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The Athena features an acoustically advanced chassis design.
The added complexity of both the internal and external dimensions were required to produce an open, spacious acoustic soundstage with exceptionally low resonance distortion.
Inside, a powerful Digital Signal Processing engine is used to provide steep 16th order, 96db per octave crossover slopes, and critically, Phase Corrected drivers.
Six industry leading low distortion amplifiers power each driver in the system independently. Producing a combined 1,500 watt total system power.
Digital
Digital inputs cancel the need for digital to analogue conversion at the source. The source signal stays in the digital domain all the way to the amplifiers.
Additionally, the crossover is done in the digital domain. This allows for it at the line level, with no amplified signal being sent though the crossover to be distorted. This also allows for critical Phase Linear, Time Aligned, optimized amplifier to driver matching. As well as an extremely finely tuned, digitally EQ'ed frequency response. Crossover slopes are steeper than any traditional analogue crossovers can attempt. 16th order, 96db per octave slopes mean each driver is free from the demands of reproducing notes beyond the extremes of the range they were designed to reproduce, dramatically reducing distortion. With Zero Phase crossover alignment, phase and group delay distortion are eliminated to provide a coherent soundstage with exceptional imaging. This also means that the crossover itself leaves an exceedingly small footprint on the frequency range compared to traditional crossovers.
Studio quality Texas Instruments SRC4392 sample rate converters upsample the digital audio input for pristine resolution and professional jitter reduction.
Power
State of the art class D amplifiers achieve new levels of efficiency and quiescent "blackness". Independent amplifiers for each driver eliminate the power loss and energy storage that degrades audio quality with passive crossovers. Each amplifier exerts maximum control over its corresponding driver optimizing the electrical damping and eliminating tonal overhang.
Switched Mode power supplies provide instantaneous, on-demand power without the rectifier current pulse interference that plagues conventional toroidal and laminated transformer supplies. Operating at 100,000's of Hz, these supplies can respond to the amplifiers power needs much faster than a traditional 50 or 60Hz supply. This results in stable voltage rails that are free of sag and ripple which can end up modulating the desired audio signal. Their exceptional efficiency combined with power factor correction circuitry minimize losses both in the utility distribution grid, and within the home for an environmentally sound solution.
On the front end, medical grade power conditioning filters the mains and provides clean power to the entire system.
Impedance matched S/PDIF and AES/EBU inputs utilize high frequency pulse transformers frequency compensated with zobel networks to practically eliminate reflections, for the ultimate in digital audio input signal integrity.
High performance sample rate converter from Texas Instruments upconverts the incoming digital audio data stream to over 130M samples / second and 24 bit resolution for the highest precision jitter elimination. The digital signal is converted to analog just before the final amplifier stage by the highly regarded and sonically acclaimed Wolfson WM8743 digital-to-analog converter. This 24 bit converter provides exceptional linearity and dynamic range and generates a pristine signal to each driver amplifier.
Craftmanship
CNC machined cabinets give millimeter tight tolerances for exceptional precision and fit resulting in a strong, rigid enclosure that resists flex and resonance. The elimination of parallel surfaces, and the design of an innovative standing wave break up technology, diffuses the back wave energy of the drivers to calm the time immediately after transients and effectively eliminate internal resonance. A thin profile (acoustic footprint), and 3/4 rounded edges maximize the omnidirectional properties of the drivers while minimizing diffraction to give the widest sweet spot and clearest acoustic image.
Midrange and tweeter are positioned high, at seated ear level, to maximize the time delay of the first floor bounce reflection which enhances sound stage image and resolution. The woofer is positioned close to the floor to reduce the number of resonant room modes that are stimulated, and smoothly integrate the bass octaves.
Three-way Sealed Box Floorstanding Loudspeaker
3/4" silk done tweeter
5" cone midrange
10" woofer
Frequency Response: 25Hz-24kHz ±3db
Digital Inputs: 2x Optical SPDIF, Coaxial SPDIF, and Digital AES/EBU
Power Output: 750 Watts Per Channel Integrated
Analogue Devices SHARC DSP Processing Engine
Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter supports resolutions up to 24/192
16th Order, 96db/octave Digital Crossover
$23,500
http://piraeusaudio.com/
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