[Kevin Haskins]

Took some pictures for documentation today.   Here is a glimpse of the final product.

I'll take some screenshots of the GUI after we get it finalized.   We should have the first revision ready to ship in a couple weeks.   Just in time for Christmas.   

These are going to be in VERY short supply until I get the next production run going.   We didn't want to do a large run out of the gate, just in case Murphy payed us a visit.   Consequently supply will be short.   We should have that rectified by Feb 2008.

[IronLion]

What exactly is this, and what does it do? 

[DevilDriver]

What exactly is this, and what does it do? 

Have a read here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=45836.0

[Kevin Haskins]

What exactly is this, and what does it do? 

Room measurement & equalization tool for subwoofers or bass sub-systems.  Performs all the standard subwoofer signal processing chores and interfaces with your computer via USB cable to allow a view of the room response, and set parametric equalization filters to achieve smooth response at the listening position.

[pwhartman]

Will you be having any future connection options for high level connections to sub (i.e., speaker lvel input) in addition to RCA?

[Kevin Haskins]

Will you be having any future connection options for high level connections to sub (i.e., speaker lvel input) in addition to RCA?

No... but PE sells some sort of adapter for such needs that should work.

[BradJudy]

Will you be having any future connection options for high level connections to sub (i.e., speaker lvel input) in addition to RCA?

No... but PE sells some sort of adapter for such needs that should work.

AudioMagus has one for $70 that also works with T-amps (or other amps that don't tie negative to ground) - http://www.audiomagus.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage_modern/product_id,22/category_id,21/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,27/

Is the expected price still $299-349?

[Kevin Haskins]

Retail for the stand-alone unit is $349.    Purchased with either a subwoofer or amplifier package price is $299.

This comes with a microphone & 15' cable, wall-wart, x2 15' RCA-RCA cables, 6' USB cable and software.

[mfsoa]

Kevin,
I'd like to ask a question or two about the suitability of using the WW on speakers that already have a low-pass filter for the woofer sections, specifically my VR4JRs which are crossed over at 200 hz. I hope this may be of interest to others too, it seems like such a cool little device:

1) From another thread : "Adjustable Low-Pass Filter 12db/octave or 24db/octave with fully adjustable corner frequency" - How high is this corner frequency? Would I just set this corner well above the 200 hz, let the internal speaker low-pass do its  job and then EQ as desired? Can it be used in this way w/ drivers that already have a crossover in front of them. Or could you bypass the internal crossover and just use the WW. (Hmmm, that sounds interesting...)

2) I'd want to use my tube amp (30.5 db gain, IIRC) on the mid/tweeter module and my CIA D200s (26 db) on the woofers. Is the 6 db gain that the WW provides enough to match the tube amp (I don't know if 26 db + "X" db is simply straight addition). Or am I better off getting the D200s bumped to 32 db gain and than use the WW to attenuate?

3) What are the DIP switches for? Hopefully you can call up one of several EQ programs in memory w/ the flip of a switch. Like, "OK, its quiet time, lemme call up the "bass boost" setting - It'd be so nice not to have to pull out the laptop for this. If not, can you store multiple settings in the laptop for quick retrieval?

4) Price - Obviously I'd need 2 WWs. I think many users might need a pair of these but would need only a single mic. Would you consider a price break on a pair , or maybe have a "stereo package" w/ one mic? Maybe? Please? C'mon I'm grovelling here...

Sorry if too many questions, but I think this is a really interesting product and I'm just wondering the best way to implement on my speakers, if possible.

Thanks very much,

-Mike

[Kevin Haskins]

Kevin,
I'd like to ask a question or two about the suitability of using the WW on speakers that already have a low-pass filter for the woofer sections, specifically my VR4JRs which are crossed over at 200 hz. I hope this may be of interest to others too, it seems like such a cool little device:

1) From another thread : "Adjustable Low-Pass Filter 12db/octave or 24db/octave with fully adjustable corner frequency" - How high is this corner frequency? Would I just set this corner well above the 200 hz, let the internal speaker low-pass do its  job and then EQ as desired? Can it be used in this way w/ drivers that already have a crossover in front of them. Or could you bypass the internal crossover and just use the WW. (Hmmm, that sounds interesting...)

No problem, just click a check-box and the filter is bypassed.   I'd say keep the crossover internal to the loudspeaker because they are not always simple 2nd order, 4th order electrical filters.   As a speaker designer you depart from text-book filter to deal with a lot of things including a baffle step compensation, along with linear distortion products of the acoustic system (box/driver).    Using the speaker's crossover is likely to give you better results.

2) I'd want to use my tube amp (30.5 db gain, IIRC) on the mid/tweeter module and my CIA D200s (26 db) on the woofers. Is the 6 db gain that the WW provides enough to match the tube amp (I don't know if 26 db + "X" db is simply straight addition). Or am I better off getting the D200s bumped to 32 db gain and than use the WW to attenuate?

The Widget would go between your preamp & the CIA D200s.   I'd use the gain in the Widget to balance the system.   

3) What are the DIP switches for? Hopefully you can call up one of several EQ programs in memory w/ the flip of a switch. Like, "OK, its quiet time, lemme call up the "bass boost" setting - It'd be so nice not to have to pull out the laptop for this. If not, can you store multiple settings in the laptop for quick retrieval?

The dip switches are a 10db cut for the input, and a switch to change the grounding scheme so that we can deal with some of the worst ground loop problems inherent in single ended systems.    Some sources have extremely high input levels and could clip the analog stage of the Widget.   The 10db cut option gives some user adjustability for in that circumstance. 

There isn't a memory based system yet.   You can save equalization schemes in the software but once the computer is unplugged there isn't a way of changing anything.   We may add a LCD driven menu system with some pre-sets down the road.   Its certainly doable but we didn't want to try to accomplish everything at once.   We figured we would get a basic working system out and then build on it over time.   

4) Price - Obviously I'd need 2 WWs. I think many users might need a pair of these but would need only a single mic. Would you consider a price break on a pair , or maybe have a "stereo package" w/ one mic? Maybe? Please? C'mon I'm grovelling here...

There will be multiple Widget packages.   There isn't much money to be saved on the microphone but I'm more than willing to do package deals.   I plan on discounting them with subwoofer & amplifier purchases and I'll probably do multiple Widget packages also.

Sorry if too many questions, but I think this is a really interesting product and I'm just wondering the best way to implement on my speakers, if possible.

Thanks very much,

-Mike

No problem... questions are good.   This is the first iteration of what I hope will be several products based upon the Anadigm chipsets.    They are a natural tool for active loudspeaker management because of the measurement + EQ features.   The Woofer Widget is just the beginning.

[mfsoa]

Kevin,
Thank you very much for yor reply. I guess I do have a decent handle on what the WW does.

Looks like I could get some acceptable bass w/ 400 watts of Class D being fed with a properly EQ'd WW output!!