Siltech Pantheon XXV Limited-edition Reference Speaker

[Κώστας Φ.]

Career audiophiles with deep pockets know about Siltech. Fewer will know that Siltech has long since assembled a very exotic and expensive cache of measurement hardware that continues to guide their ongoing research. The latest measurement-driven exploit by Edwin van der Kley and team is the forthcoming Pantheon XXV limited-edition reference speaker which celebrates the company's 25th anniversary.

On first glance, the visible ingredients, while top shelf and heavily customized, don't seem completely unusual: multi-faceted and movable ESL tweeter panel; 7" dynamic midrange in discrete enclosure; isobarically loaded 16" woofers in separate bass enclosure. What is unusual are the stout claims for uncommonly room-invariant behavior. Anyone considering the presence of twin 16-inchers per side might swallow hard.

...

While the public launch of Siltech's Pantheon XXV in Holland won't commence until September 18th when 50 members of the audio industry are invited to witness the presentation, the promise that ultra-sophisticated computer simulation might have advanced the art of loudspeaker design in how endowed bass systems interact with the listening environment is exciting even prematurely ...

Περισσότερα: 6moons.com

 

[argi]

Απάντηση: Siltech Pantheon XXV Limited-edition Reference Speaker

ησε πρωστηχως:cool_4:

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Απάντηση: Siltech Pantheon XXV Limited-edition Reference Speaker

:mrgreen:

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Απάντηση: Siltech Pantheon XXV Limited-edition Reference Speaker

Παρουσιάστηκε και επίσημα το Pantheon της Siltech το οποίο θα μπορέσουν να το αποκτήσουν μόλις 39 τυχεροί audiophiles (sic).
Σύμφωνα με τον κατασκευαστή, ο στόχος τους ήταν να δημιουργήσουν ένα ηχείο με τα παρακάτω χαρακτηριστικά:

...room-invariant bass response; a nearly resistive load (4/5-ohm impedance remains within +/- half an ohm over the entire bandwidth); a phase-correct network (a 10-part acoustic 4th-order); minimal distortion; very high damping (bass Q at 0.38, midrange Q at 0.5); extreme SPL potential of 120dB; controlled directivity; and benign 90dB sensitivity.

Σίγουρα φαίνεται ενδιαφέρον.

Αρκετά με το οφθαλμόλουτρο!
Περισσότερες πληροφορίες για το ηχείο και κάποιες πρώτες ακουστικές εντυπώσεις (καθώς και φωτογραφίες απο τους χώρους τις Siltech) θα βρείτε εδώ: 6moons.com

Στην παρουσίαση ήταν και ο John Atkinson του Stereophile οπότε το πιθανότερο είναι να διαβάσουμε κάποια στιγμή και τις δικές του εντυπώσεις.

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Απάντηση: Siltech Pantheon XXV Limited-edition Reference Speaker

Και η αναφορά του Atkinson...

The invitation looked intriguing: "We are happy to welcome you to The Netherlands in September for the offical introduction of the Siltech Pantheon Loudspeaker." Siltech introducing a loudspeaker? I was well familiar with the Dutch company, celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, as a cable manufacturer. Indeed, some of the first high-end cables I had found to sound better than what I had been used to were Siltechs, back in the mid-1980s. Paul Bolin had been impressed by his auditioning of more recent G5 models in 2004. And Siltech's founder, Edwin van der Kley, is married to the irrepressible Gabi van der Kley, principal of Crystal Cable with whom I had had a rather intense breakfast meeting with during last May's Home Entertainment 2007. (All conversations with Gabi are intense.) But loudspeakers?



I was planning on visiting the UK in late September to attend to some family matters, so it was hardly "a bridge too far" to tack a day on to that trip to visit Siltech in Arnhem, Holland.

There, in the restaurant associated with Arnhem's historic Roosendael Castle, Edwin unveiled the Pantheon to an assembly of journalists, dealers, and distributors. The Pantheon is intended to be the flagship of a range of speakers, and will cost upward of $120,000/pair in the US. Weighing 310 lbs and standing 63" tall, the speaker combines a pair of isobarik-arranged 16" Audio Technology woofers in a large, reflex-loaded bass bin with a 7" AT midrange unit in a separate enclosure, and a curved, 19" x 5" electrostatic tweeter. Internal wiring is, of course, all Siltech G7 silver-gold alloy, and the fourth-order crossover features 5.5 lb air-core inductors and high-quality capacitors.

The woofer tuning is unusual, in that the design goal for the system Q was very low, 0.5 with the port open, 0.38 with it closed. This overdamped alignment, optimized with extensive computer modeling of the speaker's interaction with the room acoustics, is essential, Edwin van der Kley feels, due it its tuning not being adversely affected by room resonant modes. Even with this low Q, the Pantheon's bass extension is said to be a low 18Hz, –3dB. The speaker's overall directivity is said to be carefully controlled. All the design work was perfomred using a set of analytic programs from Comsol in Sweden.

The very low-mass, high-sensitivity tweeter has a diaphragm just 0.03mm in thickness and is specified as having useful HF extension to 39kHz. It is sourced from Cadence in Pune, India, the high-end division of one of the sub-continent's largest speaker manufacturers, and it emerged in conversation with the van der Kleys and Cadence's managing director, Ajay Shirke, that the Indian company has taken a partnership interest in Siltech. Certainly, Edwin (right in my photo) looks pleased with the turn of events, while Stereophile contributor and erstwhile Hi-Fi News editor Steve Harris (center) and current Hi Fi News editor Paul Miller (left) examine the Pantheon close-up.



Considering its bulk, the Pantheon looks extremely elegant, thanks to the styling, the result of the work of Traditional Arts Ltd, a London-based associate of the Prince of Wales Charity Foundation. The lustrous, hand-finished piano-black lacquer is complemented with either aluminum or gold-plated metal parts, and is finished off with a trim of bull-hide leather from Hulshof Royal Dutch Tanneries.



But what of the sound? Siltech had set up the speakers in the very large room at the Roosendael restaurant with a full dCS Scarlatti digital front-end and Pass Labs X-1 preamp and X-250.5 power amplifiers. The room was hardly suitable for critical listening, but the Pantheons played loudly without strain. While lateral dispersion seemed excellent for a design with an electrostatic tweeter, it became apparent that there was a sweet spot in the vertical listening window. On that axis the integration between the midrange unit and the electrostatic tweeter was seamless. Acoustic objects hung in the air between and behind the speakers and there was no sense of anything within the soundstage being associated with the physical loudspeakers. And the bass was to die for, with a superb combination of the extension and definition.

I understand that Siltech's Pantheon will be making its US debut at January's Consumer Electronics Show in a room at the Venetian, driven by Krell amplification. That's a room I will be sure to visit on the first day of the Show!

stereophile.com

 

[argi]

πιο πολυ μου αρεσει το φυτο στην πρωτη φωτο και οι μπορνες:happy_4:

 

[Μιχαλης Σπερτος]

Εγω θα γουσταριζα το γιγαντιαιο ψυγειο λαδιου που εχει στην κορυφη, να το βαζα στο μηχανακι.
Επισης σατανικη επιννοηση ειναι η καβαντζα για τα τιμαλφη στην πισω μερια της καμπινας του Midrange.
Πλακα πλακα ειναι θηριωδες κατασκευασμα.

 

[argi]

ναι μονο μην σου παρουν και το ηχειο μαζι
η ερθουν να κλεψουν μονο το ηχειο

 

[g.kar]

Μάπα θα είναι. Χάθηκε ο κόσμος να το κάνουν μονόδρομο ;

 

[Μιχαλης Σπερτος]

Μάπα θα είναι. Χάθηκε ο κόσμος να το κάνουν μονόδρομο ;

ΠροβοΚρατορα :happy_9: