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Author Topic: New speaker designs are making my head spin  (Read 5588 times)

John L Nobile

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New speaker designs are making my head spin
« on: September 19, 2018, 04:09:16 PM »

Presonus has come out with a box that has a 12" "woofer" and 8 - 2" speakers which they claim is a line array meets point source system. I don't know who they're marketing this to but it's not me.

I can't keep up with all the new speaker systems coming out in the last few years. It reminds me of the synth explosion in the 80's.
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Chris Hindle

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2018, 04:53:35 PM »

Presonus has come out with a box that has a 12" "woofer" and 8 - 2" speakers which they claim is a line array meets point source system. I don't know who they're marketing this to but it's not me.

I can't keep up with all the new speaker systems coming out in the last few years. It reminds me of the synth explosion in the 80's.
Bose Bloze ?  ::)
Chris.
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Ya, Whatever. Just throw a '57 on it, and get off my stage.

Brian Jojade

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2018, 05:34:44 PM »

Are you in the market to buy new speakers?  If not, then it doesn't matter.  Yeah, there's always going to be new twists and turns on equipment.  Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not.

We've gotten to a point where there's no real continuity in products out there.  For any application, there could be thousands of products that could be put in that could do the job, and of those, there are many different designs that could do the job well. (There are also a ton of designs that certainly won't be good choices)

The lifecycle of a product being the latest tech is also shortening.  It used to be that you put in a sound system and that model was around for 5 or more years.  Now, the model of speaker you put in will only be available to purchase until next Thursday....

For pro sound, there's really only a couple of questions that need to be asked.  1. Can this new product make me money? 2. Can this new product make my job easier?  Pretty much if you can answer yes to both of those questions, then it's worth considering.  If not, then continue on your way.
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Stephen Kirby

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2018, 05:37:45 PM »

Driver design and performance has made leaps and bounds in the last few years.  While a strip of 2" drivers isn't a line array, it may do things far beyond what you expect.
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Chrysander 'C.R.' Young

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2018, 06:55:39 PM »

I just checked the system out on the web site and they very scrupulous never claim to be a line array.
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Nathan Riddle

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2018, 07:33:26 PM »

I just checked the system out on the web site and they very scrupulous never claim to be a line array.

Except in their video.
https://youtu.be/cyq4l5E6qJM
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Art Welter

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2018, 11:42:14 PM »

Presonus has come out with a box that has a 12" "woofer" and 8 - 2" speakers which they claim is a line array meets point source system. I don't know who they're marketing this to but it's not me.

I can't keep up with all the new speaker systems coming out in the last few years. It reminds me of the synth explosion in the 80's.
John,

The CBT array concept is not exactly new:

D. B. Keele, Jr., “The Application of Broadband Constant Beamwidth Transducer (CBT) Theory to Loudspeaker Arrays,” 109th Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, Preprint 5216 (Sept. 2000).

CBT theory wasn't exactly new 18 years ago either, but it takes a while for even Keele to spin a few heads.
His “What’s So Sacred About Exponential Horns” came out in 1975, but exponential horns have not gone away.
 
As Stephen Kirby points out, today's better 2" cone drivers ain't what were put in transistor radios in the 1960's ;^).
Cone driver HF have some advantages over compression driver/line array HF horn designs, but like every other "solution" won't solve every equation.

Art
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Gordon Brinton

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2018, 05:03:54 AM »

I have yet to hear a mini line array that sounds natural and full-bodied like a conventional box speaker. To me, they just seem to sound slightly mechanical, cold, shrilly, and unbalanced across the frequency spectrum. Perhaps it's their lack of sizable mid and low-mid drivers or their overabundance of upper-mid. Maybe this one is different, but I am not holding my breath.
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Nathan Riddle

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2018, 10:02:07 AM »

Linky,

https://www.presonus.com/products/CDL-Loudspeakers

What effective pattern control does it have?

420Hz crossover = 32" or 8" 1/4 so I can see the woofer aligning with the 2" drivers.

2" spacing between centers of drivers = ~3300 Hz 1/4 wavelength means pattern control for 3kHz up?

Did I do my math correctly?
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I'm just a guy trying to do the next right thing.

This business is for people with too much energy for desk jobs and too much brain for labor jobs. - Scott Helmke

Art Welter

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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2018, 11:16:00 AM »

Linky,

https://www.presonus.com/products/CDL-Loudspeakers

What effective pattern control does it have?
Nathan,

The "math" to determine the effective pattern control of a CDL array is a bit more complicated than a few 1/4 wave calculations.

As in any line array, each addition of another element affects the pattern control.

Keele's predictions for 1 to 6 boxes (attached) are probably "close enough for rock & roll"  ;).

Art
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Re: New speaker designs are making my head spin
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2018, 11:16:00 AM »


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