Announced last month, the partnership between Atlantic Technology and Solus/Clements came to fruition at CEDIA EXPO in Atlanta, at least enough for the press to get a sneak preview of H-PAS (Hybrid Pressure Acceleration System). Atlantic Technology's Peter Tribeman and Philip Clements from Solus/Clements were on hand to explain the technology and then to demonstrate it using a prototype pair of Atlantic Technology loudspeakers. The speakers were a slim tower design, featuring just a pair of 4.5-inch woofers and a tweeter in an enclosure of around 1.4 cubic feet internally.
"There's no trickery going on here," said Tribeman. "No special crossovers or electronics. These are the same drivers we use in our LCR speakers and speaker bar, just in a new H-PAS cabinet." The duo then went on to demonstrate the system using a few select classical and jazz tracks that emphasize the lowest octaves. I have to say, the low bass coming out of those small cabinets was prodigious. Tribeman says they were getting usable bass down below 30 Hz (29 dB at up to 105 dB, so they say) and it certainly sounded like it. We're used to hearing bass like this out of large powered 12" subwoofers, but Tribeman and Clements assured us there were no subs: "what you see is what you get."
But what we got is probably not what you will get, as this was a proof of concept design. When this technology debuts in a production speaker model, it will most likely use larger bass drivers, specifically 5.25" woofers, in a slightly larger cabinet. The larger drivers and cabinet may eke out an additional few Hz in low bass extension, but it will also increase the efficiency of the system, allowing it to offer even greater dynamic range. And that's the point, according to Peter, "Anyone can do 30 Hz, but can they do it in a small passive cabinet down only about 3 dB with no more than 3% distortion at 105 decibels?"
The H-PAS technology is something that Tribeman and Clements are hoping to license to other speaker manufacturers for use in everything from small powered computer speakers to speaker bars to high-end tower designs and yes, even subwoofers. "There are only so many speakers that we (Atlantic) can make and sell in a year, and we'd like to see the public benefit from this technology so we're very interested in working with other manufacturers who may want to take advantage of this breakthrough technology."
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