I recently ran across these speakers and found their feature set and component technologies to be quite interesting, especially from a DIYaudio forum perspective.
https://exmachinasound.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/QUASAROneSheet.pdf
Graphene and TexTreme:
The coaxial midrange/tweeter is noteworthy. The midrange is a 6-1/2" TexTreme cone serving as the waveguide for the 1" Graphene tweeter. The company says the Graphene tweeter comes from OraSound and the TexTreme cone comes from Oxeon, but they worked with Seas to develop the driver. Seas seems to manufacture all their drivers.
Technology | ora-sound
TeXtreme
I must have missed seeing this Seas coax when it became available with their Graphene drivers.
Seas Excel 5" Graphene Cone Coax C16NX001/F (E0080-04/06)
I wonder if Seas is using this motor structure for the Ex Machina coax driver?
Ex Machina is using Hypex nCore amps to drive these active speakers.
They talk of developing their own filters and processing algorithms that run on a SHARC DSP. They must be implementing FIR filters since they are touting phase correction. AKM DACs are being used. I wonder if they are sourcing their DSP from Audiotec-Fischer, miniDSP or an entirely different outfit (both offer SHARC processors and AKM DACs)?
They also build their cabinets using Valchromat, which is the colored MDF material that Troels Gravesen uses on all of his most recent builds.
Apparently the speakers are built in Brooklyn, NY and are priced at $11,500 for a pair. Considering what goes into these speakers, that doesn't seem as obscenely priced as some studio monitors and definitely most audiophile high-end speakers.
I thought this was a very appealing collection of components that went into these speakers. I wonder how they sound?
https://exmachinasound.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/QUASAROneSheet.pdf
Graphene and TexTreme:
The coaxial midrange/tweeter is noteworthy. The midrange is a 6-1/2" TexTreme cone serving as the waveguide for the 1" Graphene tweeter. The company says the Graphene tweeter comes from OraSound and the TexTreme cone comes from Oxeon, but they worked with Seas to develop the driver. Seas seems to manufacture all their drivers.
Technology | ora-sound
TeXtreme
I must have missed seeing this Seas coax when it became available with their Graphene drivers.
Seas Excel 5" Graphene Cone Coax C16NX001/F (E0080-04/06)
I wonder if Seas is using this motor structure for the Ex Machina coax driver?
Ex Machina is using Hypex nCore amps to drive these active speakers.
They talk of developing their own filters and processing algorithms that run on a SHARC DSP. They must be implementing FIR filters since they are touting phase correction. AKM DACs are being used. I wonder if they are sourcing their DSP from Audiotec-Fischer, miniDSP or an entirely different outfit (both offer SHARC processors and AKM DACs)?
They also build their cabinets using Valchromat, which is the colored MDF material that Troels Gravesen uses on all of his most recent builds.
Apparently the speakers are built in Brooklyn, NY and are priced at $11,500 for a pair. Considering what goes into these speakers, that doesn't seem as obscenely priced as some studio monitors and definitely most audiophile high-end speakers.
I thought this was a very appealing collection of components that went into these speakers. I wonder how they sound?
Attachments
What they call ‘Graphene’ , i.e a sheet of carbon one atom thick, is really a composite with graphene nanoplatelets added to the resin. This fairly common practice in the sports equipment industry.
Yes, I would say it’s marketing speak in the usual guise of a white paper. I’m in the business of making racing bikes from ”graphene” and no one outside the likes of MIT lab has made anything larger than an a4 sheet of pure graphene. Breakthroughs in graphene synthesis
It’s been really slow going actually producing sheets of graphene as a pure material.
It’s been really slow going actually producing sheets of graphene as a pure material.
I think that's probably pretty accurate. I purchased some "nanotube doped" resin that supposedly increases the mechanical properties of standard composites. Never did test it out, but I did inspect it under a microscope and it was a total mess. The black appearance of the resin quickly gave way under magnification to what equated to miles of separation from nanotube to nanotube. They grow them like a forest on an iron substrate and clearly large portions of the carbon globs were actually chunks of iron (read rust) substrate. Total marketing hype, imo.
Textreme is a little more realistic but there is nothing really special about it for the considerable increase in cost. The whole point of Textreme is the super flat weave schedule. But if you are designing an extremely controlled, high-performance surface you wouldn't be using a basic woven fabric, other than to bulk it up. Instead you could have custom ply schedules that control for specific fiber orientation. That would be superior mechanically and cost less for the material. But I can see how Textreme would be attractive for a more middle of the road strategy where the thin plies allow for a lighter mass but the production is basically quick and easy.
Textreme is a little more realistic but there is nothing really special about it for the considerable increase in cost. The whole point of Textreme is the super flat weave schedule. But if you are designing an extremely controlled, high-performance surface you wouldn't be using a basic woven fabric, other than to bulk it up. Instead you could have custom ply schedules that control for specific fiber orientation. That would be superior mechanically and cost less for the material. But I can see how Textreme would be attractive for a more middle of the road strategy where the thin plies allow for a lighter mass but the production is basically quick and easy.
Yes, best use of Textreme is for impact damage on large flattish surfaces. Adding Graphene nano platelets to the resin system actually adds strength as well by decreasing inter laminal shear. All the nanotubes did was to add weight and contamination and they’re pretty much gone from the industry now ;D
