The GoldenEar Voice
If an audio product were perfect, it would have no sound of its own. It would be invisible. It would have no “voice.” In the real world, DACs, amplifiers, turntables, and especially the transducers — microphones, phono cartridges, and loudspeakers — all have distinct sonic characters. A competently finessed “voice” comes from consciously managing the sonic effect of every design decision and every part, and then coordinating the combined effect of all those many little imperfections into a whole, creating a voice with as little overt character as possible. At least, that’s the objective for all GoldenEar loudspeakers.
Speaker designers have different intentions as they set about fine-tuning a speaker. Recording studio monitors are often voiced to over-illuminate and intentionally provoke the engineer’s awareness of potential recording flaws, while some other speakers are voiced to grab your attention during the strange, emotional experience of listening while standing in a store.The real difference between lesser and greater products is in their designers’ intentions, and in their ability to manage inevitable imperfections. Competent voicing doesn’t itself reduce the quantity of the imperfections, but rather it coordinates them into an extremely low-level, ignorable background with no features that shout for attention. That’s the goal shared by all GoldenEar speakers.
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High-Velocity Folded Ribbon AMT Tweeter
Rather than pushing air like a traditional tweeter, an AMT tweeter propagates soundwaves and moves the air by squeezing it with its accordion-like pleated diaphragm. Its efficiency, low mass, and large radiating area ensure lower distortion than other tweeter designs in its price range. These attributes contribute greatly to GoldenEar’s effortless sound and 3D imaging. Our most sophisticated speakers use a “Reference” version of this tweeter with a larger magnet structure for greater efficiency, control, and
lower distortion.
Quadratic Bass Drivers
With their relatively long, narrow shape, these bass drivers are designed to maximize the cone surface area of GoldenEar’s slim and attractive enclosures, which diminish unwanted signal reflections, smearing, and cabinet resonances. When coupled to the built-in amplification used in our powered floorstanders, these Long-Throw drivers produce powerful but nuanced bass. This highly efficient amp-driver combination also allows even modest audio/video receivers to achieve performance far beyond their rated power output.
High-Definition Cast-Basket/MVPP Midrange/Bass Drivers
For this crucial frequency range, nearly all GoldenEar speakers employ open but ultra-rigid cast-basket bass/midrange drivers, often in a D’Appolito array. A Multi-Vaned Phase Plug (MVPP) creates a single radiating surface for a more linear or even response. This technology contributes greatly to the uncolored sound that is so essential to GoldenEar’s voice.
Quadratic Planar Bass Radiators
Passive radiators are a more sophisticated and costlier alternative to ported designs. Our approach increases the volume of air the bass drivers “see” in the cabinet while greatly minimizing any negative effects and/or stresses within the speaker cabinet itself. Further, when ported woofers are subjected to demanding home-theater material, they can produce an unpleasant “chuffing” sound. This can’t happen with a passive radiator — there’s no pipe to whistle through. With GoldenEar’s Quadratic Planar Bass Radiator technology, the result is bigger, more muscular bass with fewer artifacts and more nuance.
Tested by Ear and in our Anechoic Chamber
Every GoldenEar speaker is thoroughly tested both by ear and with our own anechoic chamber modeled after the one found in the world-renowned Nation Research Council in Canada. This allows us to accurately and comprehensively assess optimal driver, cabinet, and crossover specifications for each of our components and finished speakers. Today, there are many means of measuring speaker drivers and completed speakers via computers and analyzers. These test devices strive to “simulate” anechoic response or conditions. Though these tests may save considerable expense and space, there is no adequate substitute for a true anechoic room — the only verifiably controlled and consistent means of testing and optimizing loudspeakers. GoldenEar is one of the few fortunate loudspeaker manufacturers to have an anechoic chamber of its own.
