Blumenstein Ultra Fi

[Clark B.]

I was merely responding to the comment that sometimes crops up that our stuff needs to be changed to work with something else. I'm not saying that about you at all Clarko! I think we have one of the coolest business relationships going, and our stuff seems a match made in heaven.

Oh totally man! 

I know what you mean about being caught in the middle of the design process though.  Amps and speaker cabinets always have to give up ground.  How about those lazy tube makers and fullrange driver makers get off their butts some time and do something that WASN'T already done in the 1930's, huh!?!   But on many levels, I think that being at the parts of the process that ask us to be really adaptable suits you and I well in terms of our personalities. 

And I am serious about making drivers some day though.  But it would either take a pile of cash with no strings attached just falling into my lap or I'll just wait (work) until the BA sales can support such nonsense as buying cnc lathes and winders and etc in several years, and then waiting several more years until I've got anything that's worth listening to...  Where are those multiple lifetimes when you need them, huh?  Good thing I started young!

Cheers man,

Clark

[tdogzthmn]

I've also had the same thought about the development of new tubes.  There's really no more main stream application for them so little incentive for any big companies but if the audio industry looks to be large enough a small company specializing in their production might work out.  I'm sure there are some great new exotic materials out there which are waiting to be exploited in new designs! 

Carbon nanotubes might make for a nice speaker cone material, being only one atom thick it would be extremely lightweight.

Does NASA have a hi-fi devision?

[Clark B.]

I've also had the same thought about the development of new tubes.  There's really no more main stream application for them so little incentive for any big companies but if the audio industry looks to be large enough a small company specializing in their production might work out.  I'm sure there are some great new exotic materials out there which are waiting to be exploited in new designs! 

Carbon nanotubes might make for a nice speaker cone material, being only one atom thick it would be extremely lightweight.

Does NASA have a hi-fi devision?

I'd really like to see carbon nanotube ply...

 

I am not sure whether or not Nasa has a HiFi division in the traditional sense, but many fields within oceanography do.   For instance, I hope to someday get a pair of Orcas in the hands of cetacean researchers as a tool to better (?) understand whale calls.  Im sure listening fatigue sets in the homes of field researchers pouring through weeks of data as well as those of us who go about their work while listening to music as well.

[Doc B.]

I think that Magico is using some kind of nanotube technology in some of their driver cones. And speaking of listening to whales, when I got to ride on a nuclear sub many years ago (remember that I live about a mile from the third largest nuclear arsenal in the country - Naval Base Kitsap) I was impressed that the speakers used pretty much throughout the USS Ohio were some semi-high end brand. Wish I could remember which one - what a sweet contract that would be!

You don't even want to hear the stories of what kinds of vacuum tubes used to be on the old subs they were decommissioning at the Bremerton shipyard - they all go into a big grinder these days.

[Natural Sound]

I think that Magico is using some kind of nanotube technology in some of their driver cones. And speaking of listening to whales, when I got to ride on a nuclear sub many years ago (remember that I live about a mile from the third largest nuclear arsenal in the country - Naval Base Kitsap) I was impressed that the speakers used pretty much throughout the USS Ohio were some semi-high end brand. Wish I could remember which one - what a sweet contract that would be!

You don't even want to hear the stories of what kinds of vacuum tubes used to be on the old subs they were decommissioning at the Bremerton shipyard - they all go into a big grinder these days.

My NIXIE clock uses cold cathode tubes that were used in old Russian subs.

[earwaxxer]

I dont know about the fascination with new high tech materials for creating sound. I had some B&W's with the Kevlar cones. I was not impressed. I sold them. Most high end companies still use good old paper for their cones for a reason.

I admit that there are some innovations that make a difference, but there is a limit to what hype I will buy into.

[Doc B.]

Of course a person can make a bad sounding driver with any material. And if you are an end user, you are free to express a desire to stick with a certain driver that works for you. There are some phenomenally good paper drivers out there. I've watched Meyer Sound drivers being made like scientific apparatus, and I have been gobsmacked by the midrange of Feastrex drivers. But I happen to think that the guys who are experimenting with exotic materials are worth watching too, as I have heard some pretty amazing stuff from the likes of Magico and TAD who use materials like carbon fiber and beryllium. I also happen to like my ATD Hypergraph midrange drivers a lot.

My impression is that the sonic virtue of a speaker is more about understanding the capabilities and limitations of the material than whether the material itself is good or bad, and I feel that this kind of post is not the most useful type in to archive here.

[Grainger49]

I don't know exactly what this means.  I'm listening to Rodrigo y Gabriella Live In Paris now.  As I adjust the volume to suit me the balance between my BA sub and the Orcas changes. 

At higher volumes the sub is too loud, IMHO.  I'm thinking this has something to do with the sub's inertia and the Fletcher-Munson curves.  (esoteric enough?)

[Yoder]

Here is a pretty amazing new material that Fujifilm is playing with: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/510986/bending-your-ear-fujifilms-flexible-speakers/

Regarding the Kevlar B&W's, I have some CM 1's and I love them for classical music playback. They are not great for jazz or rock, but classical they smoke. I have read that one reason B&W's sound so good with classical is that most symphonies are recorded in the UK and they almost use B&W's exclusively in the studios over there. On the same note, my paper coned Fostex's smoke the Kevlar B&W's when it comes to jazz.

[Jim R.]

I think about the only thing I'd change on the Orcas (as well as Nagas) would be the driver.  Now please don't take that to mean I don't like it -- I do and feel it is a remarkable little driver.  I'm alsonot talking about a larger one either.  I'm talking the same basic design but built with things like a cast bronze basket, a washi or hemp cone, possibly a razor thin slice of nomex honeycomb for a spider, a super thin leather surround, and an alnico or hah-hah, permandor magnet, or field coil? :-)

Clark, how about a little contest -- the first guy to get a pile of unattached cash land in their lap and get an exotic replacement driver out, wins :-).

As for exotic fibers, thermoplastics, etc., I just have to pick up or suspend a piece of the stuff, tap it with my fingernail, a soft mallet and scratch it like a chalkboard and if it doesn't sound like a musical instrument (synthesizers and ovation guitars excepted) then it's out, regardless of how desireable it's other characteristics may happen to be.

And it just so happens that plyboo has some wonderful engineering properties and yet still manage to have a nice, pleasing tone to it.

[Paul Birkeland]

built with things like a cast bronze basket, a washi or hemp cone, possibly a razor thin slice of nomex honeycomb for a spider, a super thin leather surround, and an alnico or hah-hah, permandor magnet, or field coil?

So a $3,500 3" driver, sounds fun!

[Jim R.]

A screaming deal compared to the $70k top of the line Feastrex 9 inchers :-).

But seriously, there really is no real ultra driver for this size other than perhaps the Bandors, but they are too inefficient and have severe max spl limitations, and absolutely have to be used in a sealed enclosure, not to mention a fairly high rolloff.  In the right cabinet on a desktop though, they sound great.

Again, really nothing to complain about with the current drivers, just talking what-if here.

[Clark B.]

My impression is that the sonic virtue of a speaker is more about understanding the capabilities and limitations of the material than whether the material itself is good or bad.

A screaming deal compared to the $70k top of the line Feastrex 9 inchers :-).

But seriously, there really is no real ultra driver for this size other than perhaps the Bandors, but they are too inefficient and have severe max spl limitations, and absolutely have to be used in a sealed enclosure, not to mention a fairly high rolloff.  In the right cabinet on a desktop though, they sound great.

Again, really nothing to complain about with the current drivers, just talking what-if here.

Yeah, I've gotta say that my only real consideration as a designer/builder is still steadfast  -

Whether or not a speaker can make music in a really and truly pleasing manner over the long term of ownership.

To me its about creating speakers that are meant to be part of an entire stereo system that serves as a true "hearth" in the home.  A source of warmth and enjoyment that serves a distinct purpose in peoples' daily lives - for both genders - the uninhibited enjoyment of music portrayed in its full glory.

Single Drivers/Single Ended Triodes have been my own elixer for many years now and with the long hours put into the business every day, I feel like we are on a veritable crusade against listeners' fatigue with Bottlehead/Blumenstein systems.

I still only see more avenues to explore with the Single Driver/Single Ended Triode design paradigm.  It can't really get any simpler in terms of deleting moving/amplifying parts...  So its REALLY EASY to refine these systems sufficiently to make great music and to then just enjoy them every day...

After playing around with many of the new 3" models that come out these days, I am still sticking with the mighty little FE83En because it is really well musically balanced in our Orca enclosure.  Their only strength that seems oddly out of balance is the depth and profundity of the musical experiences they dish out considering the price.

Even the Feastrex drivers are not meant to be the "absolute" in any sense of physical transducer performance.  They are just meant to be very, extremely pleasing to listen to over the long haul and have more fireworks and upper volume capability than the Orcas have.  Otherwise, the Blumenstein "family sound"  is what we are designing after. 

Now while I might seem so adamant about only having my hand in making speakers that make music - and nothing else...  I'll be damned if we haven't experimented with and sought out just about every available technological resource and/or trial and error technique to get our speakers to this point.

So I'm definitely not anti technology...I am just pro-balance of technology in concert with music.  After all, I make speakers not violins...  And violin makers make violins - not replicas of ancient forms of guitars from ancient greece, and etc. 

--- So that's it for now until I've unplugged myself from the cyborg cords emanating from all my sophisticated cutting edge power tools

Peace,

-Clark

[Jim R.]

Clark,

Stop making so much sense! ;-)  Of course you are right on the money with all of this.  BTW, I love the hearth analogy!  Now what we need is a chestnut roaster that sits atop the amps.

-- Jim

[tdogzthmn]

Here's an interesting driver material made from naturally produced Microbial cellulose.  Might be worth thinking about.

https://www.head-fi.org/t/568694/biocellulose-and-its-use-in-headphones-earphones-referring-the-recent-iem-example-vsonic-gr-07-r07