Just when I thought there was little new in loud speaker drivers …

[Swerd]

… Along comes a completely different tweeter – the AirBlade from Arya Audio Labs in Southampton, UK.

Arya Audio | AirBlade

True constant directivity loudspeaker driver

www.arya-audio.com

It looks highly unusual

It's specifications:
Frequency response: <1kHz to >20kHz
Directivity: 180˚ (other versions upon request)
Impedance: 3.6 Ohms, purely resistive, linear phase
Diaphragm surface area: 19200mm²
Magnets: 34 Neodymium magnets per driver
Weight: ca. 1.6kg per driver
Dimensions: ca. 13.5 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm (W x D x H)

It's frequency response, as low as 1 kHz; extremely wide dispersion of nearly 180°; and it's constant impedance – it stays at 3.6 Ohms regardless of frequency, make this unique among tweeters. I don't know it's price, but with all those neodymium magnets it can't be inexpensive.

Edits: Verdinut (post #14) correctly pointed out that all AMT-type tweeters have an essentially flat impedance curves.

Dennis Murphy (post #16) pointed out that the AirBlade's output below 2 kHz falls off so much that he could only use a passive crossover at 1.9 kHz. The claim of a response as low as 1 kHz is only practical if an active crossover with plenty of boost is used.

Here is a polar graph of it's dispersion

And for comparison, here is the dispersion of a typical 1" dome tweeter (capable of going as low as 1 kHz).

The 2 graphs appear here: http://www.christensenaudioip.com/

 

[ryanosaur]

I was wondering what that thing was! I saw a photo of a Salk build with that.

 

[Swerd]

Jim Salk has already gotten two examples, and put together a test version of a 2-way speaker, just to hear what they can do in his hands. Read what he said about them:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=175599.0

 

[Hetfield]

Jim Salk has already gotten two examples, and put together a test version, just to hear what they can do in his hands. Read what he said about them:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=175599.0
View attachment 45916

Actually looks scary like it's going to eat you.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Swerd]

They remind me of Jaws. Not the shark, but the James Bond villain.

 

[Trebdp83]

Was just about to post that very same pic.

 

[Trebdp83]

I'm also reminded of the old Buicks.

 

[Pogre]

Oh no... new tech?

*Checks bank account

 

[ryanosaur]

Jim Salk has already gotten two examples, and put together a test version of a 2-way speaker, just to hear what they can do in his hands. Read what he said about them:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=175599.0
View attachment 45916

I think I saw a different prototype, perhaps... but d@mn... 4 Puifis!
Ya that’s gonna be an expensive speaker!

 

[ryanosaur]

Oh no... new tech?

*Checks bank account

You gotta stop playing with used speakers and building new speakers!

 

[Swerd]

I'm waiting for someone to ask for a horn-loaded controlled dispersion version of the AirBlade.

 

[ryanosaur]

Woof.
Suggested Retail is 1000 Euros EACH.

 

[Swerd]

The AirBlade looks like dentures for the Terminator, when he gets toothless, old & gray.

 

[Verdinut]

… Along comes a completely different tweeter – the AirBlade from Arya Audio Labs in Southampton, UK.

Arya Audio | AirBlade

True constant directivity loudspeaker driver

www.arya-audio.com

It looks highly unusual
View attachment 45913


it stays at 3.6 Ohms regardless of frequency, make this unique among tweeters.



View attachment 45915
The 2 graphs appear here: http://www.christensenaudioip.com/

No, It's not the only tweeter so far to have a fixed impedance throughout its operating frequency range. Most likely, all Air Motion Transformer tweeters have a regular impedance within their frequency range. As an example, the Airborne RT-4001 tweeter shows a rather fixed impedance. This the tweeter which I'm using in my 7 channel HT system. Moreover, it doesn't have to be EQd as it has a rather linear frequency response as you can see in the following graph. That's a lot better than the performance of the B & W tweeters:

http://meniscus.lightningbasehosted.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/RT4001-Data-Sheet.pdf

 

[TLS Guy]

This is an updated version of the Hiel air motion transformer. However it looks a lot more useful, as it can be crossed at 800 Hz with a first order filter.
So that would make it possible to make a potent 2 way speaker, that could be truly full range and be linear phase. Although $1000 per unit is a high price, it would make it possible to produce a truly world beating speaker at a very competitive price. So this could be a game changer.

 

[D Murphy]

This is an updated version of the Hiel air motion transformer. However it looks a lot more useful, as it can be crossed at 800 Hz with a first order filter.
So that would make it possible to make a potent 2 way speaker, that could be truly full range and be linear phase. Although $1000 per unit is a high price, it would make it possible to produce a truly world beating speaker at a very competitive price. So this could be a game changer.

Yawn. The Airblade is so yesterday. I've already done a passive tower version with two Purifi's and the Airblade on top back a few inches where it's a little less scary. (No, it's just as scary.) This belongs in the department of Nice Try, but No Banana. It seems like anytime a company tries to produce a driver that's state-of-the art in one dimension, it smacks into itself in another dimension. The Purifi woofer has super low distortion and unrivaled excursion, but that makes it very difficult to match with a practical port design, particularly in a bookshelf monitor.

With the Airblade, all of those AMT elements firing away in different directions make for a vortex of back waves inside that have to be damped out. The aggressive damping in the current model rolls off the response rapidly below 2 kHz and makes a passive crossover at 1200 Hz impractical. I haven't even tried to calculate what the sensitivity would be. I was able to cross at around 1900 Hz and hit 85dB sensitivity, but our friends at ASR would wag their fingers at the resulting dip in directivity matching at the crossover point.

The Airblade engineers say they are working on a design with the same kind of meta material used by KEF in the LS50 to damp the rear waves without losing sensitivity at the low end. That might make for a doable passive version. But it wold still be mega-expensive and.....scary. On the other hand, Jim was able to design a wide and long port for the tower cabinet he sent me, and the double Purifi's are a force to reckon with., Very clean, powerful bass down to 32 Hz, and acceptable sensitivity because we doubled up on the 8 Ohm version in parallel. I'm going to pair that with a different tweeter and see if I can make everyone happy. Meanwhile, Jim's active version already does what a passive version would do with an improved Airblade, but to most people active speakers are....scary.

 

[highfigh]

NOOOO! Not something new(ish)!

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Bite... my... shiny... metal... tweeter

 

[Mikado463]

about as ugly as the grill on a Lexus ………...

 

[Irvrobinson]

Given how well some existing tweeters perform (the B&W diamond, the Revel Be, the RAAL, just to name a few obvious examples), is this driver answering a question that is already sufficiently answered for less cost?