Paul McGowan saidI gotta tell you - $18K for a pair of speakers that are efficient enough to be driven to concert levels by a 100 watt per channel amp, and capable of truly reaching depths in the room of 20Hz, designed by the master himself, Arnie Nudell, will be a revelation to many.
Stay tuned.
Since 100 watts will piss off the neighbors, have you thought about designing a BHK Power Amp Jr to drive these (or smaller versions of these speakers)?
frank7036 said Hi Paul,The project / models / implementation sound great, congratulations to everyone involved. A quick question about DSP for loudspeakers. This is a further A-D-D-A conversion to design the correct crosser-over parameters in the filter between the Bass and main speakers - how good will this last AD-DA be? PS Audio (and its customers) invest a lot of money and effort to implement the best upfront D-A conversion possible. Will the end conversion be at least as good?
Others have tried doing the same and using DSP for the upper frequencies, a practice I am neither a fan of nor would likely ever condone. Arnie and I would prefer to keep everything above 100Hz in the purity of analog. Which doesn’t mean a class D amplifier wouldn’t work - it will - just that we don’t want all the work people go through perfecting their analog chain to be thrown out, digitized, and manipulated by a DSP. It just won’t fly with us.
Sorry to disappoint all those who disagree.
Below a certain frequency, the phase and other problems A/D converters struggle with are non issues.
davek saidPaul McGowan saidI gotta tell you - $18K for a pair of speakers that are efficient enough to be driven to concert levels by a 100 watt per channel amp, and capable of truly reaching depths in the room of 20Hz, designed by the master himself, Arnie Nudell, will be a revelation to many.
Stay tuned.
Awesome, 100 watts = concert levels
Since 100 watts will piss off the neighbors, have you thought about designing a BHK Power Amp Jr to drive these (or smaller versions of these speakers)?
Currently there are no plans for a lower power BHK amplifier, but should demand arise for it, we’ll certainly look at that.
“This will make no difference in sound quality at these very low frequencies, the benefits of the DSP enormous for getting bass perfect in your room.” - PM
I couldn’t agree more. I use 150Hz as a cutoff for DSP based upon the needs of my particular drivers. Having extensive control over the bass is a godsend of sorts. Hopefully you will leave plenty of control options for the customer to manipulate so that they will get the best out of their rooms.
Paul McGowan said . . . a high quality 24 bit A/D converter for frequencies from 100Hz and below. This will make no difference in sound quality at these very low frequencies, the benefits of the DSP enormous for getting bass perfect in your room. . . . Below a certain frequency, the phase and other problems A/D converters struggle with are non issues.Paul, thank you for this (and to Frank for asking the question). A while ago I thought about speakers with DSP but immediately asked why I would want to do two additional conversions in the speakers when I have spent so much effort and money getting the best possible analog sound going into the speakers. So this helps.
Paul McGowan saidSounds good to me. Thanks @adminpaulOthers have tried doing the same and using DSP for the upper frequencies, a practice I am neither a fan of nor would likely ever condone. Arnie and I would prefer to keep everything above 100Hz in the purity of analog. Which doesn’t mean a class D amplifier wouldn’t work - it will - just that we don’t want all the work people go through perfecting their analog chain to be thrown out, digitized, and manipulated by a DSP. It just won’t fly with us.
Sorry to disappoint all those who disagree.
Below a certain frequency, the phase and other problems A/D converters struggle with are non issues.
Might be getting a little far over my skis here, but will prospective buyers be able to come visit Boulder and hear the speakers there rather than wait through the delays of a distribution chain?
Sure! If it’s not good enough to replace the IRSV then we won’t produce it. If it does trounce my beloved reference, as Arnie assures me it will, then out go the IRSV and comes the AN1. Music Room One will then be open for anyone to come and drool.
Paul McGowan said Sure! If it's not good enough to replace the IRSV then we won't produce it. If it does trounce my beloved reference, as Arnie assures me it will, then out go the IRSV and comes the AN1. Music Room One will then be open for anyone to come and drool.It's not the drool coming out that worries my Mary; it's the wallet.
The folded ribbon tweeter (or what appears to be) on the back of the speaker is interesting, does that make it a bipolar design?
Will the speakers come with removable front grilles?
At the mentioned price point of 18K MSRP, if they are sonically competitive with the more expensive Magico S3 (and the likes of other recognised high-end brands, for example), they should sell well.
If I might make a suggestion. When it comes to the design of the speaker packaging, pack them separately, one speaker per crate. Something like what Wilson Audio do, where the speakers are shipped on castors and you just wheel them out of the shipping crate and into position. Once the final position is dialled-in just tip the speaker over and install the outriggers (to make them more stable) and floor spikes.
Yes, the rear tweeter offers the listener a greater sense of air, space and soundstage. It’s one of Arnie’s hallmarks of speaker design. It makes the tweeter a dipole only at high frequencies. Otherwise it’s a monopole.
The speakers would certainly be separately boxed. The caster is a great idea.
Take a look at the new mechanism of the D3 series of B&W; it’s far superior to the Wilson’s one. I have Sashas and to change from casters to spikes is a pain.
AMTs are bipolar drivers. Why not design the speakers so that all of the “front” AMTs poke through to the back instead of adding the back-firing one?
ridom said Take a look at the new mechanism of the D3 series of B&W; it's far superior to the Wilson's one. I have Sashas and to change from casters to spikes is a pain.I have owned Wilson Sophia, and as they are shipped, crated separately with castors installed, I could manage unpacking and installing them by myself.
I also have Magico, and as they are shipped, crated as a pair with no castors, it’s an infinitely more difficult task to release them from their wooden captivity and install. It’s certainly not a job that can be attempted by oneself. 2+ people and trolly required.
D3 series B&W I’m not familiar with…
I could be easily tempted to buy the new PS Audio speaker, and if assistance was necessary to install them, finding volunteers to assist would be an easy task
The rick is to buy a set of furniture sliders. They make moving big, heavy speakers quite easy. Be sure to get ones made for your flooring surface - carpeting or wood/tile.
wglenn said AMTs are bipolar drivers. Why not design the speakers so that all of the "front" AMTs poke through to the back instead of adding the back-firing one?Totally unrelated but I love this in your sig:
plus some other crap I bought that makes me feel better but I'm not entirely sure works..I have some of that stuff too. I bet many of us do.
wglenn said AMTs are bipolar drivers. Why not design the speakers so that all of the "front" AMTs poke through to the back instead of adding the back-firing one?Some are, some aren't. The particular AMT drivers Arnie's selected aren't - but he's in love with their curves and output.
Also, adding a separate rear radiator allows precice control of the ambience effects. While I love bipolar radiators, particularly large are radiators such as electrostatics and planar magnetics, I appreciate the control that separate ambience drivers gives.
J.P.
Paul,
Any chance that you will bring back something like the Kappa 9 series as the AN junior? I used to have a pair but sold them when I went to college.
Well, let us get ast the first two offerings and see how it goes. I’d love to see a complete offering, personally.
Paul said: I’ve never owned a speaker that I love as much, and few have ever impressed and delighted folks as much as the massive IRSV system in our main room – but they’re 35 years old – who better than to design a replacement than Arnie Nudell, the man that designed them in the first place.
Originally, you were categoric that would not be possible. It’s a Worthy Goal, glad you changed your mind on that front.
Good luck, I have a feeling this product will be a version of O.M.G. once price is considered.
It’s hard to imagine that PS Audio philosophy would allow a price anything like Gryphon’s Pendragon, yet the performance might be hard to differentiate.
@frank7036 The Stereo.net photos are the ones Paul’s published on this forum quite a while ago. I’m sure the project is way along by now.
All very impressive.