ESSENTIAL SPEAKERS
THE SOUND OF THINGS TO COME
Andy Oattes, UK & Ireland Sales Director, Fine Sounds UK and Roberto Gamba of speaker maker Sonus Faber discuss loudspeaker development - present and future. Andy Oattes (AO): As far as I understand, the basic principles of loudspeaker acoustic design haven’t changed in a very long time. The objective is to create the desired speaker by implementing the very best acoustic design methodology and by using mechanical design tools, engineering, and manufacturing processes to remove the negative effects of unwarranted dispersion and vibration and to ensure that sound reaches the ear, with minimal distortion and maximum resolution and accuracy. It’s an iterative process. (That’s probably way too simplistic, but you get the idea, it a complicated thing). On the face of it, it appears that loudspeakers are easy to design and a low barrier to entry (think about the sheer number of speaker brands on the market), but it’s very hard to make a great speaker! There are many design choices along the way, with both positive and negative effects and ultimately the end-product depends on a myriad of factors, led generally by the design philosophy of the brand and the price point and application of the speaker. What has changed, however, is the plethora of materials now available for use, the advance in design software and design process, incredible improvements in engineering and fabrication.
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And the ever-growing demands of the consumer. These are good things. All very good things, that inevitably provide the consumer with a kaleidoscopic choice of options. Lying at the heart of any choice, should be, in my humble opinion, the pursuit of the best music or movie performance possible for the budget! The question then becomes, ‘what do I really want from a loudspeaker’, and there is the answer to one of the main growth areas in the
integration space: performance. The other main growth area is customisation or personalisation.
DEALING WITH PERFORMANCE FIRST
The advent of streaming brought the age of commoditisation to CI. The priority was on ease of control and stability. From an integrator’s perspective; designing-out failure was a real focus so as to ensure happy clients
Capturing the feeling of a musical instrument has never been easy
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