Friends,
It's been a while - I know. It's tough finding time for things like this being Manager of Technical Support and Technical Marketing for NuForce AND trying to keep up on Aether Audio production AND doing development work.
As far as development goes, the new Spirit-1SE has just been completed... both in design and industrial engineering. Now that my work is FINALLY done on them, I can delegate assembly to others. So, I guess I can say that they are now ready for production. Prior to the Special Edition, the only ones we had produced were the standard version.
Much engineering has gone into the SE, and in fact, it is the most advanced design of any kind that I have ever produced. Of course, that does not account for the advanced bass design of the Revelations. Rather, I am referring to the mid-range/high frequency/crossover aspects of design. A little study below and I think that will be evident. New "toys are sure nice to have and definitely help.
Just so you know, the MSRP is $3,490 per pair, but then most of you know... I never sell anything at MSRP. Just to avoid future conflicts with dealers, if you are interested just send me an e-mail at
aetheraudio@gmail.com for SPECIAL (and I mean special) pricing.
Available finishes are only 3 - Piano Gloss Black, Cherry Red and Maple veneers (both real wood but the Cherry is stained).
OK... here we go. Starting with the old standard measurements:
Notice the excellent L/R matching. That's where good imaging and sound-stage come from. Rock-solid center images too:
Phase:
Group-Delay:
Text-book perfect Step Response:
Electrical Impedance: It's about as flat as a resistor with almost no phase angle either. Talk about a piece of cake to drive! Any amp will love these puppies.
Horizontal Dispersion: Not Constant Directivity over a broad range, but it sure does make placement easier. Graph shows from Green (on axis) to purple (+/-45 degrees) and at 15 degree increments.
Distortion at 1-Watt: Now here's where we start getting serious. Looks like it could be that of an amplifier instead of a speaker.
Distortion at 10-Watts: I dare ANY other manufacturer of a speaker twice the size of the Spirit-1SE's to post a similar graph.
Waterfall response: Clean as a whistle down to -20dB.
Burst Decay: This one is complicated to understand without some background. Looks like a Waterfall but it's not - exactly. It's derived from the "wavelet transform" and unlike the Waterfall Response, it "subtracts out" the time it takes for low frequencies/longer wavelengths to form. The upshot is that it tells you how well the system responds to a "wave packet" burst at a specific frequency. The graph is continuous from low to high frequencies though (as opposed to individual graphs for each tone burst). So... don't ask me how the software programmers managed that. Regardless, pick a frequency and look for the "mountain ridges" like you're use to seeing in a Waterfall Response. If there aren't any, then at that frequency the Burst Response is very fast, indicating no "ringing" or excess energy storage in the system. Now... take a REAL GOOD LOOK my friends. Ain't NOBODY got one like this
(I'm hoping anyway
)
Thanks for your interest!
-Bob
