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In Reply to: RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound posted by Sordidman on November 03, 2009 at 08:57:37
I see a few IMMEDIATE problems with those things.
Those long, unbraced glass panels will ring audibly. Being of several differend widths, they will ring at several different frequencies, adding colorations or distortions at those frequencies to the direct output of the drivers.
The hard, slick baffle will be highly reflective at higher frequencies, leading to audible diffraction issues. I can already hear these, in my mind's ear, sounding "hard," "glassy," and "glary." Jim G. could whip up some nice felt baffle pads for 'em that would alleviate the problem somewhat, but of course that would compromise the "looks."
What about internal reflections and resonances? There is NO internal lining of acoustic foam or felt, and NO stuffing of Dacron, fiberglass, wool, etc. (which would ruin the "looks"). The irregular internal shape will mitigate standing waves somewhat, but the long tall column (regardless of cross-sectional shape) will still have an "organ pipe" resonance, and undamped reflections will still hit the back of the woofer cones, albeit at a greater multitude of angles and frequencies than would be the case with a rectangular cabinet.
Let us assume that the drivers are of the highest quality (sorry, I don't recognize 'em offhand, but that ribbon tweet looks nice), and that the crossover was well designed by a competent EE. The cabinet problems, noted above, will still seriously compromise performance.
did you hear them?
And really, no offense, - but, - one can't predict or speculate on how a speaker sounds until we listen to it.
Not that what you say doesn't have validity; but, I've been surprised before. And, we need to listen to validate those observations.
There are no more humans
Finally, robotic beings rule the world
The humans are dead
to spot bad engineering that will lead to known anomalies. I'm less concerned with the glass resonances, and different panel sizes is a plus, I'll always take multiple lower-level resonances to a single 'summed' resonance.
But the top to bottom mode will be brutal in those.
Bass is supposed to sound big. 6.5" is not a woofer size.
When I heard them, at CES, I was impressed with the sound. I also found that I could not detect much in the way of panel vibrations, less than most woodish cabinets. What I do not care for is the appearance. I could not figure out how to get the water and the fish in! ;-)
a speaker affect our aesthetic impressions. And, - is it a guy thing?
When something looks like it does, it's hard not to characterize it as a novelty. If it sounds good, and people think that it looks really cool, - it's going to generate some sales. People are definitely going to hate it because of the looks. IMO, - something like the Phoenix speakers are far worse, and absolutely horrible. But, there are others who may think that they look really cool.
There are no more humans
Finally, robotic beings rule the world
The humans are dead
sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. I do find this speaker and many others to be visually striking. However, putting multiples of them in a room is overwhelming. For example, I cannot imagine being comfortable with 2 or, in my case, 5 of them.
Kal
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