new living voice prototype horns

this is very good news indeed.

i personally believe this cheap, crappy sounding little thing used by those who don't know its real behaviour is responsibe for so many crap recordings in the last 30 years.

 

Nearfield monitor yes.

Westlake HR-1 would be a little impractical in such a setup

 

I don't. It's a myth that they are used as mains or for mastering. They never have been. Recordings are compressed because of the need for loudness. Nowadays they are roughed up with distortion for similar reasons. Recording at digital zero leads to digital clipping which is nasty and clearly audible on most digital recordings. I'd blame Pro Tools to to honest - the work of the devil.

 

The long and short of it is that studios will master something to sound good on the kit most people use - Denon, Panasonic or Toshiba all in one systems, car systems or surround kit with tiny main speakers and boomy subs that don't actually go very low.
The NS10 would represent a real step forward in those cases

With that in mind, does it really matter if the studio uses Tannoys, PMCs or ATCs earlier in the chain?

 

i've seen producers aiming to sell millions doing a final mix on a ghetto blaster. after the mix was finished on big monitors (i think it was some tannoy lockwood), they brough in a simple ghetto blaster and the guy did a final tweaking on it.
it was early 80s.
yamaha NS10 has a horrendous peak in low midrange, if you consider they are flat, whatever you do will come as spikey, harsh sound - just as so many pop music recorded as from the early 80s sound. SM, the loudness problem came later.
i am ashamed to confess, but i tried to live with NS10 in a home enviroment for a couple of months, some 20 years ago.

 

I can well believe that.
The studio I worked in during the 80s monitored and did the initial mix on 10" tannoys but then did the final mix after listening on some small single driver things perched on top of the desk. If that wasn't bad enough the studio specialised in reggae!

 

The fact they are so common place is their key asset – they are something every engineer and producer is familiar with - they ease a visiting engineer / producer’s transition into an unfamiliar environment. If they didn’t exist mixes would be far worse as all studio monitoring rigs all sound so different to one another. Everyone knows NS10s are wrong and they know exactly how they are wrong. This makes them very useful as a reference. I’d far prefer to do a mix on NS10s than another speaker I was completely unfamiliar with no matter how good or what claims to accuracy it might have.

Tony.

 

It's sad to blame the Yammie ,for all it's faults, for the appalling quality of early digital studio installations. For me the decline of general recording quality coincided with the adoption of PCM as the defaqto storage standard. The loudness issues made matters worse, as did Pro Tools and the advent of the home studio.

Having said that, this is all fantastic from a creative point of view, and the arguement could be made that music is all the better for it - even if the recordings are disappointing to the odd audiophile or two.

 

Interesting little piece on the NS10:

http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/ns10nearfieldmonitors.htm

 

Yes, it took (takes) skill to maximise the dynamic range of analogue tape recording. Having said that, the odd mishap needn't be a disaster - I've bounced the meters on the end stops with my B77 a few times and with good tape you barely notice.

 

..:respect: (Revox B77)

 

http://www.artec-france.com/etudes.php?lang=en&PHPSESSID=5ae351b97595cf7cd4cb026b316eb6f8

 

this ain't cheap for sure.
isn't a bass enclosure of the "reference" system actually what jean hiraga concerned as an ultimate solution for altec's?

 

And the answer is an acoustical one.

The short horn diameter=80 cm's is to match the sound caracter of the bass driver and the top horn in the x-over area. The internal line filter before the build in bass amp takes care of the amplitude bump the horn creates at 200 - 400 Hz. But the merge soundwise between the drivers betters enormuesly by this little however expensive trick.

I could as well answer some other comments on the Orpheans (The tophorn with the BMS drivers), now that I am online.

"The construction is doomed by Romy and this and that person, and mind you no one of them ever heard them, that you cannot cover 6 octaves by using one horn"

OK then follow then Gordans advice and go and listen by yourself.
I cannot buy that idea because theories says this or that, and maybe others didn't have any succes with it.
There is absolutely nothing in sound of the Swings that indicates this is not possible.
The sound is neither square, harsh, colored, honky, distorted or not extended in the highs. The treble breaths out like on any other dedicated SOTA treble driver I have heard.

So by this I will ground those statements that tells it's not possible.

And those who have not heard the Swings and tells me it's shit, what can I tell you?

Gerner

 

bms drivers etc.

hello Gordan, hello Gerner

bms drivers are controversial drivers amongst audiophiles. I had a email exchange with a french audiophile, who tried out many different drivers, his opinion about ghe 4592nd was following:

je connais les compression BMS et le 4592nd
le son est tres "ordinaire " et évidemment comme toute membrane en mylar devient extremement agressif des que l'on monte le niveau..
la solution de membrane "coaxiale" dans les compressions BMS n'apporte rigoureusement aucun avantages audible et génere beaucoup de distortion en dessous de 1,5 khz

les meilleures compression sont TAD /Mc Cauley(seulement la 9620 car fabriqué par Sony ) 476JBL/ Radian/ ....et qq autres mais surtout pas BMS

of course he did not hear the modified one from Bert.
but not only him, but other french audiophiles frequently mention the Radian drivers. I have the 950pb here, and soon i will compare, and post my impressions between the the 4592nd and the Radian.

my first pair of speakers are in my listening room now, and i am impressed with the performance of the Beyma woofer, i did not expect it would be that good. It is very fast , goes deep, and integrates very well with the orphean.

here a link to my blog with new pictures of the actual system now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12312992@N07/page1/

rds Angelo

 

Hi Angelo

If this French text, that I do not understand, is a comment on the BMS out of box sound, we are talking apple and pears here.

Don't forget that the BMS drivers used for the Orpheans have been undergoing severe electrical treatment by BD-Design through a deviding network that absolutely change the honker into a devine master piece. It's already on the street as a MKII version for optimised amplitude and phase response, internal time alignment and one piston filter technology.
Not many have heard this Orphean yet Angelo.

It is maybe not that unusual a manufactorer has to apply some mods to make a standard driver shine.
Neither it is unusual a manufactorer just clamp out of box expensive drivers together and have poor results regardless the price.

There are few examples of the first mentioned cathegory and 1000's of the second.

And yes there are some very likeable drivers that has a potential to shine. But it rarely comes without blood, sweat and tears.
That was the case with the Orpheans at least.
2 years of intensive research on it's faulty behaviour and it's cure were burned off to make it happen.

This is serious stuff pal.

Gerner.

 

Beautifull speakers, perfect finish...

 

Yes Antonio. So are yours if it is those attached to your signature pic.

Gerner

 

Mine where bought, not done by myself, the designer had a decorator business in the South of Spain for some time, before he made his hobby his profession...

 

Very nice indeed.