Our take on loudspeakers
27/09/07 14:55
We have some definite views on this subject. We firmly
believe that you don't get owt for nowt as they say.
Small speakers compromise deep bass extension and
efficiency. Big speakers are heavy and can dominate a
room. Choosing speakers becomes a trade-off between the
appearance of the speaker and how it sounds.
We used to think that choosing between conventional box speaker designs is akin to choosing your favourite fast food - ultimately there's not that much difference between the options and the choice neglects other, better dining options. That was until we heard the Soundsmith stand mounted speakers!
In the UK there is a reluctance to explore the merits of horns, open baffles and planar speakers. Surely not because retailers prefer to stock small, relatively light cubes?
We admit to preferring horns and open baffles because they eliminate the boxy colourations of conventional box designs, and create an illusion that gets closer to the sound of a live performance. Horns have the added advantage of high efficiency.
Klipsch Jubilees
We use the Klipsch Jubilee horns as our reference speaker - the first pair in Europe. This was Paul W Klipsch's final design - intended to supercede the Klipschorn. We chose it as our reference because it is so revealing - a change of a few hundredths of a gram in tracking force on a phono cartridge is clearly audible.
There is a widely held prejudice against horns which is historical. If the crossover point isn't chosen with care, the sound waves in the HF horn can break up and sound "shouty" in the midrange. The innovation on the Jubilee is that the LF drivers cross over at a relatively high 500 Hz (by employing two 12" drivers in the LF units) thus avoiding the typical horn speaker problems.
We love the Jubilees because they get closer to the sound of live music than any other speaker we have heard. Bass notes are heard and felt. The HF horns act like a point source, so imaging is superb. Imperfect recordings and set-up are ruthlessly revealed. The boxy mid-range colourations of direct radiating speakers are completely absent.
With an efficiency of 109 dB/W at 1 meter (actively driven) the Jubilees require less than one watt of amplification to play at concert levels. This results in a very low noise floor, impressive dynamic range and enables your amplification to deliver transients with stunning realism.
We can't pretend that the Jubilees are small, however their corner placement does minimise the loss of usable space within a room It would be wrong though to assume that they are only suitable for very large rooms, as we demonstrated at the Heathrow Hi Fi Show in March 2008. They work perfectly well at sensible listening levels in a normal lounge, and with the addition of some acoustic treatment (bass traps and diffusers), at insane listening levels too!
The Jubilee LF cabinets are completely sealed, so they can be placed away from corners (not possible with the Klipschorn).
Crossovers
In its primary application in a cinema, the Jubilees would be actively amped. Initially we drove ours actively using the Electrovoice Dx38 DSP. There are many advantages to active amplification - the amplifiers face an easier load and more of the power is converted to sound energy instead of heat in the crossover.
Klipsch have also provided a very good passive crossover design (which we demonstrated at the Heathrow Show 2008). We are able to supply these - from £600 per pair, with higher spec component upgrades available.
We used to think that choosing between conventional box speaker designs is akin to choosing your favourite fast food - ultimately there's not that much difference between the options and the choice neglects other, better dining options. That was until we heard the Soundsmith stand mounted speakers!
In the UK there is a reluctance to explore the merits of horns, open baffles and planar speakers. Surely not because retailers prefer to stock small, relatively light cubes?
We admit to preferring horns and open baffles because they eliminate the boxy colourations of conventional box designs, and create an illusion that gets closer to the sound of a live performance. Horns have the added advantage of high efficiency.
Klipsch Jubilees
We use the Klipsch Jubilee horns as our reference speaker - the first pair in Europe. This was Paul W Klipsch's final design - intended to supercede the Klipschorn. We chose it as our reference because it is so revealing - a change of a few hundredths of a gram in tracking force on a phono cartridge is clearly audible.
There is a widely held prejudice against horns which is historical. If the crossover point isn't chosen with care, the sound waves in the HF horn can break up and sound "shouty" in the midrange. The innovation on the Jubilee is that the LF drivers cross over at a relatively high 500 Hz (by employing two 12" drivers in the LF units) thus avoiding the typical horn speaker problems.
We love the Jubilees because they get closer to the sound of live music than any other speaker we have heard. Bass notes are heard and felt. The HF horns act like a point source, so imaging is superb. Imperfect recordings and set-up are ruthlessly revealed. The boxy mid-range colourations of direct radiating speakers are completely absent.
With an efficiency of 109 dB/W at 1 meter (actively driven) the Jubilees require less than one watt of amplification to play at concert levels. This results in a very low noise floor, impressive dynamic range and enables your amplification to deliver transients with stunning realism.
We can't pretend that the Jubilees are small, however their corner placement does minimise the loss of usable space within a room It would be wrong though to assume that they are only suitable for very large rooms, as we demonstrated at the Heathrow Hi Fi Show in March 2008. They work perfectly well at sensible listening levels in a normal lounge, and with the addition of some acoustic treatment (bass traps and diffusers), at insane listening levels too!
The Jubilee LF cabinets are completely sealed, so they can be placed away from corners (not possible with the Klipschorn).
Crossovers
In its primary application in a cinema, the Jubilees would be actively amped. Initially we drove ours actively using the Electrovoice Dx38 DSP. There are many advantages to active amplification - the amplifiers face an easier load and more of the power is converted to sound energy instead of heat in the crossover.
Klipsch have also provided a very good passive crossover design (which we demonstrated at the Heathrow Show 2008). We are able to supply these - from £600 per pair, with higher spec component upgrades available.