Once again, it is not about the loudspeakers but about the idiots who put themselves in position of shaping public opinion by expressing the “expert” view.  Yes, I am taking about the Morons who write those audio reviews. A new Danish 90db sensitive speaker that has no MF channel and uses a planar crossed at 2kHz is hardly something that deserved to mentioned at my site. However, those feeble speakers like magnets attract the most ridiculous sale personnel to push them. So, here they are…

A friend of mind send me PDF file with Eben X-3 review (Presumably it was December TAS – I am not getting TAS anymore) asking if it might be worth to drive far and to listen them.  I, juts looking at them, I immediately replied that the speakers have that tweeter crossed too low and should not be considered. Then, reading that PDF file with speaker description I was actually laughing.

Do you remember that phrase “You know, for kids” from “Hudsucker Proxy” - the brilliant Coen brother’s satire about American corporativism? It was exactly “for kids” – the crap that Jim Hannon offered to his readers. Looking ion the bogusness that Jim expirees I wonder if he might go to a special TAS reviewers school where he got contaminated with the typical TAS writing idiocy….
   

Jim Hannon wrote:

Denmark produces some of the world's best speaker drivers, and the units in the Eben are quite special. Designer Michael Boerresen has created a unique, sealed, planar-magnetic tweeter whose voice coil is etched onto a diaphragm that is less than 1/10th of a millimeter thick and weighs only 1/10th of a gram.

And what is unique about it? There are plenty thinner and might lighter ribbons. Not to mention that they do not suffer from the planar’s “wrapping” syndrome…

Jim Hannon wrote:

I do not know of a planar-magnetic, ribbon, or electrostatic tweeter with better power-handling or more extended high-frequency response than this one.

First of all if you do not know that you should not be in business to write reviews. Second, what THE SAID has to do with power-handling? The third – who cares about the extended high-frequency response if those Denmark peoples crossed it at 2khz?!!!

Jim Hannon wrote:

Three large, powerful, neodymium cobalt magnets…

Hold on? Are they neodymium or cobalt magnets? The neodymium is neodymium and the “cobalt” are the samarium cobalt magnets. The are different magnates! If Eben X-3  does used use “large, powerful, neodymium cobalt magnets” (whatever it might mean) than what is the point of being “large and  powerful” if the damn speakers has 90dB sensitively. Perhaps the “unique” about the Eben design that they lost a hell of lot magnetic flux in the stray fields? Still, it would not be unique but it a very common unfortunate practice for ignorant driver boulders…

Jim Hannon wrote:

… magnets are distributed across the back of the membrane, which is constrained right around its periphery. Voltage is applied across the entire membrane, top and bottom.

Jim Hannon forgot to mention that voltage applied across the entire membrane is also unique for the Eben design as in the most of the other drivers the “voltage” dose not travel across the entire membrane but jumping across membranse like kangaroo…

Jim Hannon wrote:

As appealing as the design of the Raidho/Eben planar appears, exotic tweeters are notoriously difficult to integrate with conventional midrange drivers without negatively impacting coherence, timbre, and transient speed.

Yes, it is correct. If they cross those planar not at idiotic 2khz but at 200 Hz then they would have even more difficulties.

Jim Hannon wrote:

The reality is that most cones have trouble keeping up with the speed of low-mass/high-speed ribbon, planar-magnetic, or electrostatic tweeters and they have different launch patterns. Both the design of the planar tweeter on the X-3 and its placement on the front baffle, recessed slightly back for time alignment and flanked by a sloping foam-like sur- round, help make it far easier to integrate with the Eben's cone drivers, which also happen to be lightning-fast. Raidho teamed with Per Skan- ning of Audio Technology to develop a custom set of relatively small (6.1 "") dynamic drivers which use expensive, massive Audio Technology motors assemblies and Raidho cones. Each column uses five of these and although these dynamic drivers are the same size, they incorporate slight differences to optimize their performance. For instance, the mid- range unit has a Kapton voice-coil former to improve its speed and reso- lution. It may be the quickest cone midrange unit I've heard and it, too, has excellent power¬handling and frequency response out to 12kHz, although it gently crosses over to the planar tweeter at 2kHz. This inte- gration between the Raidho planar tweeter and cone midrange driver is very good and rivals the coherency and speed of the original Genesis V loudspeaker I used as a reference for several years, while exceeding  the Gen V's high-frequency extension, if not its air. (That speaker mated two circular ribbon tweeters with a midrange dome driver that was anything but conventional. Both of these superlative performers come surprisingly close to the single-driver coherency of a large SoundLab electrostatic in treble/midrange area, and the Eben is just as coherent as the big 'stat in the midrange/bass.... blah-blah-blah-blah)

I do not want even to comment on this BS. It all defiantly too much… you know,  for kids…

Paul, what I feel people are missing is that there is something else behind the fact that some kind of fool has written a foolish review. You see, by constant writing their ordinary idiotic articles the reviewers take microphone out of the people who should be taking – the manufacturers. Manufacturers should be the people who should express in publication their objectives, intentions, reference points and the ways in wish their products should be used. And I’m not taking about the fools manufacturer who sometime pop in the publication and try to imitate the fool reviewers. A manufacture is like a pianist – there are no needs to play if you have nothing to say. I am taking about the manufacturers who are able to demonstrate conviction, certainty and the means to demonstrate their convictions. Besides, it would be beneficial for us, the users,– people would clearly see that majority of high-end manufactures are in fact the “naked kings” who are not worthy even to listen not to mention to vote with their money

Look, for instance what HP did in the last TAS. Instead of writing his typical-glorifying “release notes” (to witch he apparently already feel abhorrence himself) he decided to introduce Hansen’s new speaker letting the manufacturer to talk himself. (The reason why I read it because I was informed that Hansen was expressing a lot of very similar things that I’m pitching for years). Agree or disagree I with what I read but it was less disgusting then the typical garbage we accustom to read from most of the reviewers. Defiantly I would prefer HP did not ask sophomoreic question and Lars Hansen had a chance to express more interesting views then … what is “today expected by hi-hi crowd”. Form a different perspective perhaps HP was right navigating Hansen into primitivism. The industry people could operate only at ETHER level of bogus “incredulous technically” OR at level of “spirituality for sale”. If they, god forbid mix it together then they sound more like a mix of  Charley Manson and John Marks… both revolting but the mix is  not only revolting …. but well “deserved” to be published… in the hi-fi publications…