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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: New superlative horn build - ESD acoustic
Post Subject: Sitting on a fence ...Posted by Romy the Cat on: 5/14/2018
Indeed I am welcoming a newcomer to a horn world. It looks like a Chinese company that makes me slightly to be withdrawn. So far I did not see original Chinese production that did not cut corners or did not impersonalize western product but in bad, sort of “cargo cult” way. I will be glad to be proven wrong. 
 
The first thing first, it is damn 2018, who in sane world today write sites like this?! 
 
After agonizing efforts to navigate the site the filing I got a following: I do not like the company
 
They throw the names like Dr. Bruce Edgar and some of the things they do/say does indicate that they consulted with Bruce initially, or just embraced some of the Bruce’s idea but I see that is no way Dr. Edgar evolved in dally company’s operation or at least in marketing.  How else the stupid comments like this might show at the company web site: 
 
“The directivity of horn system has turned the “sweet spot” into a “sweet zone”; classical outlook design incorporates our system into your home environment; convenient control allows everybody to enjoy the system freely. We wish you and your family and friends share the joy of music. It's our goal to help you share joy of music as it was meant to be heard.” 
 
Bruce Edgar and Sam Saye collaborated for years on adopting beryllium diaphragms and a few other project but it was good 10 years ago. Sam was a big field coil promoter as I remember.  I do not know where they are now with all of it. It looks to me that some Chinese industrialists decided to cash out on Bruce and Sam findings. My feeling is that if Bruce and Sam run the show and use the Chinese folks as manufacturing platform then it might be an interesting operation. If the whole project is purely Chinese development and they just use Bruce Edgar and Sam Saye as a publicity figures then the company and the product would be garbage, as many other companies we have seen. The Chinese folks have Carbon Fiber large press, I doubt that the press stamps just horns. I am sure that it is some kind of industrial scale press that dose parts for refrigerators, washer machines or agricultural apparatuses  and a few hour a month they press horns. Most likely the guy who run the shop does audio and he desired to branch out to hi-fi audio. The Avantgarde Acoustic started in the same way when the owner inherited a large ABS press and did not know what to do with it. 
 
Now, back away from my feelings to the actual horns. The Carbon Fiber horns are a great idea. The new beryllium diaphragms, probably in fiber-reinforcement plastic, is great idea. The way how they assemble horns is kind of worrisome. The “EDS acoustic trade-in “program is kind of ridicules ides. So, basically whatever come from Bruce and Sam is fine, whatever come from the Chinese folks kind of ridicules. God, I sound like a racist but I assure you I am not. Basically the main question is who owns the horns integration. If it was supervised by Bruce then it might be something worse to consider. If the integration was made by Chinese side then I would be concerned. 
 
For sure the 5 ways system pushes near close to 20Hz but there is a bigger question into it. Did they modulate the field coil voltage, drooping it with horns side? In my view it would be a key to make 5-way field coil successful. I never deal with Sam Saye and I do not know his view in the subject that this is the only thing (probably with integration subject) that I feel is “secretive” for me in that new system. 
 
I do think that an update for their 5-way system will be coming that will have a dedicated LF module with open bottom. Driving the ESD’s 5-way system as it is now, with a single amplifier would be practically impossible to assure proper loading and proper harmonics reproduction for a tweeter and bass horn. There is two way to deal with it with very smart DSET or with VERY smart modulation of voltage in field coil but it would be VERY delicate thing that might not hold across the whole dynamic range… 
 
So, I am sitting on a fence for now with my judgment. I would like to have somebody like Cessaro to embrace the new ESD drivers if they are good driver and step away from TADs.

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