Open Baffle Live Edge Active Speakers (Dipole) with Digital Signal Processing

Description: The Live Edge Open Baffle speakers took 1st place at the Parts Express 2023 International Speaker Design Competition, top ranked against 58 competitors. These exact speakers were featured on the cover of AudioXpress Magazine, January 2021. When friends visit, they have never heard anything similar. When you play classic Miles Davis recordings or string quartets, they have a huge, lifelike, warm, present sound. If you play Rush or Porcupine Tree, they shake the house and have dynamic range to burn. They combine the transparency of a Quad Electrostatic with the dynamics of a JBL studio monitor. Stunning imaging, huge sound stage, high efficiency. Extreme delicacy with plenty of force when called for. They were hewn from gorgeous 1.5" thick slabs of Live Edge birch purchased at Big Red Sawmill in Palmyra Nebraska. 100% hardwood, no veneers or laminates. Hand crafted. One of a kind. Numerous hobbyists have built the design based on plans published in AudioXpress and the DIYaudio community. These are THE original speakers, designed by myself, Perry Marshall. Cabinets by Seth Cothron. I am parting with them because it's time to make space for more new designs. These are active DSP driven speakers. They need to be biamped (high quality 4-channel amp, or pair of 2-channel amps of your choice, tube or solid state). They are shipped with a MiniDSP 2x4HD Digital Signal Processor, 24 bit 96KHz. It has inputs for analog, USB and fiber optic cables. If you use a digital streamer with Tidal, Qobuz or Apple Music, just plug in the fiber and go. DSP is "Photoshop for sound" and allows miracles that are impossible with old school passive crossovers. The linear phase response (time aligned to 0.01 millisecond) makes for uncanny 3D stereo soundfield with enormous breadth and fine resolution. When room reflections don’t match direct sound from the speaker, it sounds unnatural. Textbook speaker designs pretend the room is not there. But not only does Open Baffle reduce room modes and standing waves, but the mid and high frequency reflections add LOTS of clues for your ears. Good clues make your ears happy. PERFORMANCE SUMMARY 30Hz to 25KHz with silky-smooth response in a real room that has real reflections. Not just in an anechoic chamber.True Constant Directivity sound pattern 30Hz to 25KHz so imaging is superb anywhere in the roomOpen Baffle Dipole sounds great even behind the speakersHigh Efficiency – 95dB 1 watt/1 meter. Sounds great and plays loud even with “flea watt” single ended vacuum tube amps18 inch woofer + 8" concentric midrange-tweeter with Beryllium diaphragm & compression waveguide High Power Handling and High Output – 200 watts & 115 dB running full range; 500 watts & 120 dB with subwooferNear-perfect impulse responseNear-perfect phase responseLow Distortion (<2% above 60Hz; <1% above 150Hz at 90dB)Very easy to drive: 6 ohms (4.1 ohms minimum) Live Edge wood is so beautiful, non-audiophile wives of non-audiophile men gasped when I showed these on a screen in a Zoom meeting.3-way system is bi-amped (not tri-amped) using a MiniDSP 2x4HD.It is not possible to buy anything like these at any hifi store. Open Baffle / Dipole designs are cherished for their room-filling sound and lack of boxiness, but are extremely rare. Live edge real wood is equally rare. And Constant Directivity from both front and back sides, which makes the spatial depth so incredible, unheard of. No manufacturer worldwide combines all three in one speaker. They have a HUGE "Wife Appreciation Factor" - spouses love the natural hardwood. The Live Edge Dipoles sidestep the pitfalls of conventional designs. Giant notes roll out of the speakers. You enjoy a huge sound stage. You are immersed in 3D ambience, clarity and resolution. Dry recordings become spacious. Drums and toms hit with visceral, fist-on-sternum impact. Competition Judge Jerry McNutt said, “The best way to not sound like a box is: Don’t use a box.” Even much more expensive models from the world's most prestigious brands like Wilson Audio, KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, Focal, Genelec, Estelon, YG Acoustics sound "boxy" after you've heard the Live Edge Dipoles. Constant Directivity means you enjoy flat frequency response on axis, then as you turn the speaker in any direction, the level steadily drops off axis, yet the octave to octave balance remains flat. Stereo image is great anywhere in the room. You can walk all around your room—even stand on the far side next to the left or right speaker, and you still clearly hear the opposite speaker across the room and the image is still stable. There is no one “sweet spot.” Music sounds fantastic anywhere you go. You can walk around and behind the speakers and they still sound great! They are equipped with 18" Eminence Kappa LF woofers; 8" Radian 5208-C mids, with Beryllium diaphragm Coaxial compression driver firing through the center. A rear firing tweeter means the energy from the room matches direct sound. An L-Pad for the rear tweeter allows you to adjust balance. The zen-like 6dB/octave passive crossover between woofer and midrange has huge Goertz copper foil air core inductors and film capacitors. A Finite Impulse Response DSP filter renders the entire system minimum-phase and matches left and right response curves. You can fine tune the DSP to correct your own room if you wish. The front-firing Beryllium tweeters are extremely transparent; bass is rich, expansive and authoritative; thorough top-to-bottom coherence and integration; warm, ambient and enveloping sonic landscape. They effortlessly fill a large room to overflowing with palpable output and dynamic range. They sound best 3-5 feet (1-1.5 meters) from a rear wall. If you search online you will easily find extensive discussion of these speakers with rich technical details. I am a respected acoustic designer in the audio community. The photos here include in-room measured frequency response, impulse response, step response, phase response and +/-90 degree polar pattern heat map. 30 days money back if you're not delighted. 5 year parts & labor warranty. Shipping is by truck to the continental USA and will be arranged. Local pickup is encouraged from my home in the Chicago suburbs. I invite you to stop by. Message me and come over for a listen.

Price: 27470 USD

Location: Berwyn, Illinois

End Time: 2024-08-08T02:36:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 950 USD