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Thin Walled Speakers -Tonian, Musical Affairs, etc

Hello,
It seems that a few speaker makers are using the thin walled, lightweight, less damping approach to building. For example Tonian, Musical Affairs and some others.

http://tonianlabs.com/
http://musicalaffairs.com/
http://vimeo.com/28295029

And I've read some very positive reviews of such speakers. I can see how they would sound unreal with vocals, acoustic instruments etc. But how do they sound with other more spectrally complex music- lets say rock. Do they turn to sonic mud?

I'd be curious to hear feedback from anyone who actually owns or has heard such speakers.

Thanks
anchan
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,130 posts
 
Anchan,

None taken :).
There was a time, albeit short, when I listened to some Queens of the Stone Age,
Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson to see how they fared and they acquitted themselves quite favorably. In fact, I was surprised at how good they sounded as I now listened to them from a different perspective than from my old Legacy Classics, which can rock with the best of them.
The Tonians do so many things so well that I can easily overlook their lack of bombastic like portrayal ability from heavily reworked studio fare. All one has to do is listen to some 'live' rock on these Tonians and you can easily be swayed into buying a pair.

All the best,
Nonoise
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,976 posts
 
A highly resonated cabinet adds coloration's but also allows transducers to vibrate excessively this plus added coloration's can effect ability to image at higher volume levels since higher SPL causes increase in vibration and coloration's due to cabinet resonance that only increase with level.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,130 posts
 
True that (god how I hate that expression).

But if the cabinet's and driver's resonances are taken into consideration (designed in), in advance, and the drivers are adequately attached, the cabinet adequately braced, and in the case of the Tonians, being a semi-open baffle design, then it should handle most kinds of music provided its not used as a PA system.

Coloration can be a good thing as long as its intended.
When you think of a heavily braced, thickly walled, acoustically inert cabinet and all the sound absorption and abatement one must do to keep the sound from relecting back out through the drivers or ports at an unacceptable rate, who can say which is the better design? Both seem to work as long as they're well thought out in advance.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
Coloration is not a good thing if your goal is to reproduce the music in its original form; thin wall and thick wall both intend to minimize coloration, they just use different methods to achieve it. But if you like coloration go for it; some like to walk around with tinted glasses after all. After a time they probably think the world is actually all pink.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,130 posts
 
It could be our ideas of coloration differ. Hues can be used to aid in tone. Gradations can enhance. Just how much is needed, or wanted, is in the ear of the designer. My take on coloration is of a slight application. Taking into consideration that speakers make the most distortion of any audio component in the chain (sometimes up to and beyond 10%), then coloration seems as reasonable as any approach in speaker design, along with cabinet construction, crossover design, choice of driver, etc.
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