Loudspeakers

With loudspeaker efficiency – power in to acoustic power out – being a mere 1 per cent, most amplifiers are also doing a fine job of heating up drive unit voice coils and the surrounding magnets, none of which is good news for performance. One way to minimise non-linear distortion and power compression in a speaker drive unit is to incorporate it into an active system. A DSP-equipped active speaker brings the added protection of mapping the maximum excursion and power-handling of each drive unit to prevent any excessive signal condition from arising and/or passing through in the first place. With none of these luxuries available to a 'legacy' passive speaker, brands like Triangle must look to purely mechanical/material means of managing driver performance, particularly in respect of its ability to dissipate waste power.

All drivers in the Magellan Cello, for example, are equipped with a 'heat transmission ring' that thermally couples the magnet polepiece and yoke to the diecast alloy rear section of the basket [see inset picture]. This is the basis of its LHS2 system and why Triangle has the confidence to rate the Magellan Cello's power handling capacity at up to 300W. PM