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Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound

12.189.30.98
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 08:57:37
Sordidman
Dealer

Posts: 9246
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 Hola,

Anyone buy a pair or hear the Arabesques? (link below)

I think that they look really cool, - but wouldn't go well with my old-school, Mexican Colonel furniture and 1910 bay window SF apartment. But do think that they look pretty cool, - especially if one has the "vibe" and decor to match. I bet that many of us place more emphasis on looks than we sometimes admit. But, in a lot of ways, when you pile up all of the sources, amps, power products, and cables: (and now computers, and interface boxes), and have all of the other products besides speakers sucking up precious room space; what becomes more aesthetically objectionable?
I also thought that the O'Hoecha robot speakers were pretty cool too, - but one really needed a George Jetson apartment to fit those in. Everytime I heard the O'Hoecha I really liked them and thought that they cast an amazing soundstage, - but after awhile, - they became quite fatiguing.


Surrendered to self preservation,
From others who care for themselves.
A blindness that touches perfection,
But hurts just like anything else.
They sounded quite good to me, posted on November 15, 2009 at 06:59:02
morricab
Dealer

Posts: 4457
Location: switzerland
Joined: April 1, 2005
 However, for the money...not sure that they are good value.

After reading up on 'em a bit . . ., posted on November 4, 2009 at 19:33:58
caspian@peak.org
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Oregon
Joined: January 12, 2008
 . . . I see some real pluses. SWEET drivers -- top line ScanSpeak woofers and a Raal true ribbon tweeter. Clever internal cross-section, with no parallel surfaces, and sort of a short tapered line leading to the slot vent on the back. Narrow enough front baffle, with chamfered adjacent sides, which should result in a fairly benign diffraction profile. (Since they don't call these a 2.5 way, I assume that the three woofers are in parallel to gain efficiency, and that the lowpass filter includes appropriate shelving for baffle step compensation). Never having worked with glass as a cabinet material, I'm not familiar with its resonant properties -- maybe, in a design like this, it is in fact superior to plywood or MDF.

But I would still be concerned about undamped organ-pipe resonances in the vertical dimension. Having built several tall narrow cabinets myself,I don't see how these resonances could NOT color the sound. It usually takes a fair amount of wadding crammed into the lower part of the cabinet to damp them out.

And I REALLY wonder why they put so much distance between the tweeter and the upper woofer. Closer is always better, and less than one wavelength at crossover frequency is nearly universal practice these days. Whatever the crossover design (they say 2nd order electrical/3rd order acoustic at 2kHz), that much separation will lead to serious lobing issues on the vertical axis -- ESPECIALLY with a rectangular ribbon tweeter, which has wide horizontal dispersion but almost no vertical dispersion more than a few degrees off axis.

I'd like to see a comprehensive review of these, with a full suite of measurements. Hello, JA?
If I may be candid ...., posted on November 4, 2009 at 12:42:25
Pinkus
Audiophile

Posts: 279
Joined: August 13, 2000
 they look like sh**. Don't do anything for me. Would never consider having them in my home.

RE: If I may be candid ...., posted on November 4, 2009 at 18:22:33
Shakey
Audiophile

Posts: 717
Joined: March 1, 2002
 Agreed. They remind me of a shower stall...

RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound, posted on November 4, 2009 at 05:26:53
Anji12305
Audiophile

Posts: 98
Location: Massachusetts South Coast
Joined: February 20, 2009
 I think Kal has hit on something...

these are "clearly" designed for tweakers; for warmer sound use tropical species, for cooler sound Icelandic Cod is best.

I can just see it now, a disco ball in the works for '70s AOR and a miniature candelabra for the barocque.

At least the industrial designers kicked off the GM Aztek project are still getting work. Who buys this mawkish Kak anyhow?

RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound, posted on November 3, 2009 at 20:33:09
jdwaudio
Audiophile

Posts: 336
Location: Connecticut
Joined: July 22, 2000
 There is an extremely positive review in the September issue of HIFI+ magazine.

Jim

RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound, posted on November 3, 2009 at 19:58:05
caspian@peak.org
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Oregon
Joined: January 12, 2008
 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.

Thanks for the comments: interesting, - but........, posted on November 4, 2009 at 09:13:23
Sordidman
Dealer

Posts: 9246
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 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.



Surrendered to self preservation,
From others who care for themselves.
A blindness that touches perfection,
But hurts just like anything else.
You don't have to listen, posted on November 4, 2009 at 10:33:04
badman
Reviewer

Posts: 2479
Location: Tustin, CA (Orange County)
Joined: March 10, 2001
 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.


RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound, posted on November 3, 2009 at 20:09:25
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 7159
Joined: June 5, 2002
 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! ;-)

Yeah, that's interesting. Is the fact that it doesn't look like, posted on November 4, 2009 at 09:17:46
Sordidman
Dealer

Posts: 9246
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 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.

Surrendered to self preservation,
From others who care for themselves.
A blindness that touches perfection,
But hurts just like anything else.
Style is good but.................., posted on November 4, 2009 at 09:30:20
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 7159
Joined: June 5, 2002
 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
RE: Arabesque Speakers: aesthetics vs sound, posted on November 3, 2009 at 18:27:50
eduardoo
Audiophile

Posts: 715
Joined: August 14, 2002
 A friend of mine really liked it and almost bought one. However, the price asked for puts it in the territory of a lot of top end and more "proven" designs, often with fancier components and bigger scale (Avalon, Marten, Wilson, etc.) and likely better resale value. He was also worried about the interior of the thing getting dirty over time (the box is not a sealed design). Apparently, the distributor here sees a lot of interests but hardly (if at all) end up selling any.

""interior of the thing getting dirty over time"", posted on November 4, 2009 at 09:19:16
Sordidman
Dealer

Posts: 9246
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 Man,

Totally true. Those things would look horrible if there was even the slightest bit of dirt. That whole hi-tech, modern-art, impression would be ruined with things like dust, dirt, cat hair, or fingerprints.



Surrendered to self preservation,
From others who care for themselves.
A blindness that touches perfection,
But hurts just like anything else.

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