[bigro]

A While Back Andrew Jones Was Explaining Why The Elacs Had a Lower sensitivity than other new speakers. If I remember correctly it some how allowed him to design the speaker with an improved low end response. I am no Engineer So I take his word for it. As Murrays Said there is No Free lunch. a Give and take.

Growing up we were taught to turn on all gear including pre's before power amps. Kind of top down to minimize any pops to the speakers. If the power amp/ Built in Amp is off when turning on all the other gear then no signal gets to the speakers and therefore is a non issue. I Never Knew My Valhalla 2 Popped because it was first on before any power amps or built in amps and last off. I guess Growing up when when there was separates you Learned quickly how to appease the audio Gods ( and Dad) if you wanted to play with the audio gear,

 

[OldRoadToad]

.

 

[bigro]

Ego is One thing. But mere satisfaction or thrill is a big part. Just Like a pair of I-buds never really floated my boat that V8 to some may be Impractical, but even some very good Turbo Charged 4 Cylinders will have a hard time giving that Thrill of a Big Loud and Burly V8.
 
With all the Wizardry and gadgets that is being packed into electronics now here we are discussing gear from a company that has taken a Back to basics approach where performance is the primary focus and convenience is welcome so long as it does not interfere with primary focus of the gear.  To many this may seem to be rudimentary gear, Explain to some " normal" person that your power switch is in the back and it does not have Bluetooth or a touch screen and get ready for stares and jeers, yep ego in the toilet. If you put Ego, personal satisfaction or any other reason aside,  Even with all the new fangled ways of making things efficient and sound wizardry in some cases there is no replacement for displacement. 

 

[Letmebefrank]

Having owned multiple big v8s and two turbo L4s, one of the turbos being more powerful than any of the V8s; a 1985 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z with about $8000 in the drivetrain. That car was the most fun. 450whp/600lbft  in a 2300lb car was about as fun as you can get without killing yourself on the street.
 
However having sold that and now owning a chrysler 300 C with a lightly modified 400hp 5.7 hemi and hefty 4200lbs, its a lot more practical and almost as much fun, especially hanging the ass out around corners, which was never possible in the FWD Daytona.

 

[wasupdog]

Jason, thanks for the Vidar update. Just keep doing what you're doing! If you can make a $1400 pair of 400wpc balanced monoblocks that sound as good as your "personal audio" gear, you should prepare for a long waiting list. No one* is doing anything even close to that.

* OK, I guess Emotiva's XPA-1 is in the ballpark at 600wpc and $1k-ish. Still, I'd argue that $1400 and $2k (or $2400 not on sale) is a big gap. Like "add a Freya" big.

The real question is what speakers would benefit from this kind of power. And I don't mean "more is always better." I'm seriously curious about which not-unobtanium speakers could use all this juice...

lots.  manufacturer specs can be and/or are misleading.  low power amps can drive almost any speaker but that doesn't mean it sounds as good as it possibly can.  the difference is surprising sometimes when you add a higher power amp.  

 

[Armaegis]

  I'm wondering... what's the point in making speakers with both low sensitivity and low impedance. They are a "nightmare" for a ton of amps.
 
Do those specs give some sonic/electrical advantage?

 
Much like the "Iron Triangle" of business: fast, good and cheap... pick two;
when it comes to speaker design, there is something known as Hoffman's Iron Law: small enclosure/cabinet, bass, and sensitivity/efficiency... pick two (and if you're really shrinking down, then basically you only get one). That's simply physics at play.
 
As for low impedance, that's a matter of putting power into the speakers. Ignoring all aspects of driver/cabinet design and only looking at electrical equations, power is given as P = V²/R. The more power you can shove through a driver, the louder it gets. Now most of us intuitively understand that "turning it up" will increase voltage signal and make things louder. But up to a certain point, it's very difficult to get amps to swing more voltage because you are hitting the limits from your power supply (there are ways around this, but that complicates things). So the only way to get more power is to therefore lower the impedance of the driver.

 

[rdaneel]

So with Vidar, I can finally get my pocket size desktop speakers that go down to 20 Hz?

 

[watchnerd]

So with Vidar, I can finally get my pocket size desktop speakers that go down to 20 Hz?

 
Tough to find a transducer that has a resonant frequency of 20 Hz and fits in your pocket.  Maybe a driver made of lead.

 

[45longcolt]

    Maybe a driver made of lead.

Y'know, I've heard speakers that sounded like they were made of lead, but probably weren't actually.
 
As to the need for 400-watt monos, one word for you -
 
headroom.

 

[US Blues]

Originally Posted by 45longcolt /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Y'know, I've heard speakers that sounded like they were made of lead, but probably weren't actually.
 
As to the need for 400-watt monos, one word for you -
 
headroom.

 
Yup, it's not about volume, it's about being able to produce dynamic range. Most often when speakers blow it's due to the distortion created because the amplifier has run out of power, not because there is too much power. The short bursts of energy required to cleanly reproduce dynamics (a loud drum strike, for example) will not harm a speaker, unless the amp clips and starts putting out a distorted signal. 
 
400 watt monoblocks- I'm already signed up.

 

[willtothewong]

I can not wait for these speaker amps to come out!

 

[Armaegis]

  Tough to find a transducer that has a resonant frequency of 20 Hz and fits in your pocket. 

 
There are a multitude of pocket sized transducers available on the market, many of which have variable speeds which I'm sure include a 20Hz option. The super fancy ones even have wifi integration these days. None of these are products that I would share on a public forum however...

 

[watchnerd]

   
There are a multitude of pocket sized transducers available on the market, many of which have variable speeds which I'm sure include a 20Hz option. The super fancy ones even have wifi integration these days. None of these are products that I would share on a public forum however...

 
But how many inches of excursion does it have? 

 

[mattlach]

There are a multitude of pocket sized transducers available on the market, many of which have variable speeds which I'm sure include a 20Hz option. The super fancy ones even have wifi integration these days. None of these are products that I would share on a public forum however... :wink_face:

Why would anyone want a speaker in their pocket?

 

[Armaegis]

   
But how many inches of excursion does it have? 

 
It's not about the inches... it's about volume displacement per time