Who Knows What Speaker This Is? (Lynn Olsen, This is For You!!)

[Patrick Bateman]

At the CES in January, there was a company doing a demo of an open baffle speaker that used a waveguide-loaded compression driver. If I'm not mistaken, the spaker wasn't even for sale; the company was actually trying to sell cables or something like that. The speaker was probably a one-off.

But the speaker DESIGN is damn-near identical to what Lynn is describing in his recent thread about the Ariels.

Their demo really grabbed my attention. The sound reminded me of what I heard from the open baffle Bastanis that Lynn has talked about, combined with the amazing clarity of GedLee's Summa. I think that the articulation and headroom of the Summa is nearly impossible to beat, but the imaging of a dipole is really something else. (Lynn, if you are reading this, I am the guy who talked to you after you auditioned the Summa at the RMAF in 2005. We discussed it's sound for a solid hour in the lobby.)

Getting back to the point, the sound of this dipole at the 2007 CES was really something else. IMHO, it was the best sound I heard at CES.

If anyone is interested in exploring a combination of open-baffle imaging with the low coloration of waveguides, this is your speaker.

I may have some pics somewhere, but not holding my breath. I can tell you what drivers it used, because I had to take a peek

The midrange it used was a Ciare 6.38 NdMR
http://www.assistanceaudio.com/08_CIARE.html

I didn't get a look at the compression driver, but it was loaded in what appeared to be a Eng 1-90pro (http://www.ddshorns.com/catalog.php?page=ENG190Pro). Is this the same waveguide used by Audio Kinesis? http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2006/102106ak/

In order to get BASS, they were using a TON of eminence fifteens, but I didn't note the model number. It was something like four fifteens per side.

[AJinFLA]

Hi Patrick

You are most likely referring to Emerald Physics discussed/pictured here in dipole form CS1 .
Here is the earlier quadrupole version.

cheers,

AJ

[Patrick Bateman]

Originally posted by AJinFLA
Hi Patrick

You are most likely referring to Emerald Physics discussed/pictured here in dipole form CS1 .
Here is the earlier quadrupole version.

cheers,

AJ

Thanks for the answer! The one I heard is the one in your pic from htguide, with a MTM midrange comprised of the Ciare mids.

What did you think of the sound?

[Lynn Olson]

Originally posted by Patrick Bateman
Their demo really grabbed my attention. The sound reminded me of what I heard from the open baffle Bastanis that Lynn has talked about, combined with the amazing clarity of GedLee's Summa. I think that the articulation and headroom of the Summa is nearly impossible to beat, but the imaging of a dipole is really something else. (Lynn, if you are reading this, I am the guy who talked to you after you auditioned the Summa at the RMAF in 2005. We discussed it's sound for a solid hour in the lobby.)

Hi Patrick, I wish I had heard the Emerald Physics. I was really rushing around at both RMAF shows, and didn't give many rooms an in-depth listen - lack of time, unfamiliar material, small rooms with doubtful acoustics, etc.

The Bastanis Apollos, the Summas, the ones designed by Wally Mankiewitz, and a handful of others stood out as noteworthy and interesting, but very difficult to make any real assessment of their true character thanks to adverse demo conditions. I was surprised just how dreadful the really expensive famous-name speakers sounded, though - it was kind of a shock. I had forgotten just how far off-track the mainstream has gotten.

I spent most of the last RMAF babysitting the Karna amplifiers, a mistake I won't make again. They stay home this year. I've made so many enemies with my horn postings I think I better avoid any of the horn exhibitors this year - I'm persona non grata enough as it is. Oh well, maybe I can hang out for a little while at the Lowther and Edgarhorn rooms, at least they still like me.