I like them. Very classic look. Is there a downward port? Or is that the design of the base?
I’ve already started:
We don’t believe in ports or radiators so no. That is the base.
The servo sub and midbass coupler will be all you need for ecstasy.
And it will have built in wheels and spikes like the expensive B and W speakers do so you can move them easily then spike them into position.
Paul
2 Likes
Look forward to seeing the Polar Plots for all these speakers. I hope you’re planning on a spin-a-rama for them!
BTW - What does the nomenclature stand for? I’m pretty sure the “AN” is for your buddy but what about the “3”?
Paul, as previously stated, I have the budget for and am a potential AN2 buyer. In my opinion 14” is a very wide speaker. Anything you guys could do to minimize the width and/or create a design which minimize the look of the width would be appreciated and would help get me to yes.
Beautiful design! At $6000 they will sell like hotcakes.
6k is really an unbelievable price! This speaker will be a bargain up to more than double the price. The small ones have the nicest proportion/form factor of the three imo.
However, even by counting the add drivers of the AN2, the step up from 6k to 20k is not immediately obvious.
Sorry, if I was unclear. What I meant is the following:
If the new speakers have so much more IRS-like bass impact than all others (I assume not only more dynamics, but also “more bass” within the frequency spectrum as you stated a few times), how can the same electronics (i.e. BHK) sound right with both (IRS/AN1-3 AND normal speakers)?
But while writing this I realized again, that the AN1-3 bass is active, so they are independent of the power amps bass reproduction.
What finally remains is my assumption, that if you’re mainly voicing components (amps, sources) by using speakers which have more bass impact than any other (like IRS or as you say AN1-3 have), components voiced like that should sound a little thin/less rich in bass than ideal with “normal” or smaller speakers. If I don’t have any hang up in my logic.
Will you develop the DSP electronics and the bass amp yourself?
DSP presets for listening at different positions within a room would be great.
I would be very interested in the total power output across the entire frequency spectrum, as the linearity of reflected energy (room response) is as (or perhaps more) important than the on-axis response. It would be very illuminating to see the off-axis polar response curves, both horizontal and vertical (relative to the HF teeeter).
The shape is fine, the geometry should be catering 70% or more of its design rationale to the sound quality. And of course it has to be something you and the PS Audio team love and be proud of.
It has more to do with the overall look of the speaker, to reflect the advanced technology that PS Audio is renowned for. Also, the look of your products are modern (young), classy (not old school) and cutting edge yet not overwhelming.
To draw a comparison…
In terms of design at least to me PS Audio is a little bit like Volvo. Look at their recent XC90 (P20), V90 (BHK 250), V60 (DAC) and XC40 (Stellar). So if the speaker design breathe more of the design queues from existing products they would resemble more of a family member - especially lovely to look at when you attend audio trade shows
Hope this kinda make sense!
That’s another valid aspect imo (that the speakers don’t resemble some of the components design style), but I think speakers follow different rules. I don’t like most speakers with components design (i.e. Burmester: who wants a chromium speaker in his living room, even if he likes such components design?)
So I’d personally be fine with a different look, I think the big difference in design style is mainly appearant due to the wood panels. As the front drivers most probably are not visible in most homes (because covered by a black cover which I guess is supplied) the outer form is most relevant. Here it seems a bit curious, that the front (that part, which usually is desired to have the smallest surface area) has the biggest height and width.
Arnie always liked to start the biggest in the line of speakers with “1”. Hence, the Genesis 1. I just thought we would carry on with the tradition. AN3 is the third in the line with the biggest as the AN1.
A more general question I have regarding speaker design:
Some manufacturers put reasonable effort in time aligning and sweet spot aligning of their chassis (i.e. Wilson, Focal, Goldmund etc.). I heard some say this is also achievable in crossover design, but I have my doubts. In the past I once had speakers which had both and it really made a difference, but certainly there are also other important and maybe more relevant design criterias and it probably leads to higher cabinet cost.
How is your point of view regarding this, Paul?
Let’s hope we can stay close to that number. We’ll try our best. We really want a speaker that can be afforded by most of our customers. It might creep upwards but that all depends on cost of goods sold.
I wonder (and maybe that’s different in the US) if not price but size is more relevant.
If you could put the most sound in the smallest possible speaker which then is more expensive (like complete line source into AN3 with cone chassis positioned differently) it might be even better selling than same priced bigger speakers (Wilson had this success with the Watt/Puppy). I personally count this as the biggest verdict of speaker designs for people.
Paul
What would you expect the approx. weight and height of the AN2 to be?
magicknow
I think what you’re asking is if we voice our electronics on speakers with more bass than the majority of other speakers out there, won’t they then sound thin when they are played on speakers with “normal” bass?
It’s a good logic question but not one based in reality. That is because there isn’t “more bass” on our speakers as we try very hard to keep everything flat. It’s kind of what you have to do on a reference speaker. That said, when we voice electronics we pay particular attention to the fullness and the body of the amplifier in question. It’s easy to hear on our system if it’s too thin or thick or not right for a musical instrument or voice. We go for natural. Since the bass on our system isn’t pumped up unnaturally, this works fine as a reference or guide. And we can easily hear the differences between thin and thick despite what might seem “better bass” than other speakers.
Perhaps the bigger question is how do we voice amps for bass when the speakers we use don’t require the amp to go that low. It’s a constant question and one I find a little hard to explain. For whatever reason even the lowest bass note performance of an amplifier is obvious on our system, a fact pointed out to me numerous times by Arnie and tried and proven to myself over years. Maybe another way of saying this is to ask you to think about how easy it is to tell low bass response of an amplifier when using a powered subwoofer like a REL, driven from the speaker terminal outputs of the amp. Easy. In fact, the sub makes it easier. Though the IRSV bass towers are not driven from the power amp’s output like it will be in the AN series or the powered subwoofer example I just offered, it does have one thing in common. The way our ear tells relative low bass. And that, I believe is the key.
What we have found over the years is that low bass performance is identified by the ear not by the amount of low bass, but by the phase shift of the power amp driving the main speakers at around 100Hz. If a power amp is flat to below 1Hz, its 100Hz performance sounds noticeably different than if the amp’s lowest notes can only go to, say, 10Hz. You can hear the differences in the amp and can prove that by making the experiment of shutting off the subwoofers when you’re doing it and listening to those low changes.
Hope that helps.
Yes, it is something we will develop on our own and make it automatic with the push of a button every time you move the speaker. We’ll have some tweak controls but the DSP portion will just work to smooth out the bass response in the room. That way it won’t matter where you place the speakers with respect to bass.
Give us time and we will have that.
This was very interesting to read, thanks!
The only thing that leaves me thinking is, what then is it (if all speakers measure reasonably flat) that makes one like your new ones have “more bass than you’d ever desire and than any other conventional speaker” as I remember you roughly sketched it. To me this not only means “better” bass, but “more”. But maybe I misinterpreted this.
It’ll be five something feet tall and weigh a lot. I am not sure till we build them but given the way the inside is braced and all I would guess perhaps 150 pounds each?