E0073-08 W16NX003
That appears the first one of the line. Honestly, nothing impressive. Standard voice coil (long), pretty heavy cone for its Sd, low sensitivity and Qts for ported use. Weird parameters. Maybe designed for tiny ported loudspeakers that can have some bass output but I am missing the point in this driver, really. The graphene coating - not sure of what it does besides marketing - the breakup is at 6.5Khz which is not that high and is obliterating.
That appears the first one of the line. Honestly, nothing impressive. Standard voice coil (long), pretty heavy cone for its Sd, low sensitivity and Qts for ported use. Weird parameters. Maybe designed for tiny ported loudspeakers that can have some bass output but I am missing the point in this driver, really. The graphene coating - not sure of what it does besides marketing - the breakup is at 6.5Khz which is not that high and is obliterating.
Anti oxidization? I'm still looking forward to seeing Magico like all graphene cone unit.
Isn't it that vast majority of loudspeaker manufacturers currently aim for exactly that weird parameters? If it is bad or good it depends mostly on correct implementation of that driver in end system and you can't judge it just looking at the specs. All specs are improved over earlier design. Some people from the industry reacted lively for its introduction. I hope the price won't be steep I am affraid it most, knowing other alternatives I predict hopeless future for this driver if its price stays considerably higher than current Excels.
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They do because most music is mastered in such a way there`s little dynamics headroom left. So you can use drivers like this one. I fail to see the point in this driver, really, but everyone, including me, does have subjectivity.
Sales, sales is the point. Still reputable but already too expensive company tries to recover its splendour trying not to share Scan-Speak distress. In order to do that, they decided to offer 'exciting' graphene tech which for me is 100% marketing blurp. Real improvements to this driver in terms of linearity and mechanical stability are hidden from sales point of view and have nothing common with micro-thick and mega-expensive nanostructures.
Absolutely. I wonder how long it will take for real improvements ot show up, like graphene nanostructure cone, ironless loudspeaker motors (Kharma I believe has it, plenty of patents out there, even Renault have one...), advances in suspension design...
Improvements? Not quite, generic and ubiquitously used loudspeaker motor design has already reached technological and performance plateau. Moving subsystem materials and design techniques as well. Rather further price drop and market flooding of decent drivers, some for steal price, is expected. What is Kharma? Renault makes loudspeakers?
What is Kharma? Renault makes loudspeakers?
Kharma Loudspeakers. Manufacturer. Renault has a patent with the University of Maine (yes, in the USA) of such motor.
Interesting to see. As you probably know this is the industry like any other and the industries tend to stick to large scale economics, where loudspeaker is cheap, fast, and easy to manufacture. Such elusive innovations like this Kharma tech from natural reasons are obscured by marketing and advertising blurps of large players playing cheap game. What is even worse, woodo beliefs of certain groups of customers can block or deteriorate true innovation tinkerers so innovations are essentially blocked from public support or they are distorting and start to move in wrong directions so it is no longer innovation.. OK, let's focus on new Seas development now.
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On the whole I tend to agree with this but then why is it that only SB Acoustics really has a motor, in the Satori mid range and mid/bass drivers, with that level of performance?
Other stuff from Scan/SEAS are good, but not that good.
If we'd really reached that kind of tech plateau then all drivers would have SB Satori levels of HD. They don't. And far from it. Most are significantly worse.
It will be interesting to see how the new FEA motor performs relative to the old Excel motors. I'm surprised that the old Excel motors weren't FEA optimised, but there you go.
Hopefully the graphene Excel series is basically a replacement for the current magnesium Excel range. Minor improvements to the cone break-up (hopefully all of the Graphene Excels will show a bump up of the resonance by a kHz or two) and an actual improvement to motor linearity. The corrosion issue really did need fixing, so if these are meant to be the direct replacements and the old ones will be discontinued, the prices won't be that different.
Why do you think that only Satori line has that performance? There are dirt cheap SB Acoustics drivers surpassing audiophile grade Satori in objective terms of performance and beating them in performance/price ratio. Where are they so significantly worse? At which measurable parameter? Fortunately not all are put in passive designs novadays so designers have much more degree of freedom in chosing and adapting the drivers for their dreamt designs so only directivity, power loading, motor linearity, designer imagination and the price are main concerns. And did you look at Tymphany drivers? Some of them also are very high grade designs accessible for silly price even for end customers (not to mention wholesalers).
I think so too. When you know the limit and won`t be able to offer anything new, sales go down - people do not want to replace. So better implement upgrades slowly and play a cat & mouse game with each other. Apple felt this pretty bad when consumers discovered there`s nothing new coming out.
Scanspeak have their eliptic voice coil drivers which have a lot to give in terms of competitiveness but Seas seems to be lacking behind somewhat. Just remember how many years it took them to workout better designed motors - the Excel line was inferior to Scanspeak`s technology for decades.
Maybe, but no company with more than few employees will survive out of high-end expensive products.
Aleksandar Radisavljević, CEO at RAAL, explained how HighEnd isn't enough to make a living. Few of the biggest buyers from RAAL are SalkSound and Philharmonic audio. They make quite affordable loudspeakers and the best selling ones are between 1500-3500$.
Elipticore will hardly put bread on the table like Disco, Classic and Revelator series are. But SB product range and price/performance ratio is much better than Seas or ScanSpeak. And SB haven't yet introduced everything they plan.
Next decade will, without a doubt, be very interesting.
Aleksandar Radisavljević, CEO at RAAL, explained how HighEnd isn't enough to make a living. Few of the biggest buyers from RAAL are SalkSound and Philharmonic audio. They make quite affordable loudspeakers and the best selling ones are between 1500-3500$.
Elipticore will hardly put bread on the table like Disco, Classic and Revelator series are. But SB product range and price/performance ratio is much better than Seas or ScanSpeak. And SB haven't yet introduced everything they plan.
Next decade will, without a doubt, be very interesting.
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