Apparently this is not a planar magentic driver. Here's a post from Bass Gear Magazine on Facebook:
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ET Pro Speakers - Planar Magnetic Cab
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,986
- 5
- 220,768
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
The ONLY semi-technical descriptions on their website are magnetic planar and rotary speakers. Since there is so little information available (including for products that are supposedly produced and then discontinued), it's valid to assume that it's not a rotary woofer, leaving the assumption of magnetic planer as the next best assumption by default.
In case anybody's curious, here are a couple of patents from the maker:
The two patents are similar to one another. Here are my two thoughts: First, it's hard, but not impossible, to make educated guesses about how something will work, without seeing the precise implementation. All electromagnetic speakers obey Hoffman's Law, expressed in popular terms as "small, loud, low, pick any two." This means rules of thumb about sensitivity versus box size, that apply to conventional speakers, will apply here as well. I'm almost willing to say that other kinds of speakers such as electrostatic and rotary, are constrained by the same law. No free lunch.
The second thing is that conventional circular speakers have been optimized up the wazoo over multiple generations of designs, meaning that you have to run real hard just to catch up. And musical instrument applications are unforgiving of inefficiency because we have to haul our gear.
So I'm not being a pessimist, but am not expecting a technological revolution here.
US5901235A - Enhanced efficiency planar transducers - Google Patents
Planar magnetic transducers including diaphragms having electrical conductors thereon which are mounted within frames so that spaced magnets are disposed on opposite sides of central sound producing surface areas of the diaphragms. Pole elements are provided in spaced relationship between each...
patents.google.com
US4837838A - Electromagnetic transducer of improved efficiency - Google Patents
An electromagnetic transducer is disclosed wherein separate elongated strips of magnetic material are secured on both sides of a plane containing a flat flexible insulating thin-film diaphragm. Conductors attached to the diaphram extend primarily parallel to the magnetic strips and cause...
patents.google.com
The two patents are similar to one another. Here are my two thoughts: First, it's hard, but not impossible, to make educated guesses about how something will work, without seeing the precise implementation. All electromagnetic speakers obey Hoffman's Law, expressed in popular terms as "small, loud, low, pick any two." This means rules of thumb about sensitivity versus box size, that apply to conventional speakers, will apply here as well. I'm almost willing to say that other kinds of speakers such as electrostatic and rotary, are constrained by the same law. No free lunch.
The second thing is that conventional circular speakers have been optimized up the wazoo over multiple generations of designs, meaning that you have to run real hard just to catch up. And musical instrument applications are unforgiving of inefficiency because we have to haul our gear.
So I'm not being a pessimist, but am not expecting a technological revolution here.
Maybe it's not a safe assumption, but I'm assuming ET Pro Speakers were the ones that corrected Bass Gear Magazine.
Planar for bass guitar, nah....
Yes, I'm skeptical and rightly so,
Yesterday this ET Pro planar design appeared in my social media feed, tried to find some more about it on the net but got dissapointed.
I've heard full range Planars (Magnepan) for hifi years ago, sounded amazing for vocals and acoustic jazz. The thing is, this type of technology isn't designed to shove a lot of air ("cone" excursion is very limited).
Yes, I'm skeptical and rightly so,
Yesterday this ET Pro planar design appeared in my social media feed, tried to find some more about it on the net but got dissapointed.
I've heard full range Planars (Magnepan) for hifi years ago, sounded amazing for vocals and acoustic jazz. The thing is, this type of technology isn't designed to shove a lot of air ("cone" excursion is very limited).
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They may have a place in the Guitar world BUT only if they make a Tube Combo
When I managed a Home Audio store 1986-2002 we sold Planar, Ribbon and Electrostatic Speakers
Very few Subwoofers Sounded seamless with them and we're Expensive
The larger Ribbons had decent Bass presence
My main hobby is building home speakers. I've used ribbons, planars, and AMTs over the years.
I highly doubt a planar will be useful for bass guitar, unless that guy has invented something quite different. Guitar is a possibility. Either way a planar is a fairly heavy device by nature of the way they are made. So one the size of that "prototype" wouldn't be as light as it may seem.
Could be pretty neat, only time will tell if anything really becomes of it.
I highly doubt a planar will be useful for bass guitar, unless that guy has invented something quite different. Guitar is a possibility. Either way a planar is a fairly heavy device by nature of the way they are made. So one the size of that "prototype" wouldn't be as light as it may seem.
Could be pretty neat, only time will tell if anything really becomes of it.
Couldn't see a mic in front of the bass amp but there was never a clear shot of it, we don't know whether it's in the audio.
Either way, I'm not sure how well this would demonstrate its utility in live performance.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,986
- 5
- 220,768
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
There are no technical specs provided, that alone raises red flags. It’s impossible to evaluate anything without technical specs being provided. It appears that they do not provide them for any of their products, not that I could find.
I could see the possibility of a PM driver for guitar, but not for bass, except in the mids and up. When I lived in a small apartment in the '80s my MG-1cs were great as I didn't want to bother my neighbors when I cranked the stereo (as there is very little sound energy radiating out from the edges of a MP speaker it did not really impact the adjacent apartments much at all). Once we moved to a house I bought a subwoofer (Definitive Technology SuperCube II) to take care of the bottom octave.
The Maggies are set at an inward angle with the outer edge around 32" from the rear wall and the inner edges around 20" from the wall. They do just fine with all kinds of music from Bach to rock, but what is truly magical about the Maggies is how percussion instruments and acoustic music sound.
Edit: wierd tiepoh
The Maggies are set at an inward angle with the outer edge around 32" from the rear wall and the inner edges around 20" from the wall. They do just fine with all kinds of music from Bach to rock, but what is truly magical about the Maggies is how percussion instruments and acoustic music sound.
Edit: wierd tiepoh
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Like that would not fall over on a windy outdoor show!
So...it should be able to compete with a 410?
A 410 with modern drivers can shove some air, I'm very curious if their statement holds up in the SPL department.
Should behave somewhat similar to open-baffle dipole subs, room position is key to achieve even bass response. They interact differently with room modes then non-dipole designs. When setup correctly, an open baffle sub can create a qualitative superior low-end experience compared to regular subs. But, not everyone likes this type of sound, e.g. it doesn't provide the "impact" a regular quality sub is able to deliver. They're two different worlds.
Well with Technology we now have the CERABYTE heading towards the YOTTABYTE [A yottabyte is a unit of data that is equal to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes]
So seems that anything may be possible
"When set up correctly" is not what I want to hear about a pro audio speaker. I need something I can put on a stage, plug in, and use. Ideally, time spent on adjustments is about improving something that's already adequate, rather than trying to be audible at all. In the home, you can spend hours fiddling with speaker placement because it might not move again for a couple years. On stage, you get a few minutes for setup, and after a couple hours you tear down.
For that matter, if your dipole bass amp has to be exactly [something] feet from the back wall to work correctly, you've severely limited the number of venues it's useful in. Possibly to zero, depending on where your band plays.
Not sure that's worth the price premium.
