[Merle]

When will this new speaker be avalible? When will details [cost, ect] be avalible?

[Shamrock Audio]

Hi Merle,

We're working hard on several new speakers and the Eilish is the closest of them to being ready.

One of the considerations we're evaluating is whether we should provide solid wood baffles on the Eilish. We could lower the cost by simply veneering the cabinets enough to make it a real issue to look at. One option is to offer them as a custom cabinet for those who want a finer cabinet. This would allow us to offer the Eilish is a few basic veneers and finishes at a more attractive price for those who either don't have the means or don't have the need for nicer cabinets. It's just a few of those detail considerations that are holding up the introduction of the Eilish.

We expect that the interest in the Eilish, and the MTM version of it, to be high. We're therefore taking steps internally to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.

The Eilish employs a Peerless 5" woofer and a Morel tweeter. While it is small in size, the Eilish is designed to be well balanced and listenable on its own. The Eilish is intended to be used in small rooms where space is precious but great performance is still demanded. The Eilish may also be used as surrounds.

The Eilish is rear-ported, -3db at 47Hz (anechoic, a bit lower when in your room), and bi-wire capable. It is an 8 Ohms speaker and will produce 85db when driven by 2.83V.

As with all our finished systems, the Eilish will include domestic US shipping, our 30-day audition period, and our 10-year warranty on parts and labor.

I hope this answers a few of your questions. As always, input is always welcome!

[Shamrock Audio]

You asked about pricing, didn't you?

We're targeting placing the Eilish (all veneer - without a solid wood baffle), shipped to your home for about $499 for the pair. Custom cabinets and solid wood baffles would be extra.

Best regards,

[imrer]

Doesn't the choice of the baffle impact on how the speaker sounds and/or performs?  I don't know, so really I'm just curious.  But if you design a speaker to have a real wood baffle, and then substitute laminated mdf, or vice versa, doesn't that have a real impact on the speaker?  Is it really something that can just be swapped out?

I'm thinking in terms of the Eire also.  Does the change between the oak or the walnut front baffle affect the speaker's sound/performance?

[Shamrock Audio]

Doesn't the choice of the baffle impact on how the speaker sounds and/or performs?  I don't know, so really I'm just curious.  But if you design a speaker to have a real wood baffle, and then substitute laminated mdf, or vice versa, doesn't that have a real impact on the speaker?  Is it really something that can just be swapped out?

I'm thinking in terms of the Eire also.  Does the change between the oak or the walnut front baffle affect the speaker's sound/performance?

Well, not like you might think. A properly designed enclosure will be braced/damped in such a way that such a change will have almost no effect.



Here's a view of the front of the Eilish cabinet. Since sound is generated by vibration, what part of the baffle will vibrate? The baffle is anchored around its outside to the cabinet, and is anchored at its weakest point between the drivers. Since the shelf-brace effectively divides the baffle into two panels, only the panels themselves have the potential to vibrate and therefore generate sound.

Now, each panel is anchored around the outside to the cabinet. The center, unsupported part of each panel is therefore the only part of the baffle with the potential to vibrate and make sound. But notice what's there. A driver. The remaining baffle area with the potential to vibrate and make sound is so small that any effect of material change will be too small to be of any real consequence. Other aspects of cabinet design will have a far greater effect on the sound/performance. It's the unsupported and unbroken (in this case by the hole for the drivers), panels that allow for vibration and therefore sound contribution.

The bracing in the Eire is done in a similar fashion, although more extensively as the cabinet is larger.

Does this help?

[imrer]

Thanks Mike,

I would have thought that changes to the baffle's material would have had a greater impact on the sound (not based on anything other than my gut feeling, of course).  

But then why do some companies use more exotic materials (like marble) to control resonances. Or are you saying that based on the way that you have voiced your speaker, it doesn't significantly affect it to use either real wood or laminated mdf?

Thanks again.

[Shamrock Audio]

There truly would be differences if we were dealing with just a panel that was only damped around its outer edge where it connects to the rest of the cabinet. In such a case, MDF sounds different than oak, which sounds different than walnut, which sounds different than cherry, which sounds different than mahogany, which sounds different than... You get the idea.

That's not what's going on here. We're dealing with a panel that has its areas of greatest vibration potential either damped or removed. The actual baffle material that remains is not only very small, but is well damped to boot. Since there's little opportunity for the baffle to vibrate, any voicing to compensate is a non-issue. Besides, we prefer to design and build our products in such a way that such measures are not required to compensate for such errors.