Unusual Speaker Designs

[maverickronin]

The B&W Emphasis looks pretty tame compared to some of the previous entries

I found this one's prototype too.

 

[williamwally]

The B&W Emphasis looks pretty tame compared to some of the previous entries

I try not to judge speakers on looks, but God Damn those are ugly.

 

[direstraitsfan98]

I thought I recognized those things. They're on the cover of an album I like.

 

[pozz]

I'd have to include the KEF Blades here too. Really innovative way to achieve point source characteristics.

 

[mongobot]

http://www.nendo.jp/en/works/bunaco-speaker/

I just recently watched a documentary on Japanese NHK channel about the company Bunaco and their work using birchwood in a variety of products, including these speakers. Although the speakers were only mentioned in passing I found it interesting nonetheless.

 

[Ilkless]

The B&W Emphasis looks pretty tame compared to some of the previous entries

I first saw these on Hifido in Japan. 90s B&W seems much more radical and progressive than current B&W. Also, much more neutral tuning with both Nautilus and Matrix speakers of that era.

 

[RayDunzl]

 

[Ilkless]

How does something like that sound??? I am a noob to a lot of this stuff, and never seen anything like that before, it just amazes me.

There are only two companies that still release plasma tweeter speakers: Lansche Audio in Germany and Vaughn Audio in IIRC Canada. Lansche's tweeter is by far the most user-friendly and sophisticated design. It uses a ceramic catalyst to vastly reduce/eliminate toxic ozone emissions, which was a main problem with earlier designs. The required electronics (eg. transformer and power supply) were also integrated into the tweeter to form a single HF device. Vaughn is one of those mystic, haphazard subjectivity-led companies that refurbish/reproduce an older design called the Dukane Ionovac. Lansche measures well, with great directivity due to horn loading of the plasma arc.

I've heard the Lansche once. Like the Stereophile people, I found it a bit thin due to the tipped-up treble, but this is an issue with crossover, not the transducer. Nonetheless, a stunning transducer.

Unlike the Stereophile people, I won't make excuses for the thinness (they claimed it cleared up with burn-in... with a story like this behind the product, of course no one wants to call out the product).

 

[richard12511]

View attachment 64151

What is that? And how much?

 

[Ilkless]

What is that? And how much?

The horn-loaded Magico flagship - Magico Ultimate. About $700,000.

 

[richard12511]

The horn-loaded Magico flagship - Magico Ultimate. About $700,000.

Never knew they made horn speakers. Wonder how this compares to their M6.

 

[LTig]

View attachment 56088

Now -- exactly what are they sellin' with that ad above?

Two speakers, of course. The left one surely beats even Harbeth Monitors wrt natural sounding reproduction of female voices.

 

[Archsam]

Sony's brand new nearfield speakers SA-Z1. I would love to try them one day:

 

[Dialectic]

Sony's brand new nearfield speakers SA-Z1. I would love to try them one day:

View attachment 64943
View attachment 64944

Those look profoundly unappealing.

 

[Archsam]

Those look profoundly unappealing.

Lol, does it help that they are tiny?

 

[mhardy6647]

Sony's brand new nearfield speakers SA-Z1. I would love to try them one day:

View attachment 64943
View attachment 64944

"Beauty, alas, in time shall fade -- but ugliness is forever."
(or, if one prefers: "Beauty is skin deep, but ugly cuts right to the bone."

 

[Archsam]

"Beauty, alas, in time shall fade -- but ugliness is forever."
(or, if one prefers: "Beauty is skin deep, but ugly cuts right to the bone."

I agree they are ugly, but I like them in a form-follow-function, engineering driven sort of way. It's a design that I admire, but won't go as far as to say I love.

This is Sony's description of the design:

The acoustic design concept of SA-Z1 is an ideal point sound source. The physical layout of the driver units, along with the time alignment of soundwaves from each driver unit, is the key in realising this concept. A coaxial layout of woofers and tweeters is an ideal physical arrangement, to better integrate the sound from every driver unit. Sony pursued the accuracy of the coaxial layout in micro meter order. Time alignment of the sound waves is achieved by Sony’s unique algorithm on the FPGA processor. This precisely controls the timing of every driver unit’s output so that the leading edge of the sound waves align.

I also think they look really cool in a sci-fi spaceship sort of way:

 

[andreasmaaan]

I agree they are ugly, but I like them in a form-follow-function, engineering driven sort of way. It's a design that I admire, but won't go as far as to say I love.

This is Sony's description of the design:

The acoustic design concept of SA-Z1 is an ideal point sound source. The physical layout of the driver units, along with the time alignment of soundwaves from each driver unit, is the key in realising this concept. A coaxial layout of woofers and tweeters is an ideal physical arrangement, to better integrate the sound from every driver unit. Sony pursued the accuracy of the coaxial layout in micro meter order. Time alignment of the sound waves is achieved by Sony’s unique algorithm on the FPGA processor. This precisely controls the timing of every driver unit’s output so that the leading edge of the sound waves align.

I also think they look really cool in a sci-fi spaceship sort of way:

View attachment 64950

Spaceship looks aside, I find the engineering principles supposedly behind this speaker a little dubious TBH.

This was discussed at length in this thread.

 

[Archsam]

Spaceship looks aside, I find the engineering principles supposedly behind this speaker a little dubious TBH.

This was discussed at length in this thread.

Yep I have seen that thread already. I think the driver alignment concept is not that far off from KEF's uni-Q driver design, and their speakers are rather well measured and received. It's nice to see Sony (or any other company for that matter) trying something different, and I wouldn't dismiss it until the measurements and listening test are out.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Yep I have seen that thread already. I think the driver alignment concept is not that far off from KEF's uni-Q driver design, and their speakers are rather well measured and received. It's nice to see Sony (or any other company for that matter) trying something different, and I wouldn't dismiss it until the measurements and listening test are out.

Holding this to the standards of an $8k speaker, I think the design can be justifiably dismissed without measurements TBH. There's no beating the laws of physics.

It's a very different concept from the Uni-Q.