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Tom Danley's Hyperion


PrestonTom

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It looks like a new item.

 

https://tomdanley.com/hyperion/

 

image.png.d77ddda5c961b20e1a1bcfcbdfcabf26.png

 

Specifications are incomplete and without pricing information. Since it appears to include amplification and DSP, I suspect it is not inexpensive. My guess would be that it could be quite expensive, given some of the company's other offerings. 

 

Two comments. This guy has a very good track record and the product should be taken seriously (in the past he has done some very innovative things). However, the specs shown almost look too good to be true, although we do not yet have all the information. In either case it is thought provoking. Although it is a not a Klipsch product, some of the DIY crowd may get some inspiration. 

 

Good luck, 

-Tom

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EDIT (18 Mar 2021) It's a 4-way that's 17.4 22.5 inches wide and 45 54.75 inches tall x 27.56 inches deep, weighing 195 pounds(!), and is an active loudspeaker that loses directivity at 400-500 390 Hz (the 8 inch "woofers").  Dual 15" subwoofers are built into the base to extend the frequency response down to (a claimed) 14 Hz.  It has a lot of amplifier power capability (400w to the tweeter and midrange, 750w to the woofers, and 1500w to the dual 15" subwoofers). 

 

Artboard-1-Hyperion-Rendering.png

 

Here is the original (draft) specification sheet:

 

Capture.GIF.f18102c311fd88d4357f2f9253cbc850.GIF

 

and then the current specification sheet with updated dimensions, etc. (as of 18 March 2021):

 

1219203174_HyperionSpecificationsScreenshot.GIF.333ec96de385f5ecd6a4735e791f4267.GIF

 

It clearly uses DSP and FIR filtering to achieve this kind of SPL and phase response:

 

Hyperion-FR-wt.png.4ff6566de7802b77d45e4125529618b7.png

 

It's not my cup of tea, but it is interesting.  I bet the price will reflect all of the above. 

 

I wouldn't call it a multiple entry horn (MEH) design, per se, but one that makes use of a MEH top end.  It has all the disadvantages of a direct radiating loudspeaker and few if any advantages that a full-range MEH has: efficiency and full-range controlled directivity.  The only thing it really has is flat phase and SPL response due to the extensive use of FIR filtering. 

 

Chris

 

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53 minutes ago, Chris A said:

It's a 4-way that's 17.4 inches wide and 45 inches tall, weighing 195 pounds(!), and is an active loudspeaker that loses directivity at 400-500 Hz (the 8 inch "woofers").  Dual 15" subwoofers are built into the base to extend the frequency response down to (a claimed) 14 Hz.  It has a lot of amplifier power capability (400w to the tweeter and midrange, 750w to the woofers, and 1500w to the dual 15" subwoofers). 

 

It clearly uses DSP and FIR filtering to achieve this kind of SPL and phase response:

 

Hyperion-FR-wt.png.4ff6566de7802b77d45e4125529618b7.png

 

It's not my cup of tea, but it is interesting.  I bet the price will reflect all of the above. 

 

I wouldn't call it a multiple entry horn (MEH) design, per se, but one that makes use of a MEH top end.  It has all the disadvantages of a direct radiating loudspeaker and few if any advantages that a full-range MEH has: efficiency and full-range controlled directivity.  The only thing it really has is flat phase and SPL response due to the extensive use of FIR filtering. 

 

Chris

 

wow would love to hear a pair of those. thanks for posting.

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Chris, I am confused (yes, it happens ....)

 

 The woofer, mid-range and tweeter are all in the "multiple entry horn" aren't they. It is only the dual sub-woofer that is direct radiating (and crossed below 45 Hz). Wouldn't this give some degree of dispersion control down to the nominal crossover cutoff of 45 Hz? Until we see the measures, I can only conjecture. However if it is in that ballpark, it could be a mind-blower. 

 

If one were interested in the DIY building of big & heavy  cabinets, choosing the drivers is probably the least problematic. It seems the headaches would be centered around 1) placement of the "slots" on the horn and 2) the back and forth of getting the crossover filters and general EQing of the system correct. Not that all the other steps are not important, but those two could chew up a good deal time and sawdust. 

 

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On 3/6/2021 at 7:43 PM, PrestonTom said:

The woofer, mid-range and tweeter are all in the "multiple entry horn" aren't they. It is only the dual sub-woofer that is direct radiating (and crossed below 45 Hz). Wouldn't this give some degree of dispersion control down to the nominal crossover cutoff of 45 Hz?

My comment on MEH was that I think the MEH portion of the loudspeaker is almost an afterthought, and one that can easily be replaced by a single 2" compression driver (with two diaphragms, perhaps), and reduce the cost and complexity quite substantially, and probably increase the performance in terms of avoiding higher order modes.  FIR filters can be employed to get the flat phase response that they are showing above. 

 

It's the off-axis polar response that I was referring to. Longer than 1/2 wavelength corresponding to the horn mouth size (about 15-16 inches horizontally and vertically), the horn loses directivity control, so placing the woofer ports in the MEH portion of the horn means that the 8" woofers run out the end of the horn below 400 Hz and illuminate everything in the nearfield.  They also require a lot of power (with resulting higher modulation distortion).  This is my observation.  I'm not a fan of this sort of thing.

 

The reason why Danley has done this is not for its acoustic performance, but rather because he's selling (like so many others) to those that listen with their eyes rather than their ears... :sad:  He's designed a loudspeaker that doesn't "walk the talk", so to speak.  It only pays lip service to the MEHs that he's been trumpeting for over 20 years. 

 

But he has broached the subject of FIR-filtering-achieved flat phase response and its effect on the listener.  Apparently, no one is paying attention on the web, but in-person listeners can hear the effect of the flat phase.  I think that the only other loudspeakers that have flat phase are certain DSP-corrected (i.e., use of FIR filtering to achieve flat phase and SPL response...truly neutral transfer function) studio monitors--the little ones that are often placed on top of sticks, and are in the extreme near field of the mixing and mastering listening positions.  This is what Danley has found and it doesn't require an MEH to achieve it, but it is significantly aided by full-range MEH designs as I've found empirically with my MEHs. 

 

Chris

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I agree.  However, I do have an allergy to hype...just like PWK:

 

Klipsch Lapel BS Button.jpg

 

Not that the button is warranted in this thread.  But it should be remembered that good film directors often make bad movies, book authors sometimes write bad books after writing very good ones, and some year models of automobiles are lemons, while other year models of the same make aren't.  (And again--not necessarily in this case.) 

 

But for me, this loudspeaker, while it may sound very good in listener trials, does seem to be more complicated than it needs to be.  It looks more like a "design by committee" in this instance to me, unlike some other loudspeakers by Mr. Danley. 

 

I do believe that the typical avoidance of loudspeakers being larger...and being wider than tall...is itself the issue that drives poorly conceived loudspeaker designs.  And I see this a lot.  It has ramifications in terms of how well the loudspeakers perform when the lights go out (i.e., the visual portion is first separated from its acoustical performance). 

 

Physics demands that if you are going to control directivity in the horizontal direction in order to satisfy human hearing requirements, and that good controlled directivity (CD) vs. frequency is something that can be correlated to people's blind listening preferences (...it is...), then making a loudspeaker that violates the basic physics or psychophysics is something that is based on marketing concerns taking a larger share of the customer's voice gathering than it should.  I suspect that's happened in this case (and in the case of the Danley Studio monitors).

 

Chris

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Well, in light of what's happened to the commercial PA and cinema marketplaces over the past year--maybe not so uncanny...?

 

Chris

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I don't know, maybe its me, but couldn't one build a 2'x2' MEH horn and set it on of a tapped horn and have something better, just not so "hifi" looking?  Not to crazy about the side mounted woofers myself. 
I would like to try that, if I can get a tapped horn that would put a 2'x2' horn on top and have the correct listening height.

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

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On 3/6/2021 at 9:28 PM, Fido said:

but will they have the PA look that most other Danley Speakers.

Ah, but the SOUND!! Got mine new in White Paint with Black Interior. Better with grills off for looks and better sound. The way your setup fits the decor is first class in my book!!

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54 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Ah, but the SOUND!! Got mine new in White Paint with Black Interior. Better with grills off for looks and better sound. The way your setup fits the decor is first class in my book!!

How much can I get a pair. For

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