I'm looking to learn about Air Motion Transformer technology


I'm curious about Wharfedale's use of Air Motion Transformers in their new Elysian line.  See http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/elysian4/

I'm admittedly in the dark about this technology even though other manufacturers have used it.  I'm curious about its use, potential benefits, sound signature, etc.
jbhiller
Thanx Mike I would love to. You wouldn't happen to have any dealers in New England?
Right now I use a TACT 2.2x for my front end which is more like The Trinnov Amethyst which is an ST2 with a few more inputs and a volume control. The room correction is identical. If my TACT were to fail that is what I would get at this moment in time.
I had a close relationship with Radomir Bozevic the DSP wizard behind  TACT. Do yourself a favor and do not sell anyone the microphone. Have your dealers set up the system, show the customer the basic stuff and remove the Mic. Boz got buried in phone calls. People were getting entirely lost in his program and coming up with inferior results which gave him a bad name aside from driving him crazy. His mistake was that he was direct purchase only and did not have any dealers to rescue the customer.
Anyway, stacking the woofers would be expensive. They would have to go all the way from the floor to the ceiling to create a line source that would go down to 20 Hz and match the output of the towers. You could take 4 subs and spread them across the front wall into the corners and achieve the same results. You have a horizontal line source! I do this with my ESLs with great results. No mater where you are the sound balance remains the same. Now my ESLs will not go as loud as your towers. Right now I use 4 12" subs. I would think 8 10" drivers would do the trick up to reasonable levels. To do  vertical line sources you would have to stack 6 or seven subs on each side? If you were to put them right into corners you might have output to match the towers which is academic really as nobody in their right mind would play it that loud.
Mike
There are no connections between Analysis and the now defunct Apogee brand. Analysis has been in business since about 1990. All Analysis M/T ribbons are designed with aluminum traces on a Kapton substrate. The main difference is the implementation. Most (all that I know of) ribbon membranes of the composite type are pleated through meaning the aluminum / Kapton composite are pleated together. Once done and suspended in the driver frame you basically have a spring. During assembly slight tension is applied mostly for symmetry. Over time they will sag. There are some negative consequences to that. Analysis ribbons are built differently. The Kapton substrate is not pleated. It is attached to the structure at the top and bottom with one to three cross-supports depending on which model and with slight tension. The pleated aluminum traces are applied to the substrate. Analysis ribbons never sag. There are several other benefits to the Analysis design. The Analysis bass panels are probably more like Magnepan panels but are, too, very different. They are also 3D in profile and have a complete suspension. Like most large ribbon or planar drivers they are an easy load on amps. Partially because of the design and the quality they are very stable and robust speakers unless you poke the membranes with sharp objects.
My car audio system uses AMT's ...I guess they're smaller to fit them all in the dashboard, kickpanels, etc.  There are good and not so good in all designs.  
mijostyn
Mike, Sorry that I missed your post. No dealers in New England but the VPI showroom in central NJ does have an Apollo System in house. Harry Weisfeld purchased an Apollo12 system for his home. His 12 will be at the VPI showroom for a few weeks before being delivered to his house. We are scheduled to deliver the Apollo system mid November. They have lots of very cool equipment there besides their turntables. It's worth a trip.

We do offer the Trinnov Amethyst as well. You make a good point about the mic and setup. At this point in time our systems do come with the mic to set up the system. The Trinnov does have remote setup capabilities. We are also available for on site assistance.

You are correct about the need for multiple woofers for SPL to match the Apollo towers but no one should be exposed to those levels. It's all about no dynamic compression. AMT based speakers can be great for HT too.

stringreen
Don't know much about car audio but having good output for their size and being very clear, AMTs should work well in a car audio system.
The latest Elac  Jet 5 AMT Tweeter is made in Germany where the original AMT tweeter was developed not China like most,it is exception very fast ,detailed and very smooth using Neodymium magents all around 
and and folded pleated diaphragm . This works like a bellows,for the  folded tweeter they use a robot To solder the contacts to the mem brain .i believe theyuse a treated mylar membrain  it is very well thought out and complements their excellent mid-Bass crystal composite driver 
Aluminum  facet.sandwich with a pulp paper rear using 3 types of  adhesives  glue mid Bass driver  the Oder Elac I was not a big fan the new Vela seres Excellent .