Hello Fellow Audiophiles,
Based on questions posted above, I would like to offer more details about our UniField Series of monitors, mainly the cabinets and our supplier of these cabinets. It is common knowledge some of our visitors that come to our Riverside Design Studio and Assembly plants have seen our US-built cabinets manufactured by ourselves for our large series of speaker systems. However, since our UniField Monitors sell in large quantities world-wide, had have to outsource these cabinets since we do not have the necessary production space to build them.
First, a question:
What do Sonus Faber, Parts Express, Rockport, VSA, Gamut and Revel have in common?
Answer: we all use the same cabinet vendor in China to construct our lower cost product line cabinets. Are the Parts Express cabinets as well made as the other name brands? Well, no. They appear to be built to a much lower price point to satisfy the DIY crowd but for the money, appear to be a value. However, the test samples we purchased years ago use a thin chipboard cabinet with a fairly low cost paint job. They are light in weight and have quite a bit of resonance. We do not believe that any quality manufacturer would use these to construct an expensive system. In fact, the front baffle is chipboard and will not even accept wood screws without stripping out.
However, it is no secret that we have had cabinets built for us in China for our 2003-2006 line of budget speakers, the VR-1, VR-2, and VR-4 JR as well as the home theater center, sub and surrounds; all now discontinued. I have visited China many times over a period of ten years, looking for a high quality vendor for our monitors and found quality levels of cabinet construction from very poor to very high. It depends on the manufacturer and their goals. Also, much higher pricing is involved if you need complete control of the materials, glue, bracing, and finishing. For our UniField Series of monitors, we have spared no expense in having these built to our highest quality level standard. As such, "Made In China" is about as relevant as Apple I-Phones or Apple laptops being made over there. Great quality can be had anywhere if you have the right vendor and are willing to pay for that quality.
Our line of UniField One, Two, and Three use the same appearance of many brands on the market, including Sonus Faber and several different brands of speakers assembled in the Uk and Germany. It is no secret that a small cabinet with rounded sides using non-parallel walls will have less internal standing waves than a rectangular cabinet. Plus, we were inspired by the cosmetic appearance of the Sonus Faber line.
However, where we veer away from the norm is that we specify the density and type of the fiberboard, the resin impregnation, and type of glue and bonding methods. We also specify twice the thickness of primer and top coat for a more lustrous appearance. On the outside, all of these cabinets appear to be the same, but on the inside, they're all completely different. Our Chinese vendor is more than happy to build exactly what the customer asks and pays for. Nothing wrong there.
One of the posters above correctly points out that our entire UniField series is lined with our noise cancelling Triple Wall Laminate, which we install at our Riverside plant. This technique, along with the superior build quality, results in a very stable cabinet with unmeasurable resonances at any frequency. If you tap on the sides of a Revel or Sonus Faber cabinet, it does not come close to the stability of our design, while the Parts Express cabinet isn't any better than a $100 cabinet from Best Buys, although it looks quite a bit better.
To the poster above who asks about how we are able to achieve the deep bass response in such a small air volume, it is due to the custom-built drivers manufactured to our specs for our four chamber hybrid transmission line. Most Thiele/Small tuning schemes involve large amounts of air behind the driver to help the driver achieve a low resonant frequency, while our design is based on a technique that I have been working on for the past 20 years. My bass system cannot be found in any text book and someday I may write an article for this group, explaining how it works. Am I worried that others may copy it? Not really, as each manufacturer believes they are all ready on the right track.
Although there have been many reviews written about our ground-breaking UniField Model Two Mk2, read the one written by Clement Perry of Stereo Times.com. He seems to have hit every single point about the construction and especially the sound quality. I am pleased to announce that he switched from his large horns and his Dali Magalines to our UniField Model Two Mk2 as his new reference. Read his review here:
http://www.stereotimes.com/post/von-schweikert-audio--unifield-model-two-mkii-loudspeaker/ Please feel free to post further questions about any of my designs you wish to know about. I am happy to share my knowledge.
Happy Listening,
Albert Von Schweikert
