Augene - Hear the real thing!

2012-02-14T00:49:00.001+08:00

Development of our products are continuous, new improvements can be implemented just prior to a release as well as staged upgrades. Below graph shows our development cycle.

The basic idea is that some possible improvement areas are not discovered until some more dominant issues are addressed. Most of our improvements will be applicable to stereo systems as well as multi-channel home theater systems. So users will not only experience the released potential of stereo systems, but may also find new enjoyment in home theater systems as well.

2012-02-06T12:27:00.000+08:00

For a long time we have had difficulty implementing the appropriate line power filter into our Exaltation active speaker, which is necessary to comply with consumer electronics standards, due to the limited available space in the amplifier. Concurrent with our independent amplifier development project, we are trying to implement various methods by digging deeper into understanding the operation of an amplifier. What we have found is that then ground plane carries lots of signals, and is not the 0 volt ground as we assume it to be, in such case leads to coupling back into the signal amplification chain. By reducing current flow through the ground plain, we are able to provide better and cleaner sound quality. This discovery will gradually lead to generations of refinement of design in our Exaltation active speakers. What the result will be is audio systems suitable for all kinds of music, which is the way audio systems should be.

2012-02-06T11:44:00.000+08:00

Further developments led to a decision to develop our own amplifier. The problem with lots of amplifiers is that the interface is not consistent. Some amplifiers design a passive input to filter out high frequencies. For example, such a filter might change the input impedance to something like the graph below:

This kind of an input impedance would significantly degrade the performance of the audio system which even using our interconnects will not be able to correct. In order to avoid this uncertainty, we have decided to develop our own amplifier.

The further advantages of this is that we now have a better opportunity to develop the amplifier with the cost performance we desire, and implement some technology that we feel is critical for for good performance. One of the issues is linear phase throughout the system as depicted on our web site. We feel that this is critical for proper reproduction of the recorded spacial presentation. Normal amplifiers are voltage source devices, however, the audio speaker requires current to properly operate; however, as we know, current generally lags voltage source as a function of load impedance and frequency. In order to preserve the proper phase relationship, it is necessary to have a current source device to preserve the phase relationship of voltage to current phase.

2010-12-06T16:53:00.000+08:00

In the process of finalizing design of the Exaltation, we discovered the importance of interface between equipment। Due to characteristics of most coaxial cable, the input impedance of a device will drop significantly at higher frequencies as shown below.

Does this create a problem? If we look at this from a voltage divider point of view, it seems the effect is minimal. However, from an energy transfer point of view, this is not ideal. Not being bound by theories suggesting the contrary, we just decided to change that based on ideas revealed in the Sumiko OCOS report, and discovered that when the input impedance curve looked somewhat like this

the sound image suddenly becomes well focussed. There is a very narrow band of optimum performance. We further discovered that the characteristic may vary based on cable length, therefore, we decided to implement the technology into cables, and call it the "Matchmaker" technology due to the role of optimising interface between equipment.

New design.

2007-12-15T10:05:00.000+08:00

While trying to solve production problems with the Lullaby, we continued to develope an active speaker for a lower price market. Here is what the speaker will look like.

Internal components and wiring

2007-03-06T09:36:00.000+08:00

It's been quite some some since the last post. During this period, while working through production issues, we have also spent time on selecting the best sounding components and wiring withing a reasonable cost range and form factor. The critical part is establishing measureable differences to determine what is good and can expect reliable quality. Most component and wire manufactures either only take specific measures at specific points, or only assume the the manufacturing process will produce repeatable quality, what we have initially established is graphs of harmonics introduced by various wires and components, so as to cross check quality in case we hear some difference in components.

An interesting listening experience

2006-11-12T15:39:00.000+08:00

I recently attended a small seminar given by a local magazine chief editor. The topic was about room arrangement and demo of what he means when he uses certain expressions.

The listening demo was on a system retailing around US$67500 including a pair of Warfedale speakers with an ELAC super tweeter, a Maranze SACD player, and a set of tupe amps the brand of which I cannot remember. I am not saying that this setup is perfect, but it did demonstrate quite clearly the specific characteristics in various instruments which also made me find some very undesireable signatures in may own system. I think this is one of the better high priced arrangement that I have heard recently, and a truely educating experience for me.

Now the difficulty is how to find out where the specific signature is coming from.

Passive components provide an extra mile

2006-10-31T00:34:00.000+08:00

While still being a bit frustrated with the power coating, we started nit-picking on the sound of our speaker. Noticing it still not being as clean and quick as we would like it to be, we started looking at passive components and it's effects. Since the enclosure design is pretty much final, there was not much room for exotic components that are usually quite large, so we started to focus on parts that would fit in. Since the driver itself was good enough to clearly identify absolute polarity, each change in component that we made did effect the sound. Up to now we have narrowed down to a short list, and hopefully things will come together soon,

Measurements

2006-09-12T00:55:00.001+08:00

There has been lots of discuusion about measuring speakers and how to get full free field measurement results without an anechoic chamber. One of the methods that came up was Ground Plane measurement where the mic is placed on a flat reflective surface and the speaker is raised to a level and angled at the mic. However, articles that explain this method show that the test needs to be done out doors, in order for the low frequency results are acceptable. But there is also one problem, the reflective surface always reflects waves back to the speaker and then to the mic so MLS windowing is still limited. In order for the reflection to be eliminated so that windowing is not limited, part of the reflective surface needs to be an absorbing surface, and there needs to be a reflective surface placed on the border of the reflecting surface and absorbing surface; this additional reflective surface would be placed at an angle parallel to the sound source vectors 30 degrees off-axis so as to not interfere with wave propogation, but still preventing reflective waves from going back to the raised speaker.

Measurements

2006-09-12T00:55:00.000+08:00

Drivers ready

2006-08-26T04:37:00.000+08:00

While waiting for the powder coating manufacturing process to finalize, we continued improvement of the driver. The manufacturer was kind enough to implement some changes that were necessary, but there were some that they were not able to do in time. Taken the quantities we want to limit in the first year, we decided to do the additional process in house. I must say, finding the right combination was not easy. We had to review all driver aspects to every detail, doing iterations of listening, analysis, processing, and testing. One day we finally hit a sweep spot, and processing procedure for the driver was repeatable to a reasonable degree. We should be sending some to evaluators to finalize on what we think is the best. We do expect further enhancement in the driver in the future. We certainly hope our MDF powder coating manufacturer can finalize on their process as well.

Meanwhile we have started development of an MTM version based on this design. I will talk about this in the near future.

Enclosure samples at last.

2006-05-25T00:05:00.000+08:00

The sample enclosure was very promising. We got to see it, feel it, and dream about it. Water based paint gave us the best results. However, the process development was not easy. Filler formula, base paint formula, and final coating all made a difference. The results are presentable, but not perfect. We expect to experiment continously thoughout the years to come.

The stand is a challenge as well. After running some samples though power coating, things looked promising. but we still have our fingers crossed because some improvements are still necessary till it's presentable.

In the excitement, we are starting to establish customer service policies and procedures. Well, other projects are in the works as well.

Making it to production

2006-04-01T01:46:00.000+08:00

Now that we have a good look and good sound, how can we make the process repeatable?

Slight tolances in the driver assembly will make it sound a bit funny, so we are starting to investigate what changes in the manufacturing process we can to to make drivers sound the same.

Enclosure paint is another thing we encountered problems with. CNC was not clean-cut enough, so that sanding process is important. Sanding was necessary in the middle of assembly and after assembly; this two step was also necessary for spray paining because of the difficulty in paining inside a small horn due to back-blow. But what also made things diffucult was filling the edge pores with clear filler prior to painting. All these made it hard to keep dimensions within tolarance.

Augene - Hear the real thing!

2006-03-19T16:19:00.000+08:00

Probably the most difficult thing is to find a raltionship between what is heard and what is measured. With the first driver we measured with that seemed base heavy, we got some feedback saying "not enough bass" and a comment saying "violins sound funny". So we had to figure out what was wrong.

After going though a few different drivers and numerous testing, we felt we had something that was much better. We actually had someone a a recording studio listen, and got the following comments: "good bass", "sounds boxy", "the sound is not direct enough, like there's a curtain in front".

Needless to say, we found out the reason, and after implementing a solution, we were surprised!

We are lucky that we were able to find people willing to provide comments in a truthful manner. Lots of people were reluctant to provide any comments on the negative side, some didn't event comment.

Keeping it simple

2006-03-12T16:17:00.000+08:00

There were so many different things that seem interesting, we can only say that this is a dream of turning a hobby of audio into a hobby of creating a brand name. No body knows what will happen, but it just seems like a good experience.

Technology is probably one of the important factors. Having played around with various types of design, we felt that something small enough for a table top with a good frequency range from 80~20K Hz -1db would be a good place where most types of music can be enjoyed. We wanted somthing that can be placed back against a wall so that most people can have a good place for it and enjoy music. Recent measurements against a wall showed frequencies too low to be believable, so I'm not going to even talk about it.

Most people like us probably won't want to see the same shape in different rooms of their houses, so will will be looking at different designs as well. A friend mentioned that most speakers that have a very different shape normally doesn not sound good, so we really decided to do the best we could to relate what we hear with what we measure, and see what we could come up with. This was also one of the reasons we still have a two way system in the lab where the measured data really deviates from what we expected.

We really would like females to provide sugggestions as well, because we realize that you all would like to see something that touches your heart, my wife and daughter are providing their inputs as well.

Birth of AUGENE

2006-02-18T18:51:00.000+08:00

I enjoy listening to good music. However, most speakers are either very expensive, or really don't sound good enough. Each speaker sounded different, I understood that different frequency responses would sound different, but I also read that a loudness difference less than 3db is normally not noticable. So I really couldn't understand why speakers sounded so different with the sampe specifications. That's when I decided to start designing a new series of speakers.

It took us a few months to decide on a brand name and logo. We wanted something that looked unique, artistic, and could be used in a flexible manner. This is what we finally came up with:

In the beginning.

2005-11-27T11:41:00.000+08:00

There was a vision, to create a series of audio/home theater equipment that can become visually a piece of art rather than just aurally a piece of art for homes of any size, and that you can have multiple quality systems anywhere you want.

Our slogan:
Lifestyle! A state of mind, not a state of finance.
Pretty much tells you the price ranges we plan to acheive.

The first product we are going to release is a speaker called "Lullaby". Why did we call it that? Because I hope these will sing you to sleep every night as they have to me during the development process.