Andrewjvt said:Does AVI use scanspek drivers in the latest Dm5 and 10, or sdo they now make their own?
daveh75 said:Don't they use custom built Sinar Baja drivers these days?
steve_1979 said:The DM5 5.25" mid/bass driver is a standard 'off the shelf' Sinar Baja unit. Martin Grinrod says that it's the best 5.25" driver he's ever come across and he's tested hundreds of them over the years.
steve_1979 said:I'll sent Ashley a PM to double check that what I've said is correct.
steve_1979 said:Andrewjvt said:Does AVI use scanspek drivers in the latest Dm5 and 10, or do they now make their own?
AVI have used both ScanSpeak and Sinar Baja drivers in the past on their ADM9, ADM40 and Neutron speakers but as far as I'm aware all current AVI speakers have Sinar Baja drivers.
The DM10 uses a special custom designed Sinar Baja mid/bass driver that can reach upto 4kHz before going into cone breakup. They're specially made for the the DM10 speakers and AVI has to buy them in large batches because they're much more expensive than any of the other 6.5" drivers that Sinar Baja make. Sinar Baja thinks that they'd struggle to sell them to other speaker companies because they cost so much.
Both the DM5 and DM10 speakers use the same tweeters as each other. They're a tweaked version of an existing Sinar Baja tweeter which has been custom modified to suit AVI designer Martin Grinrod's own specification. Sinar Baja have found that this tweaked version is better than the original design and have since made this tweaked version available to anyone as standard 'off the shelf' item. As BigH has already said, AVI have found this new Sinar Baja tweeter to be better than the top of the range ScanSpeak tweeter dispite only costinging a fraction of the price.
The DM5 5.25" mid/bass driver is a standard 'off the shelf' Sinar Baja unit. Martin Grinrod says that it's the best 5.25" driver he's ever come across and he's tested hundreds of them over the years.
I'm a regular on the AVI forum and this is how Ashley James has described them. I'm paraphrasing from memory so I apologise in advance for any mistakes. I'll sent Ashley a PM to double check that what I've said is correct.
steve_1979 said:ScanSpeak aren't cheap.
Vladimir said:John Dunlavy was criticized for using cheap off the shelf Scanspeak drivers for his best speakers, but he didn't care. The final result is what matters.
Same applies for AVI. If the result is good, then I wouldn't care who or where it's made. Obviously the work conditions at SB are not as good as Scanspeak, thus the cheaper price.
From what I know, SB Acoustics, is owned by Sinar Baja Electric (based in Indonesia). In 2006 SB Electric founded Danesian Audio in Herning, Denmark (just 10 mins from Videbaek) to develop and design drivers (Ulrik Schmidt and Frank Nielsen both live in Denmark).
The turmoil caused by Vifa, ScanSpeak and Peerless all being bought under one umbrella (DST/Tympany) and then later the break up/dissolution of Tympamy/DST etc caused a lot of ex-Vifa, ex ScanSpeak, and ex Peerless engineers moving on to greener pastures. Wavecor (based in Guangzhou, China) was another company formed from this turmoil (by Allan Isaksen, Per Madsen and others).
It is surprising that a small country like Denmark has so many well known audio products from companies as diverse as Bang & Olufsen, Brüel & Kjær, Oticon, Widex, AM3D etc. not to forget all of Mr. Skanning's creations (Dynaudio, etc..).
Thank you! The SB Acoustics 6.5" struck me as an identical twin of the Vifa NE drivers and this confirms my thinking.
Vladimir said:To the 'high end' crowd that spends hundreds of pounds per inch of speaker cable Dunlavy's choice of drivers felt cheap.
Andrewjvt said:i was under the impression That scanSpeak made quality drivers?
steve_1979 said:"We buy direct with Sinar Baja Electric in Indonesia. SB Acoustics Ltd is the name they give to their wholly owned distributors around the World.
All the Danish Speaker companies are Chinese now, though as SB has a lab there, so the others have sales offices.
Scanspeak have a lab there too, but are owned by an enormous Chinese headphone company that employs 10,000 and makes most of the headphones the big Germans don't.
The important point is that although drivers from the big boys like SB have been improving steadily year by year, audible distortions still exist in the crossover region because the crap from passive crossovers masks them. AVI's active crossovers have no sound at all, so they reveal driver issues that no one else has heard. We had to measure these nasties and prove to SB that they existed. Once we had, they designed special drivers for us which were clean to an octave above the crossover point.
This is how we've been able to get so close to the best headphones.
Ash"
steve_1979 said:Andrewjvt said:How large is your room and do you have pictures of your set up?
It's an irregular shaped 17.5' x 11' room with a 10' high ceiling. It's in an old victorian house with thick brick walls so there's plenty of isolation for when I want to turn it up loud.
I usually have them setup for near-field use at a computer desk but I've also tried them in a more conventional mid-field setup sitting about 10' away from the speakers on the other sode of the room. They have no problem fill the space.
I don't have any photos of the current DM10 system but here's an old picture of my desk when I had the DM5 speakers setup. I also have a new desk and chair which is lower than the one in the photo so that the speakers are now at the correct height.
And those aren't cuddly toys BTW. It's high tech acoustic sound treatment to stop early reflections bouncing off the desk and top of the subwoofer. They help improve the stereo image a little bit,
Andrewjvt said:I believe you. Are dms near field monitors?
steve_1979 said:when combined with a good quality subwoofer
MUSICRAFT said:steve_1979 said:when combined with a good quality subwoofer
Hi steve_1979
I love sub bass. I wouldn't use a system without a sub or two.
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft