Physics being what they are, speaker enclosures can't shrink the same way the associated electronics can. However, it is possible to put more functionality inside the same sized speaker box. Take, for example, the Avihifi ADM9 speakers. In each studio monitor-sized cabinet is: a 250-Watt amplified 6-inch woofer; a 100-Watt amplified 1-inch tweeter; a single-input, remote control preamp; and a Burr-Brown DAC with a USB input. Power these puppies up and supply a digital signal to the USB port, and you've got yourself a sound system. So it's compact, streamlined and probably sounds great (active speakers can sound a lot bigger than similar passive ones, and at $2,499 per pair, these better) -- but we want more! How about giving us a few more digital inputs and support for surround-sound codecs, Avihifi?
[Via
CyberTheater]
posted Feb 26th 2008 12:12PM
"100-Watt amplified 1-inch tweeter" and I already know it's an overpriced gimmick. My old Denon stereo receiver pumps out 100W/ch and that's plenty of power for two full-size speakers with 10" woofers at high volume.
$2000 a pair? I spend $1950 to get my 5.1 speakers, and I doubt these can come close. Of course, that didn't include an AVR, but really neither do these.
Oh well, I suppose I should expect gimmicky from a gadget blog. :¬)
I haven't heard them personally, so I can't say how they sound. But every (non-HTIB/computer desktop) active speaker I've heard has sounded a lot larger than I thought it would. ProAc and Paradigm come to mind. Especially in the case of the Paradigms, the Ref Active 40 sounded a LOT better than the passive Ref 40 with a good preamp+amp behind it (Anthem, I believe it was). The same setup was used for both flavors of the speaker, just no amplifier for the active model. So I wouldn't just assume these are a gimmick. Also, look through Avi's website for the review in Hi-Fi choice: comparison to the Rogers LS3/5a is pretty good company, I'd say.
Hallelujah!!! There is no reason to have fragile analog signals floating around anywhere. It’d be even better if they were using digital amps (e.g. TacT/TI)
This is certainly the direction all speakers should be going. For the cost of a DSP chip, you can preprocess the signals for crossover, phase, decay, and EQ functions and get much improved sound from modest components. You’ll never overcome the physics and room effects, but there is a lot of bang for the buck in this approach. It seems like they are running an analog line to the second speaker, not optimal, with an imperceptible buffer, it should be digital all the way.
Raptor007 is obviously clueless about audio. The peaks on all the transients of music/sound are reproduced by the tweets, therefore they will require the highest voltage peaks. Tweeters won’t require sustained power like a sub, but they will require the highest clean peak instantaneous power. Sure you can run anything with less power, but it will just clip the transients and it will sound more and more like AM radio. “Realistic” sound requires insane amounts of short term power. If your source has already been compressed, then your Denon 100W might be fine. If your source has a 24db peak to rms, then the peaks will require 264x the power (2^24) of the mean – If you are cruising along at 90db, at 1watt on a 90db/w/m tweeter and hit a 24 db transient, you’ll need 264watts. Of course the studio’s are ruining music by compressing everything, so you only have 10db peaks.
Good sound isn’t about average levels, it’s all in the transients – just listen to a live drum, piano, even a bass slap.
Of course I mean 2^(24/3) = 256.
I would not dismiss them to easily. AVI is a well renowned british hifi company. You have the possibility to feed them right from toslink. No signal cable between the dac and the preamp. Nonexisting speaker cables. Custom designed amps for the purpose. They will soon sell these with the latest High End Wolfson WM8741 DAC (same as used in the 10.000£ Linn digital streamer).
I am sure there a a lot of different options to achieve nice 2 channel sound out there but not many this clean, and with this low box count. My only worry is if the dont go deep enough. -6dB at 60Hz I think it was. However they have a matching sub designed for this which is overprised compare to the ADM9(£750)
Trust me the Sub is a 40 kilo monster guaranteed to pin you to the back wall of your listening room!
We are all too aware of the plethora of relatively inexpensive Subs on the market and very anxious to do something that merged seamlessly with the ADM9s as well have the extra dynamic range to keep up with them.
Ashley.
PS. I'm biased!