GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Aporia - Silbatone Acoustics speaker

Post Subject: I knew you'd agreePosted by Joe Roberts on: 1/15/2009

Glad you came around to my way of thinking. Without actually hearing "X" it is kind of silly to have strong and well formed opinions about X's sound.

If "Lowther" is used as a generic name for single driver speaker, then it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation about any other single-driver speaker, because we can't know when we are talking about actual branded Lowthers and when something else is under the microscope.

Should we talk about big "L" Lowthers and "small "L" lowthers?

The Manger is so different from the Lowther lineage sonically and technologically that I find it hard to identify the common ground that makes these brothers of the same typology, except that when you count the drivers you can stop after number 1.

The Lowther thought interference is good for Silbatone, because people will come to listen with lowered expectations and pre-baked conclusions, and maybe they will be surprised at what this Manger horn can do. I was.

Audio folks being as they are, the next step is that somebody else will build a Manger back horn in a cheap particle board folded horn box (plans from Lowther Club of Bulgaria) and then the general category of "Manger back horn" will be passed around like the meaning is something solid and dependable.

I suppose there is one common typology link among Lowther and Manger --> "full range drivers that actually only go down to 150hz, so prepare to bleed, sucker." This class of speaker can produce enjoyable results but it takes an unbalanced libido and considerable investment to implement. That prospect should scare many sensible people off towards an easier path. People go off the deep end chasing this mermaid, forever lost to practicality and sanity.

Agreeed that unless we are both sitting in front of the speaker listening it is hard to talk about it, because your idea of good mental pornography might be different than mine. I might be thinking of the mousy librarian at the local high school in a bunny suit and you are thinking about the blond silicone bag handing out cards for a strip joint at the entrance to the Adult Entertainment Expo licking cognac out of your navel...Romy's Remy Romp.

Whatever floats your cork, as long as I don't have to watch...

Even when knowledgeable speaker guys are together in a listening room, it can be difficult to verbalize some reactions beyond the primal grunt "Hmmm...Wow!" level. I just did the show for a week and talked to a lot of hardcore geeks and speaker manufacturers between the normal visitors. A speaker like Aporia that blurs the established lines takes some time to digest. The speaker geeks recognized that this reshuffling of known technologies yielded a novel flavor of presentation and nobody, including me, did a great job of describing it in words on the spot.

I think that is a good thing. Nothing is worse than a boring, predictable speaker in the Vegas sea of boring, predictable speakers.

Sadly, the Aporia horn is difficult to hear at this point, unless you are in Seoul, Korea. The only pair in the Western Hemisphere is on a plane heading home to mama. CES went quite well and many people liked the system so perhaps it will be back for the circus next year.

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