hi-fi innovation
The Cyclops - technical details
The Cyclops is our maiden product. It is a mass-loaded tapered quarterwave pipe with a tuned frequency of 58 Hz. The loudspeaker utilises professional full-range loudspeaker drivers with specially vented neodymium magnet motors and Kevlar cones. Each driver is rated for 20W continuous (RMS) output. The drivers are arranged in a bi-polar configuration in order to alleviate the baffle step response of the forward firing drivers as well as to aid in ambience retrieval. The loudspeaker is damped with no less than five types of absorbent materials to optimise frequency response, damping and distortion reduction mechanisms.
Each loudspeaker is supplied with an integral concrete filled base/stand with provision for filling with gravel or lead shot to aid with damping loudspeaker vibrations and tightening the low frequency response. Each base is fitted with removable isolation spikes. The pipes are manufactured from a combination of real wood veneered MDF and an MDF/sapele mahogany sandwich for optimum performance and damping. The pipes connect to an included crossover/filter unit with standard separate bi-wire cables that plug into four sturdy three way gold plated binding posts housed on a removable connector plug fitted on the rear of each loudspeaker, just below the aft firing driver. Lead free silver bearing solder is used throughout the crossover/loudspeaker assembly.
The crossover/filter unit is of hybrid design: a passive notch filter for driver equalisation and forward/rear level/frequency distribution is combined with an adjustable active baffle step corrector circuit with an unique mosfet based design. Only 1% metal film resistors are used throughout the active circuitry and discontinued top notch polystyrene capacitors are used as filtering elements. Coupling capacitors are oversized polypropylene capacitors designed specifically for audio applications, arranged to allow the ground conduction path to run continuously from input to output whilst maintaining a direct coupled signal path from input to output. The passive circuit uses two types of low inductance resistors: audio grade wire wound resistors and ruthenium oxide cermet high frequency resistors. These minimise high frequency losses in the crossover. The filter capacitors on the notch filter are polycarbonate units known for low dissipation factors and a gentle response curve that gives an almost valve-like character to their sound. These capacitors have also been discontinued and are hard to come by. Connections are by means of silver plated Kynar clad wires in a tight twist to greatly reduce hum/high frequency noise pickup from the environment. Each circuit board is fully removable to allow for easy access and upgrades. Connectors on the inside of the unit are gold plated with tops painstakingly hand made from beech wood. Critical components (the Danish-manufactured air core inductors and the cermet resistors) are silicone damped to reduce microphonics. The single bipolar capacitor in the circuit is bypassed with a polypropylene unit to minimise inductive and memory effects.
The crossover/filter is housed in a hand-made beech frame with toughened 6mm grey glass top and bottom. The minimalist partridge wood face plate with an attractive rack-mount look displays two single hand made wooden volume knobs, one for each channel. This ensures the slightly retro industrial styling of the unit. The filter is powered by an external source in a similar styling with four times filtered dc and battery stability to ensure almost no hum gets introduced to the active circuitry. Gold plated connectors are used on the rear panel and a custom cable is supplied to connect to the amplifier output terminals.
Performance has to be heard to be appreciated.
The Cyclops is currently priced at ZAR11720.00 a pair. This price includes the pre-amp/filter.
For any information, please contact us
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