INDIANAPOLIS —
GoldenEar Technology will unleash
its second wave of high-end speakers at the
CEDIA Expo, where it will show its first bookshelf and
architectural speakers and additions to its powered
subwoofer line.
All are projected to ship late this year.
The company’s first speakers, introduced at last
year’s Expo, consisted of five in-room speakers and
two subwoofers.
The company was founded by Sandy Gross, cofounder
of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, and
Don Givogue, another Definitive co-founder.
GoldenEar’s first two bookshelf monitors are the
Aon 2 and 3 at $399 and $499 each, respectively.
Both are projected to ship late this year.
The two-way Aon 2
features 6-inch bass/
midrange driver in a
12-inch by 8-inch by
10-inch enclosure that
delivers frequency
response of 42Hz to
35kHz. The Aon 3 with
7-inch bass/midrange
driver is 14 inches by
9 inches by 11 inches
and delivers 38Hz to
35kHz.
The shelf- and standmountable
speakers
were designed
to deliver accurate high-definition sound with imaging comparable to that
achieved by GoldenEar’s larger Triton Two Towers,
said Gross. Both Aon models incorporate cast-basket
bass/midrange drivers using technology derived from
the midrange drivers in the Tritons. Both also feature
the Tritons’ accordion-like High Velocity Folded Ribbon
(HVFR) ribbon tweeters, said to deliver the dynamic
range and smooth extended response of a bigger
flat ribbon tweeter, thanks to their ability to push
air at higher velocities than a traditional ribbon tweeter,
Gross said. They also deliver wider dispersion than
traditional ribbon tweeters.
Each Aon also features two side-mounted planar
low-frequency passive radiators that properly load the
bass/midrange drivers and extend bass response. The
radiators are 6.5 inches in size in the Aon 2 and 8 inches
in the Aon 3.
The Aon speakers’
truncated pyramidal
cabinet is designed to
enhance sonic performance,
the company
said. The non-parallel
cabinet walls minimize
internal standing waves
while also reducing
the width of the baffle
around the tweeters,
thus minimizing distortion
from diffraction.
Unlike the smaller
SuperSat3 satellite and
SuperSat 3C centerchannel
version already available, the Aon speakers do
not require a separate powered subwoofer to deliver
deep bass, the company said. The SuperSat models
are 12 inches by 4.75 inches by 2.7 inches.
Three models in the Invisa in-wall/in-ceiling custom
series are the Invisa 650, Invisa 525 and the
Invisa Home Theater Reference 6500, all with
magnetically attached grille that hides the flange
to make them virtually invisible, the company said.
Prices haven’t been set.
All three models incorporate HVFR high-frequency
radiators like those on the Triton Two Tower. The Invisa
525 and Invisa 650 feature one-piece driver/frame/
flange construction to minimize their footprint. The
structure is made from a marble-infused polymer.
The 650 and 525 are designed for
in-ceiling and in-wall use, thanks to
their round, paintable, magnetically fastened
micro-perf grille. Optional square
grilles are available. Grilles of either
shape fully cover the mounting flange
for a stealth appearance. Wide dispersion
is achieved in part through pivoting
tweeters. A high-frequency equalization
switch allows for tailoring the sound to a
room’s acoustics.
The Invisa Home Theater Reference
6500 is designed as a ceiling-mount
left, right or center speaker for a home
theater or music system as well as a side
or rear surround speaker. It features 9.5-
inch round, flat grille with drivers angled
at 28 degrees toward the listening position
to deliver what the company called
“freestanding-speaker-quality performance.”
The company also said it took
steps to optimize the speaker to deliver
“open, boxless, three-dimensional imaging”
that appears to emanate from the
front wall rather than the ceiling.
The 6500 incorporates cast-basket
GoldenEar Adds Bookshelf, Custom Speakers At CEDIA
(continued from page 40) 6.5-inch bass/midrange driver angled
under the grille.
At a projected $999, the ForceField
5 subwoofer is a step up from the current
ForceField 3 and 4 models, offering
more power and deeper bass response
to the infrasonic range for both movie
and music listening. Response extends
down to 12Hz.
It features long-throw 12-inch driver
with large high gauss magnet structure
powered by a DSP-controlled 1,500-
watt digital amplifier. The driver is pressure
coupled to a downward-firing
13-inch by 13.9-inch quadratic planar infrasonic
radiator. Overall dimensions are
14.5 inches by 15 inches by 18 inches.
Other features include a direct-coupled
sub/LFE input, left and right speaker-
level inputs, 100Hz high-passed leftright
speaker-level output, adjustable
low-pass filter for the speaker-level input,
and level control.
