Aside from the high cost of the drivers and knowing that price is mainly determined by the R&D caliber of a speaker (or any device for that matter), what kind of technological advancement or design solution/approacg does a 2-way speaker like the Strauss SE-MF-2 have to justify such this price? (50k euro).
This is a curiosity question without any intention to disrespect an old established manufacturer like Strauss.
This is a curiosity question without any intention to disrespect an old established manufacturer like Strauss.
Well - usually products cost as much as the usual target customer is willing to pay (or at least assumed to).
In case of a product intended to be used as a tool by professionals one must deliver in terms of performance - otherwise you will sell nothing. I bet they perform better than many high-end nonsense designs that cost much more.
Regards
Charles
In case of a product intended to be used as a tool by professionals one must deliver in terms of performance - otherwise you will sell nothing. I bet they perform better than many high-end nonsense designs that cost much more.
Regards
Charles
Hi Earl
But wouldn't the directivity control of a 15" woofer be as bad at 400 Hz ?
Regards
Charles
Not necessarily, but it could. The point is that the horn directivity will collapse and then widen again - NOT CD.
Not completely, just means it can use that low an XO point if the driver is rated for it.
GM
Any horn can be crossed that low if "the driver is rated for it." Loading has almost nothing to do with it.
Agree about cost and reputation, I would believe many "normal" home listeners would buy these because of the high price also. There's a niche for very expensive gear that always sell, regardless of current world status.
As for professionals, I would get a pair of RCF ART 745 and be done with a price of 3500 Euro or so. Much more modern and flexible...
Origin of the Strauss SE-MF-2 reference monitor
There's a nice little story behind the development of the original SE-MF-2, which was originally custom built for the Mastering Rooms at Sony Music Studio Tokio, around the turn of the century (see the attached .pdf for more background information).
The Sony engineers desired a truly "transparent" Monitor, thus set up a competition and invited manufactures to take part in a tendering procedure. They were familiar with most of the monitors on the planet and none met all of their requirements, therefore they asked participants to develop a truly transparent large format reference monitor loudspeaker.
The winner of the tender would receive an order for 28 monitor speakers, regardless of the price.
Bare in mind, this took place at the dawn of high resolution audio and just before the collapse of the traditional music industry due to the internet. At that time Sony was already one of the largest media companies in the world. In the 1990s Sony had developed their own series of high-end monitor speakers, the SEM range. While highly sought after by the Asian audio community today, these didn't quite meet the objectives of the engineers.
In Japan, audio freaks have extensively measured the Sony drivers and compared those to similar high end drivers from TAD, JBL, McCauley, Goto etc.
It appears, the Sony SUP T-11 is one of the best compression drivers ever made, whereas the impressive looking and extremely heavy Alnico woofers are not so great.
Up to this day the SUP-T11 compression driver is used in the SE-MF-2. Apparently, Jürgen Strauss secured a considerable amount of these drivers, because these are still being used for the same monitor.
Mr. Strauss already had a concept in mind and ideas to build a mastering monitor speaker that would take "transparency" to the next level. He opted for a different approach than commonly used by speaker manufacturers. Development was prohibitive, as the speaker would be too expensive for most studios and even mastering houses. However, with the option to sell 28 speakers right away, he could take the risk, as he was quite convinced that he would win.
Eventually, more then 30 manufacturers built and presented prototypes of large format reference monitor speakers.
Strauss won and the engineers at Sony commented:"We have never encountered such accurate Mastering Monitors before".
There's a nice little story behind the development of the original SE-MF-2, which was originally custom built for the Mastering Rooms at Sony Music Studio Tokio, around the turn of the century (see the attached .pdf for more background information).
The Sony engineers desired a truly "transparent" Monitor, thus set up a competition and invited manufactures to take part in a tendering procedure. They were familiar with most of the monitors on the planet and none met all of their requirements, therefore they asked participants to develop a truly transparent large format reference monitor loudspeaker.
The winner of the tender would receive an order for 28 monitor speakers, regardless of the price.
Bare in mind, this took place at the dawn of high resolution audio and just before the collapse of the traditional music industry due to the internet. At that time Sony was already one of the largest media companies in the world. In the 1990s Sony had developed their own series of high-end monitor speakers, the SEM range. While highly sought after by the Asian audio community today, these didn't quite meet the objectives of the engineers.
In Japan, audio freaks have extensively measured the Sony drivers and compared those to similar high end drivers from TAD, JBL, McCauley, Goto etc.
It appears, the Sony SUP T-11 is one of the best compression drivers ever made, whereas the impressive looking and extremely heavy Alnico woofers are not so great.
Up to this day the SUP-T11 compression driver is used in the SE-MF-2. Apparently, Jürgen Strauss secured a considerable amount of these drivers, because these are still being used for the same monitor.
Mr. Strauss already had a concept in mind and ideas to build a mastering monitor speaker that would take "transparency" to the next level. He opted for a different approach than commonly used by speaker manufacturers. Development was prohibitive, as the speaker would be too expensive for most studios and even mastering houses. However, with the option to sell 28 speakers right away, he could take the risk, as he was quite convinced that he would win.
Eventually, more then 30 manufacturers built and presented prototypes of large format reference monitor speakers.
Strauss won and the engineers at Sony commented:"We have never encountered such accurate Mastering Monitors before".
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This horn belongs to the best horns shown here in this thread. The loading is excellent and can be proven easily by impedance measurements. If you look at the data sheet also the polars are more than acceptable. As I own the Selenium copy I can state that it is far superior to any CD horn I have heard. Congrats to JBL for this design.
Hmm, a driver is rated 30 W/500 Hz on a so called 500 Hz horn, but load it with a large flat baffle and it can only handle just a small fraction of it, so how can it have very little to do with it?
GM
GM
Many pages ago I posted some info of the customized Japanese 2386A, which improves response at the low end.
Bjorn Omholt had some large format bi-radial horns made, which, according to him, clearly beat the Klipsch K402.
His horns are basically upscaled 2386As.
IMO the bad reputation of the JBL bi-radial horns is unjust and primarily due to the suboptimal implementation and application.
Yes, there's diffraction, but I haven't found it bothersome as long as the right driver is used.
See also the Calpamos speakers, which are described as "very smooth sounding" by people who've heard those.
Bjorn Omholt had some large format bi-radial horns made, which, according to him, clearly beat the Klipsch K402.
His horns are basically upscaled 2386As.
IMO the bad reputation of the JBL bi-radial horns is unjust and primarily due to the suboptimal implementation and application.
Yes, there's diffraction, but I haven't found it bothersome as long as the right driver is used.
See also the Calpamos speakers, which are described as "very smooth sounding" by people who've heard those.
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You would have to show me that different horns have a effect like this, i.e. that the power rating depends on the specific horn. Having no horn is an effect, (I seriously doubt "just a small fraction of it") granted, but this is not what I am talking about. The acoustic impedance seen by a CD is mostly due to the compression ratio, so that is common to all horns. Then all horns have similar effects, making the end result only marginally affected by the horn acoustic impedance. "Loading" is simply a mostly fictitious concept as used in the industry.
Diffraction is intrisic to every horn and waveguide. The amounts vary, but in my experience as well as that of others, the perceived net effect on the acoustic performance and listening experience of a properly designed complete loudspeaker system may be insignificant.
A bar of 30ppi foam, placed in the slot, further reduces typical diffraction artefacts.
A bar of 30ppi foam, placed in the slot, further reduces typical diffraction artefacts.
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There's a nice little story
Eventually, more then 30 manufacturers built and presented prototypes of large format reference monitor speakers.
Strauss won and the engineers at Sony commented:"We have never encountered such accurate Mastering Monitors before".
So you're saying nobody can make this driver again? It sounds like hyperbole to me + reading about people can smoke without smelling it in the building, pffht!
Nice story though!