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NHT Launching Multiple New Speakers

BENICIA

,

CALIF

. — NHT has resurrected and updated
the compact Super Zero mini monitor, developed a
powered subwoofer tailored for use with it, and unveiled
two new high-output powered subwoofers, which are
promoted as offering significant performance upgrades
over their predecessors in cabinets that are 30 percent
smaller. They’re among the company’s first new products
in several years.

All three of the acoustic-suspension (sealed-box) subs
are the brand’s first wireless subwoofers, thanks to USB
ports that accept optional wireless adapters due in the
first quarter.

The two high-output subs are the cube-shaped $499
B10d and $699 B12d, which replace five-year-old rectangular
models at the same price points. The B10d packs a
forward-firing 10-inch driver in a 12.6-inch cube with 300-
watt Class D amplifier. The B12d features 12-inch driver,
500-watt Class D amp in a 14-inch cube. Both models
feature DSP to automatically control crossovers, phase,
boundary compensation, movie-music EQ and amp current
to deliver full power at all system impedances.

“The new B-10d and B-12d outperform the old models
in every aspect” despite their smaller cabinets, said NHT
partner John Johnsen, thanks largely to more efficient
Class D technology and a DSP system that dynamically
controls subwoofer performance.

As a result of the efficiency gain provided by the use
of Class D amplifiers and DSP, NHT was able to use
a sealed-box design instead of the predecessor subs’
vented designs, which are less accurate but are more
efficient and can thus be driven by lower power amps,
Johnsen said.

Like their predecessors, the two new subs feature
LFE and line-level inputs, intended for connection to the
subwoofer outputs and pre amp outputs of A/V receivers.
The B-10d, however, adds speaker-level inputs and
speaker-level outputs designed for use with the many
stereo receivers that lack subwoofer outputs, Johnsen
said. In this configuration, the receiver’s speaker outputs
are wired to the sub, and the sub’s speaker-level outputs
are connected to left-right speakers, which are driven
by the receiver’s amplifiers. “We added this feature because
of the renewed interest in conventional stereo music
systems,” Johnsen said.

For the new Super Zero 2.0, NHT developed the Super
8 subwoofer, also with speaker-level ins and outs
and a crossover designed for use with the new two-way
mini monitor.

The acoustic suspension Super Zero 2.0, which resurrects
one of the company’s first products, retails for $99
each, less than the $115 launch price of the original in 1993,
Johnsen said, thanks to new construction techniques.

The original, which went out of production in the late
90s, was the company’s best-selling bookshelf speaker,
given the sound-quality advantages — less diffraction
distortion and stiffer enclosures — that small-size cabinets
yield.

The Super Zero 2.0 features 4.5-inch woofer that
delivers 100Hz+ bass. Its tweeter is crossed over at
about 1,000Hz lower than the original model’s tweeter
and now uses a second-order high-pass filter to lower
distortion and improve the dispersion pattern and phase
response with the woofer at their crossover point.

Under a marketing strategy launched in 2009, consumers
buy NHT products factory-direct through NHT’s
web site or through authorized on-line and brick-andmortar
retailers and installers. Whatever the point of purchase,
the purchased product is shipped directly to the
consumer from NHT’s warehouse.

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