My apologies Michelle, I wasn’t trying to slight the side-firing woofer design, because it’s certainly something we could end up doing down the road in future product. Also, I’m not trying to get caught in the weeds of low frequencies being directional and lower frequencies being non directional. Instruments that play low, like a kick drum, if you couldn’t see it, you can still identify where the sound is coming from like with most instruments that can play low. People’s definition of bass is like their definition of chocolate. How chocolatey do you like your chocolate?
This all comes down to the implementation of the design and reinforces the importance of the crossover. But, like with all speakers, driver material doesn’t matter till you mate it to a motor system. The size of the drivers don’t matter if the motor system is inadequate, the drivers don’t matter if you can’t control the uniformity from the crossover, and none of it matters if you put the drivers and crossover in a poor environment (the cabinet). It all has to work together, but at what price point or particular level of performance is the manufacturer trying to achieve? We have to determine target price points/levels and then execute our plan. It’s our vertical integration that gives us a major advantage over many of our competitors.
When we R&D new products, we still implement double blind listening tests and make our evaluations based on comparing our own products as well as against many of our competitors products.
When you can’t see any of the speakers, many Reviewers, Dealers, and so called “experts” have made some very interesting picks when they’ve visited our factory - many picking ours over significantly more expensive brands and models, but they don’t know until the perforated screen rises. The blind listening tests we do are simply the most fun and plays an integral part of our designs before our products come to market.
Depending on where you’re at Michelle, I hope you’re able to get out and experience many of the speakers people have suggested or what you’re most interested in seeing and hearing. If you’re interested in auditioning a pair of Persona’s and find a Dealer you’d like to visit, please let me know and I can help arrange an appointment if desired. Good luck with your search!
