57pbass Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 I read the favorable reviews in this issues Soundroom and found this technology very interesting... maybe curious is a better word .. I really want to hear one if these amps. Here is some copy from the article "Most revolutionary is the Active Speaker Control which uses a computer to analyze the bass input and compare it with the speaker movement. Theres actually an infrared beam firing at each driver, tracking speaker movement. Through digital signal processing the power amps - and each speaker and tweeter has its own power amp just for this purpose - uses these measurements to make small adjustments to align the speaker vibration to the input signal. Why do this? Roland says it improves response provides better- defined and more distinct sound contours especially on very low notes and eliminates boominess which happens when the speaker or the cabinet itself reverbirates more than neccesary" The author asks --- Is this the future of amps? Just throwing this out for some discussion... www.danielprine.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Dang, that sounds interesting. It also sounds like it would be prone to a lot of troubles till the bugs are all worked out of it, and maybe after. Infrared beams that measure distance require perfect alignment or they don't work right. I wonder what a good jolt would do to that... Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abc Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Nothing revolutionary about this. Servo control of low frequency audio speakers has been around for decades in the HiFi-world. The idea is to control the mechanical parameters of the driver(s) in a closed loop control system in order to produce LF high sound levels with low distortion. Haven't read about the Roland thing, but using a DSP for this seems over kill to me. This can be achieved with quite basic analog circuits and simple feedback concepts. You need to sense the driver somehow. This has already been done by e.g. (swedish) Audio Pro utilizing their 30 year old ACE patent and by Philips (MFB) using piezo sensors. Roland's method is using infrared sensing and next step is probably laser ... The concept is old and working fine. The infrared and digital signal processing buzz is only marketing. "Your mind is writing checks your body can't cash" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57pbass Posted January 4, 2007 Author Share Posted January 4, 2007 ABC Thanks for the interesting reply.. can you please elaborate on the "laser" comment For the record..Roland was not using this as marketing it was in the Bass Player review - not a Roland ad.. www.danielprine.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abc Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Originally posted by 57pbass: ABC Thanks for the interesting reply.. can you please elaborate on the "laser" comment For the record..Roland was not using this as marketing it was in the Bass Player review - not a Roland ad.. Nah, that was my attempt to be ironic. I mean, this has been done for a while. IR and DSP's are on road of the technical evolution but in this case just "snake oil". But that's my opinion. "Your mind is writing checks your body can't cash" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 I plugged into one for a couple minutes. I thought it sounded kind of thin, but I didn't have time to really try it, make adjustments, etc. I'd like to give it another try when I have more time - especially since my Eden is in th shop and from reading about Eden's CS problems and wait times (I was told 5 weeks) recently, I may be shopping again. It looks good on paper - light, loud, many options. Nice demos on the Roland site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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