Although I did not have the opportunity to personally contact the owner of the Berlin Voxativ company, it is still very unusual to know this "neutral person" from foreign media reports. On some occasions her name is Inès Adler, an admirable female engineer, which is extremely rare in a male-dominated industry. On other occasions, he was known as The Holger Adler, in the form of a stout German with ponytail hair. Distinguishing gender is not our task, here is only to talk about the charm of the Voxativ full-range speaker with Ao.
One of the most fascinating stories of Voxativ full-range speakers is that some of their products, wooden boxes, were produced for them by the German piano manufacturer Schimmel, which is also a very rare example. Founded in 1885 in Leipzig, Germany, the piano factory is now the fourth generation and has production sites in Braunschweig, Germany (the second largest city in eastern Saxony after Hanover) and Kalisz (a city in central Poland, with the famous Calisia piano factory). Historically, the company has had many new inventions and innovative designs, and Schimmel Pianos has won more than 40 awards in total, making it the most awarded piano factory in Germany. For more than a hundred years, Schimmel has accumulated extensive experience in the field of woodworking in addition to making pianos and other instruments, and CEO Schimmel-Vogel chose to work with Voxativ because the sound of the Voxativ speakers is closer to the live piano effect than the sound he has heard anywhere before. With full-range unit Voxativ speakers, many times the cabinet must be designed as a labyrinth or back load horn type to enhance the bass, and better carpentry is needed to precisely control internal reflections and resonances, Schimmel is obviously a good helper. The piano factory's best play is the dark and shiny piano paint, Voxativ speaker shell was first coated with 1mm thick polyurethane paint, after about ten times of painting, drying, polishing and repeating the process, and finally achieved the effect of light identification, brass made voxativ nameplate carefully embedded in the paint, did not hear its sound has been pleasing to the eye.
The founder of Voxativ in Germany, gender does not matter to him
The sound path of the instrument factory, more famous is the speaker designed by Besendorf invited Hans Deutsch to design the piano castanet resonance, which is now promoted under the Brodmann brand. Hans Deutsch, who was once affirmed by the conductor Master Karajan, proposed the "Horn Resonator" theory, he believes that the teacher instrument is not a speaker resonance, but to remove the sound-absorbing cotton damping in the speaker, which is closer to the sound of the real instrument, because the instrument does not absorb the damping of excess resonance, and the speaker should not have it, so as to restore the original appearance of the natural sounding instrument. In 2007, the two giants jointly released Steinway Lyngdorf's Model D music system, which claims to be able to reproduce the sound of Steinway grand piano perfectly, and even experienced pianists are difficult to distinguish between true and false. The system adopts a baffle type speaker design, and the amplifier part adds a lot of advanced digital and spatial measurement technology. You may be more unfamiliar with Japan's Kiso Acoustics, the boss Hara (Toru Hara) is a super enthusiast, there is a seven-way crossover JBL system at home, plus Wilson Audio Grand Slams speakers with FM Acoustics amplifiers, others such as WE, Nagra, Studer... And other classic equipment is in the collection. The earliest Onkyo found the Japanese guitar manufacturer Takamine to cooperate in the design of the D-TK10 monitor speaker, subverting the traditional design concept, using a guitar-like ultra-thin plate to make the box into a musical instrument-like resonance box, there is no damper inside, and the sound after installing the unit is sweet and charming. Hara believes that the potential of D-TK10 is endless, and hopes that Onkyo can raise the pair of small bookshelf boxes to the realm of Hi End, but Onkyo refuses to create a high-priced product, believing that it does not conform to the corporate image. In the end, Hara was authorized by Onkyo to create Kiso Acoustic to make the Hi End version of D-TK10, the first bookshelf box HB-1 sold for more than one million yen, more than ten times more expensive than the original; the second generation HB-1X was more elaborate and feverish, and the price doubled.
As a young man, Adler worked in the diesel division of Mercedes-Benz, where he personally owned 14 patents, and he used all of his accumulated mechanical and electromagnetic experience in the design of horn units
Seeing that Kiso Acoustic's pair of small bookshelf boxes asked for nearly 200,000 yuan, we felt that Wosheng Voxativ's products were still quite conscientious. Whether it was her or him, Adler grew enthusiastic about sound from the average audiophile in the 1980s, and after earning a master's degree in engineering, Adler first worked in Daimler's Mercedes-Benz diesel division, where he developed engine electronics, ECU driving computers, and over the years held 14 patents for diesel combustion, injection and exhaust treatment. He said that Mercedes-Benz motor company asked engineers to "not design an engine that can run 1 million kilometers, and must reduce the service life to sell more cars", such instructions are insulting to his professional ethics and german pride, so Adler resigned resolutely. Adler believed that "whatever the Germans do, they must be perfect", and he used the mechanical and electromagnetic experience accumulated in Mercedes-Benz cars to the design of the horn unit. At first, Adler and the German full-range brand AER cooperated, and then the two talked about it, and Adler began his own entrepreneurial solo star journey. Located south of Berlin's Templehofer Park, Voxativ is not only Berlin's largest park, but also the world's largest open inner city, converted from an old airport and adjacent to the famous monitor manufacturer HEDD Audi (Heinz ElectroDynamic Designs). He targeted the full-range unit from the beginning, referring to all the full-range unit products such as Lowther, AER, Stamm and Loth-X, and finally decided to design and manufacture his own full-frequency unit from scratch.
There's always a better way, Voxativ makes full-range units according to its own design, which are different from Lowther and Foster, especially the sound basin composed of multiple thin wood chips
Why choose a full-range unit? The full-range unit was first developed by Donald Chave and Paul Voigt in the 1930s as the famous Lowther unit, with ultra-high sensitivity, a paper diaphragm with a large magnet, a two-wire voice coil with ultra-high strength, a narrow magnetic gap, and an excitation structure used before the popularity of permanent magnets. Adler continued these ideas in his own design of the unit, at first glance Voxativ and Lowther somewhat similar, in fact from the sound basin to the magnetic circuit structure is different, Voxativ also provides an excitation version of the full-frequency unit, can be used battery, vacuum tube and other ways to power. Voxativ's full-range units offer the following advantages:
Voxativ never announced how the wood chip sound pots were made, only that all the units were handmade in Germany, so the production was not high
● Generally has a sensitivity of more than 92dB, the highest excitation version even has 98dB (60Hz) / 110dB (4kHz) ultra-high sensitivity, very suitable for single-ended direct heat small gallbladder push, issuing a flexible and lively effect.
●Excellent frequency response characteristics, the basic version of AF–1n bandwidth reaches 60Hz-20kHz, AC series includes AC–1a, AC-1N, AC-1.6, AC-1.8, AC-PiFe, AC-2.6, AC-PiNd, AC-4X, AC-4A, AC-4Ф, AC-X, AC-X2, AC-XHB, etc. are all 20Hz-20kHz, and the maximum withstand power is 100W. An 8-inch full-range unit can cover all the audible frequency bands of the human ear, which is very, very powerful.
● In addition to an AC-4A using aluminum nickel cobalt Alnico magnet, Voxativ's full-frequency units mostly use smaller and more magnetic N54 NdFeB magnets, in fact, the cost difference between the two is not much, neodymium magnet in specifications and acoustic performance is very good with modernity, as for the timbre charm and Arnico comparison is a matter of opinion. Someone has done experiments, put the titanium diaphragm on the ferrite ceramic magnet, Alnico, Neodymium and other magnets for comparison (the magnetic beam density is between 1.75-1.9T), and found that although the timbre is not the same, it is far less than the difference between different diaphragms. The strength of neodymium magnet is marked by the grade of N24 to N54, N24 is the lowest strength, N54 is the highest strength, the stronger the magnetic the mechanical characteristics, the more fragile the mechanical characteristics, the lower the applicable temperature, the difficulty of production will increase. Although the specifications of cheap ceramic magnets are relatively less dazzling, it does not mean that the sound is not good, on the contrary, it is the easiest to enter the ear, and there is no need to bother with tuning.
The Voxativ unit uses a double-layer copper voice coil, a Kapton sleeve, a die-cast aluminum frame, and a patented four-layer lacquered wood chip diaphragm, which is different from lowther and Fostex full-range units.
● The full-frequency unit is the ideal single-point pronunciation, avoiding the phase time difference between multiple units, and can produce a knot image and accurate soundstage within reach.
● There is no crossover, and the horn unit is directly connected to the rear stage amplifier, eliminating the loss of efficiency brought by the parts and the possibility of distortion rendering. The divider is definitely a tumor of the speaker, there is no sound divider in the world can do a flat amplitude frequency response and a flat phase response at the same time, only one of them can be traded off, from the test map released by Voxativ, the flat frequency response is simply incredible.
● The sound is more transparent, natural and relaxed, no sense of compression, transient and speed like live music.
● Voxativ has a variety of units to choose from, from thousands of euros to tens of thousands of euros range is very wide, so as long as the size is the same, enthusiasts can constantly upgrade to cope with higher taste needs, many foreign reviews have said that after listening to the full-range unit speakers, I feel the real return to the origin of music.
The Absolut Box streaming amplifier (50 watts output, built-in decoding and DSP processing) combined with the Hagen bookshelf box is Avoxativ's entry-level product
Hagen Tower is probably the most voxativ speaker used by ordinary families
At the first sight of the Voxativ unit, the eyes will definitely be attracted by the special white sound basin, the cute and structural mechanics of the frame shape, coupled with the different shapes of the wooden phase cone, all show the difference of the full-frequency unit. Indeed, the full-frequency unit must function through the dual cone structure to make the mechanical crossover function: the entire sound basin (or two bowls) move together at the middle and low frequencies, and when gradually moving to the high frequency, the outer sound basin begins to split, and the inner sound basin continues to advance, at this time the central phase cone can make the high-frequency sound waves on the inside of the inner sound basin not cancel each other out, so that the high-frequency energy can be effectively radiated out, and the diffusion can also be improved. Different shapes of the phase cone further form a slit load with the inner side of the inner sound basin, making the high frequency band more efficient, in order to facilitate the use of the horn box, so Voxativ provides different materials, different structures of the phase cone for users to replace, the playability is very high.
My personal favorite and most creative Ampeggio Due speaker, with a depth of only 19 cm and a 25Hz extremely low frequency extension through a maze-like structure, is Voxativ's deserved flagship
In the material and production of the sound basin, other companies or the use of lithographic paper cutting and bonding, or directly from the pulp integrated forming manufacturing, the paper problem is that the uneven thickness will cause local resonance and cause sound dyeing, too thick parts also increase unnecessary weight. Some units of Voxativ (such as AC-1.6, AC-2.6, AC-X, AC-3X) use calligraphy paper with a sandalwood content of more than 80%, the paper is tough and more resistant to tension, and the paper is then hand-coated with four layers of special damping paint to better control the disintegration distortion of the basin. However, their exclusive technology is the wood flake sound basin, the wood diaphragm is to slice the wood into 0.01-0.07mm thick sheets (thinner than the hair process), use it as a vibrator to sound, Japan JVC is the first to use the wood diaphragm to do the bass unit and won a certain reputation in the industry, The Swiss Boenicke also has a similar design, and the other is the voxativ full-frequency unit. From the old paper basin diaphragm, often seen in addition to the polypropylene PP diaphragm, carbon fiber, Kafra, ceramics, aluminum alloy, graphite and other different materials of bass diaphragm emerge in an endless stream, their characteristics and parameters are very different, resulting in the sound texture and color present their own unique characteristics. I've heard of the Voxativ full-range unit, which has an mellow and charming, warm and magnetic sound, wondering if it has something to do with wood diaphragm materials?
Ampeggio Due's 120 cm wide box, available in lacquered versions from the Schimmel piano factory, can also be designed as surreal paintings
Judging from many foreign reviews, the applause is a piece, if you want to point out Vuxativ's regrets, the price is definitely the biggest slot point. The cheapest AF-1n costs more than 2,000 euros, the excitation version of the AC-X2 costs 17,000 euros, and the most expensive AC-XHB pair costs nearly 70,000 euros, making people take a breath! The full-range unit has always been a minority in the audiophile circle, and people who like it reject any other horn for life, thinking that it has a great sense of presence, amazing details and instantaneous performance; people who don't like it think that even the HI-FI edge is not sticky, and most of them have a tendency to slightly bulge the mid-high tone in the measurement, the off-axis response of the high frequency is not good, and the listening area is small. In addition, according to the characteristics of the full-frequency unit, Voxativ needs a back-load horn box to be able to play the best effect, because the maximum linear displacement of the paper basin is only about 1mm, and it is necessary to have the help of the box to get a sufficient low-frequency sense. The Ampeggio Due speaker, shaped like a large drawing board, is paired with a labyrinth-like cabinet, with complex pipes in the 120 cm wide box, which finally leads to a low-frequency extension of 25Hz, accompanied by a silky smooth transparent, open and detailed mid- and high-frequency. The most popular floor-to-ceiling box, The Ampeggio X (2018 10th Anniversary Excitation Commemorative Edition), can freely choose AC-X, AC-X2, AC-XHB and other different units, with AST-optimized back-load horn box, to obtain 110dB high sensitivity and 35Hz low frequency extension. Therefore, it is not recommended to purchase Voxativ's full-range units separately, one is expensive, and the other is DIY is very difficult.
Introduced on the 10th anniversary, the Ampeggio X speaker, with a back-load horn cabinet design and can be placed against the back wall, is the highest rated product of Voxativ
There are a number of full-range unit manufacturers in Japan, and Coral, which was once called the three old shops of speakers with Pineer and Onkyo, has launched a 20-centimeter-large full-range unit. Mitsubishi Corporation's Diatone became the first company to produce full-range units after the war in 1946, and they were very successful in using OP magnets. In 1947, the P-62F unit was developed in collaboration with NHK for radio monitoring, and then it was redesignated to the P-610, and the entire series sold well for nearly 40 years, becoming a legend in the history of Japanese audio. On the eve of celebrating the 50th anniversary, Diatone had launched limited commemorative products P610D and P610F, but unfortunately the number of production was too small to be seen in China. The P610 full-range unit has a mellow sound, which is the perfect match for small power bile machines, and it is the best partner for direct heat single-ended 300B. In 1973, due to the oil crisis, Foster Motor was independent of Foster Motor, and many creative products were launched, such as double cone full-frequency units, bio-diaphragm units, etc., which also launched the world's largest woofer EW800 (80 cm), which can be said to be the most cost-effective product.
As you can see from the test diagram provided by Voxativ, the ampeggio X speaker's frequency response is surprisingly straight
Because the full-frequency speaker is composed of only one speaker unit, it shows its unique and durable advantages, eliminates the complex crossover network, and fundamentally eliminates the various drawbacks caused by the splitter, such as power loss, phase error, and the resistance of the inductor coil will make the damping of the horn worse and affect the control of the amplifier. The full-frequency speaker does not have the above problems, the phase is very coordinated, there is no dyeing problem, the efficiency is improved, the response is particularly sensitive, and the sound is clean and strong, so the high-quality full-frequency unit has always had a fever in pursuit. In terms of structure, the full-frequency unit has a single paper basin, a double paper basin, ICT-coupled coaxial structure, etc., and a derivative multi-voice coil coaxial unit, strictly speaking, is no longer a full-range speaker, because they are actually combined by independent high and low sound units (KEF and Tannoy are both), and still need a crossover to work properly. Regardless of which structure, the full-frequency unit is very difficult to produce, to play a signal of 20-20kHz, the low-frequency part must have a certain quality and area to promote the air; and the high frequency requires the strength of the vibrating basin to be hard enough and light enough to quickly restore the amplitude to a higher frequency. Obviously, there is a contradiction between the two, so many full-range speakers often pinch their heads and tails, and it is extremely difficult to achieve true full-band playback, such as Voxativ, which is a boutique product made at any cost, and the price is naturally not cheap.
The 9.87 system is composed of a Pi bookshelf box + Pi active bass (built-in 250 watts of Class A B power amplifier and two bass push-pull work), the frequency crossing point is set at 120Hz, which can emit a real 20Hz very low frequency.
Pi bookshelf box, the unique AST box structure can also allow low frequencies to extend to 40Hz
There are not many more powerful magnetic systems in the world than Voxativ (except voxativ's excitation unit), and its neodymium magnet has a total magnetic density of more than 20,000 gauss (2Tesla), which can almost fully saturate the voice coil gap and has a very high magnetic field cone mass ratio. In the case of a car, its horsepower-to-weight ratio should be almost one million Bhp per ton! Since the Voxativ-like dual-paper basin full-frequency unit is mechanically divided twice in structure, the extremely high frequency is emitted directly from the edge of the internal voice coil (so the phase cone is required to equalize), and the subsequent low frequency is handed over to the 5-8 inch outer cone basin. This production follows Voigt's double cone design of the 1930s, plus double winding voice coils, or goat leather overhangs (the foam overhangs used by competitors are perishable), which give Voxativ's sonic character. Perhaps it can be said that what we expect from Voxativ is to make the extremely light quality voice coil and pot produce extremely fast movement and powerful sound pressure under the impetus of sufficient power. In the past, it was often mistaken that only a small power of the bile machine could make the full-frequency unit emit a large volume of more than 100dB, and had a beautiful mid-high frequency and supernatural realism. However, in fact, it is necessary to use a direct-heated triode with first-class performance, a single-ended pure Class A power amplifier, and a very excellent working linear fit, in order to exert the ultra-fast and accurate instantaneous reaction of the full-frequency unit and create a musicality of three points.
Voxativ has two active bass, the larger Pi and the smaller Z, both using the so-called AST (Acoustic Stealth Technology), which emits very deep very low frequencies
Voxativ's T211 combined bile machine has an output of 12 watts
Voxativ also produces its own bile machine, the T805 combined amplifier using KT66 to promote the Noble Voice 805 single-ended amplification, the output power of 20 watts. The other T211 combined amplifier uses 6SN7 to drive the 211 single-ended amplification and output 12 watts. There is also an unlisted Ampeggio mono post-stage, with the KT66 pushing two 805s to zoom in parallel, with a greater output power. Obviously, to make Voxativ show amazing analytical power and penetration, to show the fluency and truth of live music performance, those 1-watt output of the small gallbladder machine is still not caught. After years of development, enthusiasts think that the front horn brings more sense of presence, the back load horn provides more bass to make the three frequency equalization, you can imagine the complexity of the speaker design and a series of troubles, so I once again recommend buying Voxativ's finished speaker directly instead of buying a full-range unit alone.
Schimmel, who helped Voxativ make the box, is germany's most award-winning piano, and this Pegasus piano is full of creativity
The phase cone is used to prevent canceling and diffusing sound, and Voxativ offers a variety of phase cone screws that can be replaced
I believe that the most fascinating thing about full-range speakers such as voxativ is that it is the attractive mid-frequency part, the most sensitive frequency band for the human ear, and the essence of the base sound of most instruments. In contrast, the prestigious LS 3/5A is likely to give way. The unique balance of the full-frequency speaker, the reduction of weak signals, the ultra-sensitive response, the high frequencies that will never be hairy, unlike the low frequencies squeezed out by the small speakers, each of which is easy to impress people's hearts. True, natural, smooth, mellow and delicious, it is the nature of full-range speakers. Voxativ is indeed not close enough, but when it comes to playing at a humble volume, it can play the music to the fullest, harmonious and pleasant, and the listener gets the greatest shock and emotion in the soul, and the price is not so important.
At present, Voxativ's most expensive excitation full-frequency unit AC-XHB, with a price of nearly 70,000 euros per pair, makes people take a breath
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