Low mass speaker drivers are a trade off. Standard speaker drivers typically move more air than dipole drivers, thus deliver lower bass frequencies and greater dynamics. How are we defining low mass systems? Taking the transformer out of the chassis and relocating it elsewhere doesn’t reduce the total mass, just redistributes it. Removing the chassis cover does reduce total mass.
Is this the end of HEA?
http://www.cepro.com/article/is_this_the_end_of_high_performance_audio_at_ces
This last year has made my ears perk up. Honestly I didn't even know the article above had been written until now. What I did know was listeners have been in touch with me about the future of HEA and their future as advanced listeners. It's been nice to see folks getting in touch with me and even nicer that they are doing so because they wish to settle into their final system sound. To say things in their words "it's been an expensive ride" and most of these folks aren't sure they've gotten a fair shake always from the hobby. Many feel they have bank rolled a part of a hobby that hasn't always delivered the goods. Basically instead of telling listeners that this is a variable hobby the "experts" pushed a very expensive game of component Plug & Play onto the discrete audio generation. I remember those days of guilt buying where a dollar amount was used as a representative for quality, when it meant no such thing. I knew first hand this was not the case as designers scrambled to make up-sell products that sounded less musical than the original products that put their name in audio fame. I also could see the HEA decline happening but still was giving the benefit of the doubt to those saying HEA was just fine and growing. Mom and pop stores for the most part have vanished in the US with the exception of a few creative thinkers. New expensive products are being adored but I don't see many actually buying them. Now I've got my eye on T.H.E. Show (Richard's show) and wondering if it's happening or not. Richard and I have talked many times about what will happen to HEA in the US if T.H.E. Show and CES cease doing their thing in Vegas. I wonder what Richard RIP is thinking now sitting in the clouds.
I am very excited to see the next few years come about even though I know some are still buying into the old paradigm that the HEA is the cutting edge with only a volume control to adjust and a fork lift included with every purchase. Going to the CES web, I have my answer for Vegas. Going to T.H.E. Show website I'm still in question. If these two are no more, in terms of HEA, who's next?
Michael Green
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Geoffkait, what have you to say about this driver; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Motion_Transformer |
Michael Green may be right. It is shifting. "Higher price to lower price" It is not that the price is substantially lower, it is that advancements in technology made same quality available at lower price. Of course, there could be a debate if iPhone is really lower price (they seem to go up in price with every generation).
Most of the people got used to having it all and having it small, in their pockets, thanks to advancements in technology
Advancements in technology and nothing else.
Almost everything electronic has fewer parts these days, when compared to the same functionality in the past. Advancements in technology. "Fixed sound to variable sound" Sound modes have been available on receivers etc. for a few decades now. With advancements in technology and science, it is possible to have variable sound on new smaller devices.
Advancements in technology made it simpler to add controls of whatever kind we desire.
Advancements in technology provide for more diverse combinations.
Advancements in technology allow us to listen to distant radio stations/Internet and explore what was impossible before. All in all, the paradigm is shifting and majority is moving away from bulky, seemingly built complicated, equipment. However, it is not because they read through the HEA conspiracy and do not want to be fooled anymore. It is because advancements in technology made things possible that could not be achieved in the past and people like convenience. |
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