Fullranger wins Stereophile Product of the Year

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pjanda1

pjanda1

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Joined 2005
wildburroaudio.com
#1
I don't think there'll be a link to the article for awhile, but the Voxativ Ampeggio is the Stereophile product of the year. Its a large fullranger in a BLH, and I think you can purchase the driver alone. It is great to see our little niche of the audio world get some mainstream recognition. This speaker beat the newest versions of the B&W 800, Magico Q5 and Wilson Sophia for the honor.

Paul
Wild Burro Audio Labs - DIY Full Range Speakers
 
#2
Very cool! All of us can't be completely crazy about what we hear. B&W, Magico and Wilson can continue to blend dissimilar components (domes to cones made from different materials) and stick them into inert boxes as long as there's a market for them but WE hear the problems crossovers make and WE hear the benefits a more elaborate, more difficult, optimized box can produce. We also hear the benefits no box at all can produce (open baffle) and still choose to utilize our favorite full range drivers rather than woofers that go up to 2.5k and tweeters that give you tinnitus.

Having heard expensive, multi-driver speakers from Dynaudio, and the above mentioned brands, I must say I've never been envious of their wares after listening to them.

Wait until all of these little, inexpensive digital amps begin trumping Krell and other expensive solid state... and tube amps. I think the sub $50 Sonic Impact was rated Class D in Stereophile a couple years ago. The Hi-End was in trouble for being more expensive but there may come a time the sound of 'traditional' technology is trumped by simplicity and application.

Peace,
Zilla
 
#5
Permader is a mixture of about 50% iron and 50% cobalt it's a lot more permeable than just iron and saturates at a much higher flux. But it's expensive and is suposed to be verry hard to machine in fact machinest ofton refer to it as " crack metal " .
 
#7
You've got to take sensitivity numbers with a grain of salt. Some manufacturers are egregious than others, and I'm not making a claim about this specific speaker. But, always notice when they don't say (1W/1M). There is a company making popular single driver speakers claiming 101 db and 40 hz extension from a box that is pretty darn small. I often take numbers to mean: both speakers, up close, in a small room, downhill and with the wind.

Unrelated: I wish I could finish cabinets like the pros. It'd probably mean my living room wouldn't be so full of unfinished ply.

Paul
Wild Burro Audio Labs - DIY Full Range Speakers
 
#9
6moons has really been a beacon for the sorts of audio I like: tube amps, single drivers, etc. I used to read every single review. In the last couple of years, I've come to question their journalistic integrity, and I haven't paid much attention. I was about to cancel my stereophile subscription a few years ago, but then they hired Art Dudley. When he wrote about DIY open baffles, I decided they're worth a few bucks a year.

Paul
Wild Burro Audio Labs - DIY Full Range Speakers
 
#13
$29k75 puts it in the range Stereophile feels comfortable commending.

Like so many of the things they like, the cost of manufacture can no way approach the retail price. The research must have been cheap too since the blurb says the development was largely done by one woman unsupported by instrumentation.

Quote: 'At first sight, the Voxativ Ampeggio's measured performance doesn't look impressive.'

So why the **** does it cost so much?
 
#14
Actually, going by full range standards, its performance through the upper frequencies is extremely good. Don't know how they achieved that. And the stereophile review comments on this, that it 'sounds' flat. They still shouldn't cost this much.
 
#15
Interesting. I heard them at RMAF and didn't really love them, even though this is exactly the kind of speaker I'm interested in.

The treble sounded -exactly- just like AER's to me (from which they split off). To my (jaded) ears, the bass was definitely there but it had that "not totally clear" sound that I have come to expect from a long-path design with a tiny mouth (that is to say, not really a horn, because a proper horn with a big mouth just "breathes" at you).

But that was only one listen, in one particular room, one particular system.

Minor quibble -- I find the company's explanation for the stepped mouth to be not totally honest. If midrange is coming through the mouth, it doesn't matter at what slight angle it gets "pointed" (sound is round).

Quibble with Stereophile review: "The [neo magnet's] smaller size [compared to alnico] also makes the Voxativ AC-3X suitable for a horn design that seeks to minimize the volume of air in the throat area, ie, the space immediately behind the driver in a rear-wave horn, where pressure is a significant design factor."

Um, no. What does the chamber volume have to do with the throat size? One is 3-dimensional, the other is 2-dimensional. They seem to be saying "If you use alnico, your horn will lack pressure at the throat." Right!
 
#16
No doubt the goatskins are harvested EXCLUSIVELY by virgin goat-herders from the Northeast provinces of Nepal!
When one full-ranger popped up awhile ago with some "exotic" Rice-paper cones.....I knew fullrangers were getting ridiculous. All these 'exotics' are really stretching sanity.

_____________________________________________________Rick..........
 
#18
I would imagine that the lotus group "granada" would sound better.
Can't find many bad comments except the price.

The Granada Loudspeaker

should be easy enough to clone (well copy of a copy anyway) with dayton IB woofs.
Crossover (active plus passive) will be tricky.
3" thick baffle.
Not sure the 5" will go flat on a 22" wide baffle without a bit of eq.

Gotta check with wife on this one.

Norman
 
#19
I wonder what she charges for the raw drivers offered? Maybe in the high Lowther, AER range, or totally off the charts?

Cool to see a member of the opposite sex who's so knowledgeable, and has taken on a direction like this.. Just think, with her you probably wouldn't have to deal with that WAF factor either! 😎

Men, you all should get your wives/girlfriends to read that article! 😀
 
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