A Shortlist of Milestone Designs in Small

[lucadelcarlo]

Seeking to compile a shortlist of milestone designs that excelled in delivering performance relative to size. This may include subwoofers as well. Here's a first take at such a list, which should by no means be limited to the past decade, but be rather inclusive of the history of hifi. Very interested to hear, what models do others feel are true standouts in this area?

-Bang & Olfsen Beolab 3
-Sunfire True Subwoofer
-Bowers & Wilkens PV1
-Original Minimus 7s
-Gallo Nucleus Micro (not high-end, yet in 2000, the concept had impact)
-Sunfire CRM2
-Bang & Olfsen Beolab 11 sub

Hoffman's Law may not have been entirely upset, but in each of these examples, the perception of what was possible may have shifted a bit for many when first encountered.

[DeonC]

I'd like to add:
Boston Acoustics Lynnfield 300L
Sonus faber Extrema
Sonus faber Guarneri Homage

Enjoy,
Deon

[jplesset]

Please add KEF 104ab

from the 1970s....

[tvrgeek]

The only thing amazing about the Sunfire was that they actually sold some. Is it a milestone to prove how bad an idea was? Velodyne should raise a toast to Carver every time they sell a sub.

The AR3 OK, the AR1 was the revolution, but the AR3 put it together. Full range in a bookshelf for the first time.
Advent Size/price/performance hallmark for years. Affordable HI-FI
LS35A The hallmark for mini monitors.
Klipsch LaScalla could fill a stadium and still fit in the bands van.
Tanburg Faccett. Plastic, angled and orange. Surprisingly musical for a very inexpensive "funky" little speaker when bigger was better. I still have a pair.
Linn Isobaric's. Real bass out of a small box. The only reason they were not a revolution was cost.
Ohm C2. One, if not the first commercial design to use modern T/S parameters for design. Actually good bass from a reasonable size box.
Vanderstein 2Ce, Milestone? How about monumental for being ugly but sounding way above it's price for 20 years. Few still can do better at any price or any size.

I would have picked one of the first smaller and cheaper Boston's for kick-starting another wave of decent speakers that were affordable out of the US. Not so much a better speaker as the Linfield was on another level altogether, but as more significant to the industry.

I have to be a bit evil. Altec VOT, to prove how a big PA speaker has no business in a home.

[whgeiger]

Originally Posted by lucadelcarlo

Seeking to compile a shortlist of milestone designs that excelled in delivering performance relative to size. This may include subwoofers as well. Here's a first take at such a list, which should by no means be limited to the past decade, but be rather inclusive of the history of hifi. Very interested to hear, what models do others feel are true standouts in this area?

-Bang & Olfsen Beolab 3
-Sunfire True Subwoofer
-Bowers & Wilkens PV1
-Original Minimus 7s
-Gallo Nucleus Micro (not high-end, yet in 2000, the concept had impact)
-Sunfire CRM2
-Bang & Olfsen Beolab 11 sub

Hoffman's Law may not have been entirely upset, but in each of these examples, the perception of what was possible may have shifted a bit for many when first encountered.

For Servo Controlled Subs, Velodyne is Missing from your list.
They are very clean, small footprint (< 2^3), room shakers that are 'musical' as well.

Regards,

WHG

[Lynnfield]

I go for the Lynnfield 300L. Still (for me) the one to beat.

[lucadelcarlo]

I'll add that although the Carver designed sub mentioned earlier is frowned upon, it was added as an archetypal model of substantial low frequency SPL in minimal size a la massive amplifier power and EQ. Whether it's musical is another (important) matter, but I'm not aware of what predates it, and thus included it to represent that approach.

[tvrgeek]

I'll buy that Luc, especially since I list the VOT as a milestone example of wrong.

Would you list Velo as the important milestone for servo? What about the Phillips that preceded them by many years. Small package, deep bass, don't ask about the distortion or cheap tweeters.

How about the Gale for art-deco 30 years too late? They proved you could build a half-decent speaker in Japan.

[Pallas]

NHT SuperZero

KEF HTS-3001 (egg from KHT-3005SE 5.1-channel set)

Peerless XLS12+PR based subs

Etymotic Research ER-4

[cT equals piD]

This thread would be a lot more interesting if it included some photos and dimensions of the amazingly small yet good sounding loudspeaker systems or sub-woofers.

Tvrgeek's Tanburg Faccett I've never heard of. Any chance that you could post a photo and describe it a bit more, TG?

A few months ago at the K-mart in my area, I saw a loudspeaker system measuring about 3.5 inches cubed that really had amazing reproduction for its size, but I don't think that this is what the OP has in mind. My recollection is that actually it was a battery-powered flash-memory card playing device, so even with a built-in amp.Has anyone else seen this? I'll have to go back and identify the product name and manufacturer.

-Pete