[Duke]

While working on bass guitar cabs, it seemed that one of my prototypes could be developed into a system that would work well as a home audio speaker or bass cab or even a small-venue PA cab.  So I took it in that direction, and this is what I came up with:



You can think of MRL as a rugged, portable (39 pound) home audio speaker; or as a small-venue PA or keyboard or bass guitar cab that sounds good enough to use in a home stereo system.  Impedance is 8 ohms; efficiency is 94 dB; bass extension is -3 dB at 48 Hz before boundary reinforcement.  The midrange isn't forward enough for electric guitar, but it might work well for amplified acoustic guitar. 

Power handling is 400 watts RMS thermal or mechanical, the latter due to the unusually long linear excursion of the woofer I'm using.  While that sort of power handling isn't normally needed at home, it translates into a total lack of dynamic compression in any likely home audio setting. 

Introductory pricing is two grand a pair.  To get an idea of the kind of sound quality you can expect, check out this thread, and in particular see the post on page 3 by OzarkTom.

Duke

[Duke]

The basic concept of a multi-role loudspeaker goes back to a pair of speakers I built for one of my musician sons.  He needed speakers for monitoring his recordings; he needed speakers for live performances; and he didn't have any speakers for his apartment in case he wanted to listen to music. 





Something I neglected to do on that pair was provide prosound-type inputs on the back.  The MRL speakers have phone plug jacks and Speakons as well as 3-way bindig posts.

Here they are in action in a local new-age bookstore; at about 1:45 the camera starts to get some closeups of the artwork.  The music is "Korravai", by Klez (off the Planetarium album); what you'll see my son doing is mixing in realtime, rather than performing the various (somewhat complex) parts live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySCMd2y0KHI

[TomS]

Nice Duke!  How many kids get to take Atma amps to perform live? 

[Duke]

Yeah, well... it's not always what you know or who even you know... sometimes, it's who you're related to!!   

Actually Joseph had a solid state amp, but we both thought the opportunity to do a show with glowing tubes like that was too good to pass up.

(For those wondering what the heck we're talking about, TomS is referring to the youtube video linked two posts up).

[Bemopti123]

Hi Duke:

Man, I wish your speakers were more widely available for audition.  Asides from that PA looking factor, these new pairs do have your signature look to them.  Perhaps you will get your wares sold to people in the East Coast, NYC specifically, I am sure that there would be many people willing to check them out.  Until them, we can only dream.  Thumbs up for innovation and very fair pricing.

[Duke]

Because the footprint of the MRL is nearly square, in a live sound application a pair of them can be stacked with the drivers facing 90 degrees apart.  This configuration would give very uniform coverage across a hemispherical arc, which might be useful in some venues.

[dmckean]

The basic concept of a multi-role loudspeaker goes back to a pair of speakers I built for one of my musician sons.  He needed speakers for monitoring his recordings; he needed speakers for live performances; and he didn't have any speakers for his apartment in case he wanted to listen to music. 





Something I neglected to do on that pair was provide prosound-type inputs on the back.  The MRL speakers have phone plug jacks and Speakons as well as 3-way bindig posts.

Here they are in action in a local new-age bookstore; at about 1:45 the camera starts to get some closeups of the artwork.  The music is "Korravai", by Klez (off the Planetarium album); what you'll see my son doing is mixing in realtime, rather than performing the various (somewhat complex) parts live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySCMd2y0KHI

Those are pretty sweet. You should sell them as the Rock Module.