Sound & Recording.de compiled a small booklet called Studio Monitors Special
For about €10 you get to download a 400 page PDF; ~300MB.
In the days of old, this would be a headache for many people not fluent in German. But thanks to the advent of modern translators powered by machine learning, any good PDF reader can translate any section of it in any language
So I poured myself a coffee @Zvu and looked at over EIGHTY studio monitors. The only consistency I could find was...
...there was no consistency!
Even amongst similarly sized speakers, they vary widely in terms of dynamic range and/or distortion, diffraction, directivity, and delay.
So we have studio monitors AND domestic speakers that do not converge to any kind of standard.
In my view, unless the ITU, Fraunhofer, NHK, IEC, AES or other institution set/adopt a standard for directivity or dynamic range Toole's "circle of confusion" will continue, some 25 years after he first coined the term.
***
Here is TAS verbal description of the midrange used in the Alexia V:
"But the star of the XVX, and now of the Alexia V, is the Wilson-developed QuadMag midrange driver. I think of this driver as the heart and soul of the XVX; it is, I believe, a major contributor to the XVX’s unparalleled sense of harmonic beauty through the midrange. The XVX’s midrange is soft and gentle, yet simultaneously highly resolving and lifelike. The resolution isn’t an “audiophile” type resolution in which details are prominently projected, but rather its resolution is in the way the driver reveals the richness and delicacy of instrumental harmonics with a subtlety and sophistication that elude so many other speakers. The midrange driver’s density of tone color is simply gorgeous and conveys a totally natural and lifelike sound rather than an artificial emphasis on upper midrange energy that produces a false sense of detail. I think of it as “musical resolution” rather than “sonic resolution.” The musical rewards of this type of presentation are profound; the XVX makes you instantly forget you are listening to a recreation rather than to music itself."
Compare that to Audio.com.pl:
"QuadraMag was created as a modification of the "base" version, and this in turn looks the same as the well-known 18 Scan-Speak Revelator series...There is no doubt that both versions are manufactured by a Danish specialist. This is evidenced not only by the characteristic, slotted membrane, but also by practically all other visible elements (basket, specific lower spring with different folds), apart from... of course the QuadraMag magnetic system, which not only clearly distinguishes this version from the standard one, but also places it in the strict group of the most valuable speakers of this type. QuadraMag is not just a marketing slogan for the company's nth "patent", the technical essence of which or its real impact on parameters and sound we are unable to verify.
Taking the speaker out of the housing (and I hadn't seen it before or even read about it), I was sincerely happy - here we have something very rare. Quadra - four, Mag - magnets, but "exchanging" one magnetic ring for four smaller ones is only part of the attraction...The shorting plates have a shape similar to a four-leaf clover and hold four magnetic cylinders between them, spaced considerably apart, which is already an advantage as it allows for free ventilation of the coil – dissipating both heat and pressure.
A similar solution (but usually with six magnets) is nothing new; Focal used it (Audiom series loudspeakers), Scan-Speak introduced it a few years ago (Ellipticor series loudspeakers), and I don't deny this "merit" to a few others. However, in all the cases I know of (and so few), these rings are made of neodymium magnets.
Thanks to their strength (greater than that of ferrite), it is possible to create an efficient magnetic system with a structure in which the mass of the magnetic material is smaller. Neodymium also has other advantages – it creates a more uniform magnetic field… But in this case it is not neodymium, but an even more expensive material, although also well-known – Alnico, popularly known as cobalt, or more precisely: an alloy of aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co). Each magnetic material has its strengths and weaknesses. A potential problem with neodymium (NdFeB) magnets is the loss of flux due to high temperature (above 85O). In this respect, Alnico magnets are the best, as they practically cannot be "overheated" (max. operating temperature 400º, before that the voice coil will burn out), and their Achilles heel is greater susceptibility to mechanical damage (the material is hard, coarse-grained and breaks easily), which, however, is a problem mainly during production (and increases costs).
Once we have a speaker with an Alnico magnet installed... if we unscrew it, do not approach it with a steel hammer, and we will be happy with it for a long time. The parameters themselves do not fully explain the great esteem that Alnico magnets enjoy in audiophile circles. Some attribute to them sound properties that are simply miraculous, but - as in many systems and devices - the final result depends on the quality of all the parts, the matching of all the parameters. Undoubtedly, on the basis of the 18 cm Revelator, which already has a refined vibrating system in its standard version, and thanks to this, smooth characteristics, with the use of Alnico, it was possible to create an outstanding midrange loudspeaker. Even if we put aside (without denying them at all) the promises of a warm, sweet, beautiful, "alive" sound coming from the manufacturer or Alnico enthusiasts, the resistance to high temperatures alone means a lot here, because we are dealing with a single midrange speaker in a three-way high-power system, and as our measurements show, the crossover frequency is not high (which we will not worry about at all, if only the speaker can cope with such a challenge without increasing distortion).
***
The poetry loving side of me likes the TAS review - it makes me want to listen to that!
The wrenching side of me likes Audio.com.pl explanation - it makes me want to understand how it works!
/rant on
Either way, if one thinks that these kind of luxury items are purchased by "Doctors, Lawyers and other people with more money than sense", then one is sorely mistaken. Sure, back in the 1950-1970s, doctors or lawyers or other individuals with high income but limited time to make purchase decisions may be been the first to own a color television in the neighborhood, or own a Benz etc.But after the 1980s, with the stock market booms and crashes, it made a lot of people wealthy and a lot of people poor (that's how credit and debt works). The GFC and Covid did the same thing. And today's wealthiest 1% can hide their wealth in a myriad of complex (but perfectly legal) schemes, meaning you or I have no idea how much wealth they really have. And so a half million dollar speaker is really chump change for the UHNW individual in business or politics, who have 100 times the wealth of the average person their own age. You think they are out there buying the biggest speakers or TV or luxury cars. But in fact they already have yachts, helicopters and private jets.
You might think "Oh, let's not complain about rich people- they've worked hard so they deserve it... OR
It doesn't affect me... besides the tide lifts all boats"
But wealthy people have a low marginal propensity to consume- which simply means one run out of things to consume the richer one becomes. One can only have so many luxury sports cars, designer bags or shoes or clothes. Soon they need to have a underground carpark to park their cars. They wonder what to do with their wealth. They have think about "investing". If you have $10,000 it can sit in the bank, but 1M-$1B? It's "does no good sitting in the bank". So they end up buying stocks and bonds...and are out-competing you for things you need - like private property (so house prices go up) or commercial property (so rent goes up, or leases for your small business goes up). They buy land, develop into into commercial property (think offices, shops, factories etc) or real estate (think townhouses, apartments or condominiums). These previously "rough" areas soon are gentrified and turned into "nice" areas, but you start to wonder why there are homeless people about.
And they out-compete with you for things your children need, like decent teachers in public schools, or affordable doctors you can access.
If the doctor can't pay her mortgage by doing her usual job- (s)he'll be tempted to move to something more lucrative- like injectables (think botox) or other aesthetic care (think breast augmentation vs breast cancer surgery). Sometimes she moves countries, because the entire health system in her country is so underfunded and over-worked....
/rant off
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