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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: New superlative horn build - ESD acoustic
Post Subject: The wet dream of audio and ESDPosted by Romy the Cat on: 5/19/2018
I would like to share more of my troughs about the ESD
acoustic. That are not truly the troughs about the company but rather the troughs
that come to mind inspired by the company come to existence.
I do feel that it is an ultimate we dream of ether audio consumers
or audio makers to have a truly great performing let say 40Hz midbass horn available.
There are none of them available, I mean great performing and whatever is available
is garbage. I do not insist that great 40Hz might be given only by midbass horn,
the midbass direct radiators can do fine, particularly if some high-end approaches
are used. Still, if you your mind operates under a reasonable delusion that midbass
horn is a key to everything then do want to write a check and to have a fully operational
40Hz midbass horn siting in your listening room. Most sensible audio people do understand
that it never happens but it is a wet dream, do not ruin anybody’s fantasy.
Here is where ESD come to the play. They sell their merchandises
as individual parts, thus targeting the DIYers and their midbass horn might be
a solution. I less care about the rest of their installation as with the seriousness
they approach the subject and the price they tag their solutions they effectively
killed own company prospects. Still, I would like to salvage for ESD their midbass
horn and the only reason is because they own the whole the full stack of audio elements
necessary for proper midbass horn functioning: amplifier, crossover, driver and
horn. As a stand-alone solution, properly priced and properly implemented it might
be a very interesting product.
I less care about the ESD prospects to make money and my concern
is to progress and keep the torch for the idea of horn-loaded playback applications.
The ESD folks have already declared themselves as fools investing into the idea
that they can make money on audio. If intend of audio they invers own carbon-fiber manufacturing efforts into
push up bras or sexy spatula kits then it would be way more profitable
direction for them. They were fools, no different then you and me, they decided
to fish in murky water audio, good lick with that. Well, probably I have to exclude
myself from the group identity of fools and I do not do any audio for profit.
But it is not the point. The point is that ESD own full stack for 40Hz midbass
horn and they willing to do it commentary and a complete solution. Good for
them, let play alone.
Let to dissect what they offer and what they should offer (in
my opinion) to be considered “interesting”.
I do not know anything about their compression driver. I do
know that it hardly needs a lot of magnetic force. Probably it is 4-5” of exit
and probably it has relatedly low suspension and low resonance. I would like to
have 5 things variable for this driver/horn
1)
Voltage I drive across the electromagnet, I do
not share their objective to go for high flux.
2)
Ability to change the back chamber damping by adjusting
a release valve or use the acoustic semi-transparent felt gaskets. Would use to
tune the Fs of the driver, load to a given room to the horn’s lower passing frequency.
3)
Ability to apply negative voltage or positive current
feedback to the power amp, setting precise the amp output impedance. Will be
using the cancel out suspension influence.
4)
An adjustable crossover with 1 or 2 order
high-pass and 1-4 order low pass.
5)
To have the interchangeable middle section of
midbass horn able to accommodate 0 degree and 45 degree angle.
I think this set of tools would make it an interesting midbass
horn package. It would be increasable interesting to play with it. I do feel
that it is would be very possible that the field-coli driver would not be the essentials
part of the package and some kind of low cost ceramic magnet driver might be
used since they are in SS amplification
realm. OK, now the punch line of the whole thinking. Buckle up… What I would
like to have in the end of it would be the ESD’s knowhow to optimize the
midbass horn operation in a “random”. Pretend you have a ship-drop the midbass
horn, you play ESD’s test CD, put the calibration microphone at your listening position
and the ESD amps know how to set all parameters of the ESD’s midbass full stack.
It is not about the QEing the room but rather to setting up a proper bass
texture, that no one know how to do; and if they do then no one have proper
tools; and if they have proper tools then they spend 20 years of own life to learn
how to do it…. If ESD can deliver it in one package then it would be great, I
feel.
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