Astute loudspeakers part 2

You have an outstanding opportunity to hear for yourself how the Astute loudspeaker is such a game changer at the upcoming Brighton show 29th & 30th March, at the Holiday Inn. Enhancing your evaluation, we’ll play a pair of good sounding award winning speakers costing only £169. Next you’ll hear another pair of award winning speakers at over 10 times the price – £1800. This will illustrate the improvements you get by refining the same technology. It is also an indicator of what 10 times as much again will give on an £18,000 pair of conventional speakers. You can then hear the far greater and shocking performance leap achieved through the Origin Live Astute speakers at only £5,400. We think you’ll agree that they more than compete with speakers at over 4 times this value. Why another Loudspeaker? When it comes to choosing a new pair of loudspeakers you will quickly discover a very crowded marketplace. How do you choose from a vast array of ostensibly similar products, most of which have great reviews and similar claims? Why launch yet another? Many experts would say that there are already so many speakers that there is no room for “yet another”, “more of the same”, or “slightly better box”. Origin Live would agree with this and are therefore only prepared to release a speaker that is utterly unique in addressing problems hitherto unresolved. Achieving significantly higher levels of overall performance in a loudspeaker, is no easy task from a technical standpoint. Hearing countless speakers over many years brings a certain respect, that they all have different characteristics. Interacting with world class designers of many disciplines at the highest level has revealed a widespread view that very few speakers have the full spectrum of qualities needed to satisfy their requirements. In other words, different speakers all do some things brilliantly but others poorly, and astute listeners want more from their speakers. In spite of what may be claimed and what you read, we hear frequently from our clients that many new speakers are not asgood as their 20 year old designs. Are things going backwards? Even modern materials such as carbon fibre, beryllium and diamond hard coatings don’t seem to fulfil their potential? There are explanations of course – most of which are unpalatable. The problem of “more of the same”. Designing a “me too” speaker, has the attraction of being relatively safe and easy. It may perform differently or even better than many on the market, but essentially most conventional speakers suffer from one or more undeniable problems:

* Energy reflections caused by rigid structures interacting with the floor.
* Cabinet resonances and poor damping.
* Confused sound, if multiple driver arrays are used over the same frequency range. Interaction between 2 sound wave
* sources at the same frequency, in close proximity, increases interference patterns significantly.
* Electronic “haze” and “grain” due to inferior cross-over components.
* Lack of dynamics, speed, timbrel accuracy and micro-dynamics due to driver limitations.
* Local internal and external standing waves produced by box shaped cabinets and stands.
* Distortion due to compression effects in driver coils.

This list is far from comprehensive and there are many other critical aspects that must be addressed in a well designed speaker if it is to reproduce music in all its natural beauty. Significant progress is unusual Before believing the latest frothy ideas, that surround speakers, it is helpful to consider why a true market breakthrough is actually very difficult and highly unusual. Making good choices is really dependent on understanding the more intangible aspects, of why some products succeed and others fall by the wayside so quickly. One would imagine that larger companies with well earned reputations and decent development budgets would inevitably come up with the best ideas and designs. Although this rule often applies, it is not always true. Anyone with a good knowledge of break through design can easily quote many exceptions. The Wright brothers were virtually unknown and unfunded before their invention of the aeroplane. This was in stark contrast, to massive funding given to others working on flight at the same time. The sheer volume of information also hinders the identification of winning ideas. The fact is that when a breakthrough appears it is often covered momentarily and then inevitably forgotten amidst the multitude of shiny new things. Why REAL innovation is special it is almost impossible to realize the sheer amount of time and effort it takes, to improve on tried and tested ways of doing things. A single new idea in isolation is not enough, to succeed when so many other aspects must also be right. It is extremely rare for a product like the Astute to appear, which has such a raft of innovations to make it a game changer. Having a successful innovative design is one thing, but manufacturing it with value for money, consistent quality and reliability needs a well run company. Origin Live have an outstanding track record in this respect, which you can read in the “about us“ pages of the web site. Gaining wider acceptance can take years of massive exposure. We would say that unless a product is absolutely unique, or can outperform the established market at about half the price, then it has little hope of long term success. In fact we aim to outperform the market with products at 25% of the price of the established market. This means you are effectively acquiring at a 75% discount. We hope to see you at the Brighton show but in the mean time we will shall look next week at the concepts behind the Astute Loudspeakers.