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Written by Michael Lankton
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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
 Planar loudspeakers. Inefficient. Power hungry. Big. Hard to place. Low WAF (wife acceptance factor).
Whatever the drawbacks of electrostatic and ribbon loudspeakers may be, there is no denying that with the right material they can absolutely dissolve into thin air. The first time I ever heard a pair of Magnepans I heard some deficiencies, but I also heard the performance in the room with me in a way that I had never, ever heard with conventional loudspeakers. This is precisely why, despite the requirements of planar loudspeakers, their siren song exerts such a strong pull over those of us who have heard their magic.
One of the enduring planar loudspeaker companies is Bruce Thigpen's Eminent Technology. Not only is Bruce a key figure in planar loudspeaker design, he's one of the guys you need to include in the discussion when you talk about influential figures in modern loudspeaker design. I'm sure that there are more than a few loudspeaker designers that I would love to interview who would include Bruce on their list of influences, and with that I am very pleased to present this month's AV Enthusiast Interview: Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology. |
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
John DeVore is a relatively young guy, at least young enough that he hasn't lost his passion for life and what he does with his. He started DeVore Fidelity in 2000, and has been designing and producing loudspeakers that have garnered unanimous approval since the 90's. John isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, just produce loudspeakers that are truthful windows to the source material. DeVore Fidelity's product line isn't that deep, and he doesn't follow trends. John just makes good loudspeakers and let's them speak for themselves.
It's telling that John is a musician. Not that non-musicians should somehow be excluded from loudspeaker design, but for those of us who were driven from an early age to express ourselves through music, an ear for aural detail seems to be a common trait. His loudspeakers have a well-deserved reputation for reproducing that detail.
John's also a really nice guy and consented to do this interview some time ago when I contacted him out of the blue. He had a couple of hi-fi shows on his schedule, and I have had my hands full with things away from AV Enthusiast, but we finally reconnected. John was gracious enough to spend some time with us, and here is the result:
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Monday, 19 November 2007 |
Danish biochemist Troels Gravesen has received a lot of well-deserved attention for his outstanding DIY loudspeaker projects. Troels' projects are always well documented, use premium drivers and have beautiful enclosure designs, giving aspiring loudspeaker builders a roadmap toward building status designs that would retail for exponentially more money if they were commercial loudspeakers. His site also features projects of his that others have built, giving us a chance to see different interpretations of his plans. Jantzen Audio sells kits that Troels has designed using Parts Express enclosures, for those whose carpentry skills may be suspect. In this month's AV Enthusiast Interview I am pleased to host loudspeaker designer Troels Gravesen, who generously agreed to share his thoughts with us:
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Written by Michael Lankton
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Monday, 22 October 2007 |
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The passion that AV Enthusiast's have for their hobby is demonstrated by the members of the numerous and excellent AV web forums. It's not uncommon to find people from the AV press and AV industry contributing to the discussions. As a fan, I've always enjoyed reading and participating in discussions with the people responsible for creating the objects of my obsession.
I've always felt that there weren't enough instances of the AV press sitting down with people in the industry to provide a glimpse of who they are, what their background was, and giving them a chance to talk about their product in their own words.
In that spirit, AV Enthusiast is going to start publishing interviews with notable people in the industry. In this inaugural AV Enthusiast Interview, Jim Salk of Salk Sound was gracious enough to sit down and answer some questions for us:
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