Artistic Audioís Design Philosophy Matches Art And Science In Pursuit Of The Perfect Point Source

14-Jun-04

After studying loudspeaker design for nearly a decade, Artistic Audio decided to build a loudspeaker using a design philosophy that tries to emulate a perfect point source, the dream of every audiophile. As they explored this design philosophy, they realized that this philosophy ultimately led to a design that emulates a perfect pulsating sphere-with sound radiating equally in all directions. Artistic Audioís products are designed to emulate and integrate this perfect pulsating sphere ideal into your listening environ-ment. Looking more like works of sculpture, Artistic Audio speakers are unlike any-thing else in the marketplace. Artistic Audioís first loudspeaker design, Gemini, earned Design & Engineering Show-case Honors at the 1998 Consumer Electronics Show. Five years later, Artistic Audio has returned with Mobius, the latest evolution of a 360-degree loudspeaker design philosophy that has earned two United States Patents. Unique eight-inch dome mid-bass drivers, mounted in bipolar arrays (back-to-back), are the heart of each Artistic Audio speaker. Using a larger diaphragm midbass allows all critical vocal frequency ranges to be produced by the same driver, eliminating the image smearing that takes place in other three-way speakers. The eight-inch midbass unit uses high-grade neo-dymium 33 magnets to power the motor assemblies, offering the highest quality and best transient response available to the market. The return cup and top plates use 10/18 steel. Its low carbon content and high saturation quality enables the motors to be much smaller than motors using common ferrite or ceramic motors. A large axial bore at the center of each midbass driver provides excellent ventilation and motor assembly cooling. The pole piece of each motor is also extended for better excursion.Artistic Audio uses a six-inch voice coil made of lightweight Kapton in each midbass driver. Each voice coil features two layers of copper-clad aluminum wire, chosen for its light weight, superior conductivity and nominal impedance of four ohms. The dome-shaped diaphragms are made from talc-filled polypropylene, and were chosen for minimal resonance. Artistic Audio changed the suspension system used on its Gemini speakers, incorporating a large inner spider in the Mobius midbass drivers to help eliminate ìyawî or rocking of the diaphragm assembly at high power levels. The Mobius also uses a thicker butyl rubber for the surround than that used for Gemini, and the surround is no longer inverted as it was on the original Gemini model. Mounted in front of each bipolar array is a one-inch silk dome tweeter. Each tweeter uses small but powerful neodymium motors and are ferro-fluid cooled. The small size of the tweeters enables them to be mounted directly in front of each midbass driver, which allows for better imaging. Each midbass driver assembly sits atop a set of forks or ìvelocity stacks.î The forks are hollow to allow air inside the midbass drivers to be directed to the subenclosure. This ìcompliance displacement technology,î proprietary to Artistic Audio, allows a path for the acoustical energy inside the midbass drivers to dissipate, which in turn lowers the compliance inside the midbass drivers and extends low frequency cut-off. The velocity stacks are made of high-grade three-quarter-inch MDF, and features a low-luster aluminum veneer chosen to match current design trends of plasma screen and HDTVs. The body is also form fitting function, with the aim of the speaker having smallest possible footprint and minimal sound diffraction. The main body is tilted backward to align the subwoofer and midbass driver voice coils for maximum phase/time alignment. The subwoofer enclosure design used in the Mobius loudspeaker is also unique. Its triangular shape helps eliminate unwanted standing waves inside the enclosure because none of the enclosure walls are parallel with one another. The port location was chosen so that sound coming from the port could emerge very close to the midbass section and reflect off room walls for a wider listening stage. A high-power, long-throw eight-inch subwoofer was selected for its very flat response and overall sensitivity. The subwoofer is sideward firing to adhere to the philosophy of creating the smallest possible signature footprint for the speaker. The subwoofer enclosure is also made of high quality MDF and covered with a black ìleather lookî finish that contrasts well with the brushed aluminum veneer of the main body. The four-way binding posts located on the back of the subwoofer enclosure offer easy access. There are two sets of terminals featuring a gold-plated bridge between them. When the bridges are removed, the Mobius speakers are bi-wireable. The circuit board of the crossover network is mounted to the back of each terminal cup. The crossover circuit was built using a minimalist philosophy. A third order response system has been achieved by blending the natural acoustic properties of the drivers with high-grade crossover components. The finished system has a sensitivity of 88 db at 2.83 volts, a 250-watt RMS power handling capacity at a nominal 8 ohm impedance, and produces a smooth overall frequency response of 45Hz - 20,000 kHz ±3 db. For more information, please visit www.artisticaudio.com.

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