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RE: Should we send a "representative" to Magnepan?

One of the questions I have is whether DSP can be as effective at controlling planars as it is at dynamics. In general, I'd expect it to be good at compensating systematic errors that can be fixed with an inverse transfer characteristic, but not chaotic behavior. So it could smooth the frequency response, but could it compensate for something like the nonlinearity of a single-ended magnet assembly, or would the chaotic behavior of the diaphragm make it impossible to know where it is? This is one area in which it seems to me that dynamics have an advantage over conventional planars, if you can keep the cones from breaking up.

I toyed some years ago with schemes for local DSP with feedback, e.g., a big printed planar array speaker which would not only allow you to use feedback to control the diaphragm but would allow you to recreate the original sound field at the front of the room. Came up with an elegant way to do the feedback. But that's a huge project and I don't think it could hit a reasonable price point at the volumes of an audiophile product. A rigid planar woofer, though, e.g. carbon fiber with surround, might be more amenable.

Anyway, we'll have to see what Wendell has to say about the practicalities of adding DSP. I think you've identified a bit problem -- the reluctance of audiophiles to put anything digital in the chain. Honestly, I can understand it. It isn't so much that conversion on an analog system can't be transparent -- in my experience it can be -- as that many implementations aren't, and how do you know?

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