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The rear of the enclosure is the final piece of the midrange loading. While acoustic output is dealt with through vibration cancellation, the air pressure within the enclosure must be extremely low allowing the midrange free range of movement. A series of vent holes run down the back panel, each getting progressively larger in diameter as they move away from the midrange. The use of flow analysis resulted in an even and equal pressure release over a wide area broadband in nature. In this way the speed of “open air” designs can be realized without their negative room loading properties.
Why do the cabinets need to be this massive for just a “simple” two way design? In a way loudspeakers can be viewed as the mirror image of the turntable. Each involves the transition between mechanical and electrical energy. The big breakthrough in turntables came with the realization of the importance of direct-coupling and the preservation of energy throughout the entire process. Analog addicts can attest to the benefit of mass. Larger high mass designs simply possess more weight and size to their presentations. Mass adds stability to the conversion process.
The drivers, crossovers, and the way they interface are further areas of research unique to the Ceramic Reference project. Research focused on eliminating one of the most sonically harmful elements of electronics - traditional wire and the way you terminate it, namely the solder joint. Each signal path in the Ceramic Reference has no more than two solder joints giving new meaning to getting the lead out. Many other designs show with pride their huge pc boards filled with components that correct for every problem their drivers and enclosures possess. We designed drivers and enclosures that need no such correction. Our crossovers act as - crossovers! Period. Each signal path employs but a single element.

Matching driver sensitivities, however, requires the use of resistors. Traditional resistors use fine gauge high resistance wire that no audiophile would ever accept for use in their system. Resistors, like solder joints, just plain sound bad. So how do you match levels in drivers, limit solder joints and limit the number of components the signal must go through? The answer is the Composite Liquid Ceramic cables developed by Cerious Technologies. Why solder a resistor in line to the wire that goes to each driver, when the resistance can be designed into the cables? Each “cable” used in the Ceramic Reference is a custom designed composite specific to the task of transmitting the exact signal needed specifically for that purpose. The tweeter needs exactly 4.4 Ohms of series resistance to match the midrange. It’s in the cable. Unlike traditional resistors that have power limits and can fail, the Composite Liquid Ceramic cables will glow red and melt their pure Teflon jackets at 2000 degrees before they will current limit or fail!

The other inherent aspect of matching dynamic drivers is in the arena of time domain. The acoustic centers must be matched on the same plane if the loudspeaker is to be time coherent. For this reason the cabinet slopes back 10 degrees to get the acoustic centers “close”. The unusual hand turned mounting rings serve two functions. The first is to get the drivers out away from the baffle to aid in the goal of “free space” mounting. This will aid in imaging. The second function is the fine tuning of the time domain with the thickness of the rings getting the interface “spot on”. Each Ceramic Reference is individually pulse tested to verify its integrity in the time domain. This enables the system to image like a mini-monitor with the impact and image size of larger systems.
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