Unusual Speaker Designs

[Urubamba]

I don't think they do it very well, given the phase shifts that occur at each crossover crossing .
Many years ago, the concept of dedicating many speakers and assigning each one a specific frequency range was widespread; many Japanese brands did it. Among them, Yamaha was the exception with its three-way NS1000.

Yamaha-NS1000

The seven-way Ranser was manufactured here; you can see it in the attached video. Each speaker has its own attenuation control for adjusting to taste. The supertweeter was located on the top of the cabinet, which is why it's not visible.
However, the major brands that manufactured speakers exclusively didn't fall into that trap. Nowadays, it's an outdated concept; I don't think there are any more than four-way speakers anymore. Many people confuse the number of speakers with the number of way´s.
Of the brands made in the USA, I remember (I also listened to it and installed it in a huge room) the Andromeda by Phase Linear.

 

[Spyro1991]

I made a profile so I could share that i have acquired a set of Precedant Mz mod III speakers and i am currently slowly restoring them. I have to make a midrange cabinet because I only have one but I have both tweeters both bass drivers. As far as I tested they all work. All speakers connect through the tweeter and a crossover inside it. The woofers have come separated from the main boxes but I believe they were held in by glue or a couple small nails. I will update more once I get more room to work on these beasts. They are quite big, the polk monitor 10's are there for scale i guess lol I will probably start a new thread to update anyone interested!

 

[NotInYourHead]

Phasx Technologies' PX600, the "ultimate" nearfield monitor Bob Katz applauded that looks like an alien warship.
7'' 4th-order bandpass woofer, 5.25" midrange and 1.5" dome tweeter, powered by individual Hypex NCore amplifiers.
Claimed FR: 27Hz-26KHz.
The odd design is said to prevent desk diffractions and achieve the best possible nearfield monitoring experience. Comes with a dedicated DSP unit.
Price tag: $5000 (2014).
Your thoughts?

 

[ckernel8]

View attachment 501883
Phasx Technologies' PX600, the "ultimate" nearfield monitor Bob Katz applauded that looks like an alien warship.
7'' 4th-order bandpass woofer, 5.25" midrange and 1.5" dome tweeter, powered by individual Hypex NCore amplifiers.
Claimed FR: 27Hz-26KHz.
The odd design is said to prevent desk diffractions and achieve the best possible nearfield monitoring experience. Comes with a dedicated DSP unit.
Price tag: $5000 (2014).
Your thoughts?

Looks like a little recliner. I dig it. The price is high, but that cabinet looks like a pain in the ass to make.

 

[Doenerkunde]

Duevel Attika. Omnidirectional desktop speakers using SB Acoustics coaxes. 685€/pr.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Except for the classic conical reflector for the coaxial drover, this is the ugliest, the wrongest form factor, the biggest desk-space (over-and-under) conqueror, the wrongest left-to-right extreme position, loudspeakers I have ever seen in my long life.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

The odd design is said to prevent desk diffractions

It will not prevent desk reflections/diffractions. And it will add another diffraction from the front edge of the enclosure (in front of woofer).

 

[Doenerkunde]

Except for the classic conical reflector for the coaxial drover, this is the ugliest, the wrongest form factor, the biggest desk-space (over-and-under) conqueror, the wrongest left-to-right extreme position, loudspeakers I have ever seen in my long life.

You could also position them at the back of the desk. Or even upside down.

I think it fits the thread well

 

[Curvature]

The web is bereft of photos of the Precedent MZ Mod 3. A pity- not only was it unusual looking in the extreme, it also anticipated a bunch of trends in speaker design. Separate modules for woofer, midrange, and tweeter, all alignable in space, transmission line midrange, anti-diffraction treatments- all in the mid 1970s.

I made a profile so I could share that i have acquired a set of Precedant Mz mod III speakers and i am currently slowly restoring them. I have to make a midrange cabinet because I only have one but I have both tweeters both bass drivers. As far as I tested they all work. All speakers connect through the tweeter and a crossover inside it. The woofers have come separated from the main boxes but I believe they were held in by glue or a couple small nails. I will update more once I get more room to work on these beasts. They are quite big, the polk monitor 10's are there for scale i guess lol I will probably start a new thread to update anyone interested!
View attachment 499153

Possibly the first pictures of these speakers. I've looked a few times before.

Very curious to see the finished result and measurements, if possible.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

You could also position them at the back of the desk. Or even upside down.

Or in the garbage container.
Mounting them close to the wall (photo of bedroom) is wrong - as with all omnidirectional loudspeakers. Also - loudspeaker with limited vertical dispersion mounted above heads?! All of the highs will be dispersed in horizontal plane, not in vertical.
Positioned on the back desk side is wrong also - why would anyone need omnidirectional loudspeaker positioned so close to the listener? Conventional loudspeaker will be better on the desk. Omnidirectional loudspeakers need space to breathe and enough distance to the listener to get any positive aspects of omnidirectional design.
This form factor is just gigantic waste of the space occupied by the enclosure - that stupid indent to get into shelf/desk plane?!

I think it fits the thread well

Yes, by all means.

 

[Eulipian]

View attachment 55960

The top one reminds me of the heyday of time-aligned loudspeakers (late '70s/early '80s)

Heathkit 1981
View attachment 55956

KEF 105(.2, in this case)
View attachment 55957

Technics SB-7000
View attachment 55958

Polk Audio Monitor 12, RTA-12 (etc.)
View attachment 55959


etc.

I've had a pair of the Polk's since a long time ago. They still sound great to me. Only maintenance was I replaced one of the tweeters.

 

[NotInYourHead]

It will not prevent desk reflections/diffractions. And it will add another diffraction from the front edge of the enclosure (in front of woofer).

Avoiding the near-field reflections that bounce off the desk in front of monitors, creating comb filter distortion effects, and competing with direct sound from the speakers, Phasx’ Shadocaster technology uses a simple “shelf” under each of the desktop drivers to deflect reflections and associated delay/comb filtering effects. According to Phasx, frequency response anomalies are typically reduced by more than 25 dB and speaker performance is dramatically enhanced by Shadocaster at the listening position and the desktop reflection is attenuated by more than 20 dB.

Does this claim and the graphics make any sense?

 

[LTig]

Does this claim and the graphics make any sense?

Not really. The graphic showing the typical situation is not true (maybe for people who don't know how to place them correctly). On a desk monitors need to be on stands such that the tweeter is at ear height. Doing this reduces the reflections to the listeners ear a lot. On mixing consoles the monitors often sit elevated on the meter bank, and the console is not horizontal either, so also reduced reflections.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Does this claim and the graphics make any sense?

Upper graphic is OK, but lower is pure phantasy - lower frequency sound waves are not laser beams, they will diffract around the "shadocaster", reflect from the desk back to the listener, creating comb-filter effect again.

This is the correct way for loudspeaker mounting:

On a desk monitors need to be on stands such that the tweeter is at ear height.

Or, on the low stands behind the desk/mixing console, with woofer height just above the desk/console plane, angled to the listener.

 

[TimF]

Sony APM-690 [ ATTACH=full]502086[/ATTACH]

 

[NotInYourHead]

Sony APM-690 [ ATTACH=full]502086[/ATTACH] View attachment 502332

Japanese brands used to be infatuated with flat diaphragm speaker drivers. Now the technology kind of lives on in BMR drivers.