrow dip in your speakers, and try to ABX it. I think it will be difficult.

The large low-mid dip is more likely to be audible, but easier to EQ.

 

[testp]

we can notice that 1.3k is bleeding backwards quite strongly, but only that narrow 1.3k frequency if we look it from sideway, almost feels like that 1.3k envelopes the speaker.

i think it's fine for 2-way speaker, remember it is also on vertical axis and it's narrow, horizontal is great, it's more important, if this is big deal, coaxial is the way to go then