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Audiophile Electronics -> Reference 3A Loudspeakers
The Veena Loudspeaker in Black Finish
Reference 3A loudspeakers are unique in that the main driver utilized within each speaker they offer runs full range, and they are designed for phase and time coherance. Running the main driver full range allows it to directly couple to your amplifier, leaving nothing in the signal path (like crossover parts) to degrade the sound or lose detail. A full range driver is inherently phase coherant.
Phase coherant loudspeaker design
Phase coherance, along with a flat frequency response, is very important in producing a natural and realistic sounding loudspeaker. Many manufacturers design speakers for a flat frequency response, but many also neglect the important time and phase issues when desigining their loudspeakers. Time and phase alignment means making sure that the signal coming from the different drivers used in the speaker arrive at your ears at the same time. There are two means by which a designer accomplishes time and phase alignment. By using simple, minimum phase crossover design, and physically aligning the drivers so that their voice coils are in the same plane along the front baffle of the speaker. Reference 3A uses only a single high quality capacitor on the tweeter, and when woofers are used, as in the Grand Veena, a simple 2nd order network is implemented. These simple crossover networks are also minimum phase designs. Sloping the front baffle of the speaker actually physically time-aligns the voice coils in each driver from the woofers, to the midbass, to the tweeters. Time aligning the drivers ensures their radiated sound arrives are your ears at precisely the same time, just the way real music does. The end result offers several benefits.
1. The sound emanating from the speaker has "one voice", it is whole. You cannot separate and identify the sound the tweeter is producing from the sound the lower frequency drivers are producing. That is because the sounds each driver is producing are arriving at your ears with precise timing. Just like listening to real music, the instruments produce their sound as an organic whole.
2. The speakers "disappear" with well recorded music. Music that has been recorded in a large hall, or intimate jazz club give off different acoustic cues that let you know the recording was made in a studio, a small club, or a large concert hall. The Reference 3A speakers allow you to hear this, and recreate the space that the recording was made in, right in your listening room. Its amazing with the right recordings. The sound expands beyond the physical location of the speakers, and sometimes the physical boundaries of your room. One can see where the speakers are, but the sound seems to be eminating from somewhere else. That is the result of good phase coherance.
3. The complexity of music is preserved, not smeared together. Music such as jazz, orchestral and some rock can often have many instruments playing at once. Lesser speakers can sometimes lose track of the complex harmonic overtones of individual instruments. Especially speakers with complex crossovers. But the full range drivers used in all Reference 3A speakers, combined with the simple crossovers, preserve these complex passages and all of the harmonics associated with each instrument or voice. The first time you hear this your ears will instantly recognize it as more natural and correct. This harmonic richness is achieved by only a handful of speakers in the high end audio industry, and usually at a very high price point. Reference 3A has managed to achieve all of this and maintain very reasonable price points. Their highest priced offering, the Grand Veena, is priced less than most other competitors entry level models. Reference 3A's entry level model, the Dulcet is an outstanding value at $1795.
We invite you to arrange an audition of the Reference 3A speakers with the nice people at Tweek Geek. Visit their Colorado showroom, or demo the smaller speakers via their in-home audtion program.
The Reference 3A speakers are a terrific match for Modwright Electronics as well.
AudiophileMusicDownloads (AMD for short) has partnered with high performance audio retailer Tweek Geek to help equip you with everything you need to play back high resolution audio files the way they were meant to be heard. The people at Tweek Geek are friendly, unpretentious and offer great advice whether you are just getting started with high quality music playback, or if you're an old crusty dude from the days when vinyl was king (and still sounds great by the way!).