New Solar V speakers

KevinW · « **on:** 11 May 2004, 06:49 pm »

It's time to release some early details on the new speakers. These are pictures of the MMTMM array, with the woofer section not pictured. The main array frequency response is 60Hz to 35kHz. The crossover design is no crossover points or out of the primary musical region between 80 Hz and 5 kHz, as this is where the vast majority of the fundaments of music are created. By moving the XO point to 7.5kHz, this also means that there is no XO distortion in the first and second harmonics of the music fundaments. The result is absolutely effortless presentation, outstanding emotional involvement, and the most extraordinary lifelike and palpable imaging. This speaker puts you 'in the room with the performers' like no other speaker

This last picture shows the solid bamboo construction. The front panel is a full 1.75 inches of solid bamboo to provide an incredible non-resonant launching platform. The quality of construction is absolutely top notch. Remember, this is solid wood, not a veneer-covered MDF.

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 May 2004, 07:04 pm »

Question,

If you cross over the Jordan's at 7.5khz and yet they are that far apart, aren't you going to have some lobing effects? Also what are the outer mid/bass drivers covering?

TIA,
Josh

KevinW · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 May 2004, 07:14 pm »

Joshk,
Theoretically, yes, there would be some lobing. But there are ways to prevent the problem, yet still retain the benefits of the unusually high crossover point. I don't want to get into the specific details yet.

Zero · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 May 2004, 07:20 pm »

Kevin,

A very beautiful speaker!!! Job well done!

btw: Nice purse.

Sean

Andrikos · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 May 2004, 07:31 pm »

It's NOT a purse! It's European!

KevinW · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 May 2004, 07:46 pm »

Hehe, I could have edited out this particular 'real-world test environment' with photoshop. Hopefully it's not too distracting. I would prefer to talk about the speaker.

JohnR · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 May 2004, 04:48 am »

Whoa

Very cool.

How come the top and bottom drivers have a black center?

What's in the woofer section? A couple of 15" XBLs?

KevinW · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 May 2004, 05:12 am »

Thanks John,
Yeah, the woofer section will have a couple of Adire XBL^2 drivers. Most likely 10". This is the final aspect of the speaker which is being designed before release. I'm using Adire because the XBL2 woofers are simply the most musical bass I have ever heard. They are also great people and fun to work with. Also, there will likely be an alternate, more expensive woofer system that will use bigger XBL2 drivers and MORE POWER to achieve a significantly higher 'tear the roof off' factor.

The black dots are where the logo will be going... From a design standpoint, it looks better on a black background.

JohnR · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 May 2004, 05:39 am »

Hah, that was a lucky guess!

It looks like it's going to be an awesome speaker

Quote from: KevinW

The black dots are where the logo will be going... From a design standpoint, it looks better on a black background.

Heh, I thought I had uncovered a super-secret tweak..

Sa-dono · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 May 2004, 06:30 am »

Kevin,

Any estimates on cost or dimensions of these new speakers? They look great!

Also, did your amp audition ever start back up, or will it? I am still interested in giving a listen.

MaxCast · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 May 2004, 01:09 pm »

Five of these and you could have a Solar System in your room

KevinW · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 May 2004, 06:09 am »

Quote from: MaxCast

Five of these and you could have a Solar System in your room

Yeah, that's the PLAN

This speaker will make the most incredible multichannel system. The main monitor plays down to 60Hz, so only two woofer modules would really be necessary. The monitors will be available separately from the woofer modules, and come with a stand if necessary.

The fully integrated 3-way speaker will be in the $10k range, while the monitors alone will sell for approximately $6k.

Also, I just recently talked with Dan Wiggins at Adire Audio to design a custom driver for the mega-subwoofer module. This project is moving faster than I anticipated. It is going to play clean to well below 20Hz, assuming that the room is big enough or if an X-bass configuration is used.

thayerg · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 May 2004, 02:40 am »

$6k? $10k? Well, I guiess it's like the little girl with the lemonade stand who started out with a price of 10 cents a glass, then increased it to a dollar, then ten dollars, and then finally she made a sign which said "Lemonade $100 a glass". A man walked by and said "Little girl, you aren't going to sell too many glasses of lemonade at a hundred dollars each". The girl replied "I only need to sell one".

Hantra · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 May 2004, 02:43 am »

Kevin:

Those are VERY nice looking speakers!

KevinW · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 May 2004, 03:06 am »

Quote from: Hantra

Kevin:

Those are VERY nice looking speakers!

Thanks! Wait until you see them integrated with the bass modules! That should be done within a couple of weeks. Bamboo is an outstanding material for looks. I displayed them at a 'natural 'home' style show, and the crowd was universally impressed with the quality and beauty of construction. They look fantastic sitting on bamboo floor.

Thayer, the sound of the Jordan drivers is so good, they were practically begging to be made into a world-class speaker design. This speaker will surprise a lot of people. I'll taking what I have learned from this to make a line of less $-intensive speakers next.