除了自有品牌产品,欧博还将合作多年的美国Well Tempered的全系产品带到了本届展览会。 Well Tempered是全球知名的黑胶器材品牌,专注为黑胶爱好者设计不妥协的音响器材。将技术方案运用巧妙的想法呈现在产品上。
Well Tempered VersalexWell Tempered的创始人和首席设计师William Firebaugh出生在美国,今年已经83岁高龄。早年在军中负责仪器仪表的检修工作,退役后就成为了非常著名的DIY设计师. 30多年前,他的DIY作品一面世,就获得美国《发烧天书》的“金耳朵”奖。当大家见到首款在国内上市的Well Tempered Lab品牌的Amadeus时,大多都对其简单、轻薄的造型不屑一顾,但实际上William在这款唱机的机械振动方面却颇有心得,无论是从转盘轴承及稳定性、DC马达、唱臂和小到马达到转盘的传动线都设计得十分巧妙。
William一直都想将这款DIY作品找一个厂家合作,推向市场,但在过去的30年里,William的时间和金钱,基本上都花费在了打官司上面了。William曾经与美国、意大利和德国的很多家生产厂商合作过,最终都不欢而散,他们往往都是想借用他的技术而不是真正的去将他的设计完善成一个产品推广到市场。William只得放弃与他们的合作并不得不在很多国家如欧洲、美国等申请专利。2007年他从杂志上读到欧博是中国第一家生产LP唱机的公司后,便试探性地发了一封邮件,将他设计的实验品的图片及想法都写在了这封邮件里,希望中国能圆他的梦。收到他邮件的两个月后,令他惊奇的是我们已经将他的实验品完善成了商品,并且在中国为他申请了专利保护。William非常满意,顶住了来自西方代理商的压力和非议,他在西方杂志媒体采访时,特意强调,我要求欧博在这款产品上标注“中国北京,欧博音响制造”这几个字,我相信他们,我为有这行字感到自豪。
LTD唱臂LTD唱臂的出世,是在Well Tempered唱机在全世界受到高度赞誉后,很多用户希望在其他系统上使用那只神奇的“高尔夫”唱臂,由我们的刘总将William这个伟大的设计加以完善而得来的。William为了表示对刘总的敬意,原想用刘总的名字来命名这只唱臂,但考虑到中国人的姓名拼起来比较长,西方人不易读写,便简化成“LTD”(Liu tonearm design)意思为“刘设计的唱臂”。
TESLEX静电音箱如今由他主持设计的首款静电音箱将在广州进行全球首演。传统的静电音箱需要有辅助低音单元才能呈现比较好的低音效果,但Well Tempered推出的Teslex实现了不需低音单元的全音域设计,也无需另配功放,用户只需增加一台前级或使用可控音量的音源设备即可搭建起一套静电Hi-END系统。
关于静电音箱,William亲自发了封信给我们,在此转载。
我们做了简单翻译,以供大家参考:
首席设计师的话:
In 1988 I began to speculate about developing a full range electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL). At that time I had only a limited knowledge of the intricacies of ESL design and no knowledge of the deep problems that afflict all ESL designs, most importantly a full range design with no cross-over but with high level output and with robust bass output.
I was aware of the various magazine articles dealing with ESL’s and with the writings of Peter Walker in Wireless World magazine and with Ronald Wagners’s Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design and Construction and with several articles in The Audio Amateur Magazine. I more or less inhaled the information in these sources but was not moved to action.
Eventually in 1989, I made an ESL but the bass response and the output level was poor, extremely poor.
Nonetheless, as has been said “Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread” and I definitely qualified, making many ESL’s with poor results using dynamic drivers for the bass and these ESL’s suffered from the usual problems of arcing, hissing, diaphragm collapse and all the other usual ESL maladies.
I eventually came to understand that the bass quality I was seeking could not come from a dynamic driver. Then came a period of time where I was convinced that a single diaphragm was the answer to my goal of a full range ESL and I executed a design with a 15 inch wide diaphragm.
The sound quality of this design was pretty good but not good enough,there being a slightly raspy sound on some female vocals and, with a flashlight reflecting off the diaphragm, I traced that sound to the instability of the wide diaphragm.
I eventually concluded the design effort by optimising the Geometry of the diaphragm to control primary and secondary instabilities.
This final design has an wide range pink noise output exceeding 110db measured at 1 meter and indeed has a robust and satisfying bass response.
The final result of all the effort is The Well Tempered TESLEX. During the development I have made at least 300 sets of stereo frames and on each set of frames have made from 3 to 10 changes, probably more in many cases.
Using the trial and error method, I have made at least 1000 and perhaps 2000 configurations over a period of more than 20 years.
There is no resonance used to assist the overall bass response of the TESLEX. Instead, the equaliser for the bass response of the TESLEX is adjusted with a patented technique using a wide-band spectrum analyser looking at the acoustic output of the Loudspeaker.
I would like to mention 3 important factors involved in this development. First, Bill Wazlo’s Omnimic Audio Measurement System.
I could not have developed the TESLEX without this invaluable equipment. Bill, I salute you. Then, I must also salute my business partner, Frank Denson and his New Zealand team. Frank is the type of man who never gets lost or becomes discouraged but always has a clear picture of what to donext and always has a smile on his face. Frank, I salute you.
Lastly, but definitely not least, Mr Liu Shiu in Beijing and his always accommodating staff at Opera Audio without whom the TESLEX project would unlikely have become a reality. Liu, salute!
1988年我开始思考关于研发全音域静电音箱的问题。那时我对静电音箱错综复杂的设计知识非常有限,对于比较深入的问题我是一无所知,最重要的是全音域的设计是没有分频网络的,但仍要兼顾高频和强劲低频的输出。
我意识到有很多杂志都对静电音箱有相关的介绍,如Peter Walker在《Wireless World》杂志的文章、Ronald Wagners静电音箱的设计和结构、《The Audio Amateur》杂志上面的一些作者的文章,我或多或少的从中汲取到一些信息,但并没有付诸实践。
终于在1989年, 我制做了一个静电音箱但是低频和输出级别都很差,非常差。
然而,俗话说“智者裹足不前,愚者铤而走险”我绝对是这样的,制作了许多带有动态驱动器的低音扬声器都非常差的静电音箱,这些静电音箱都遇到了打火、嘶声噪音、振膜破裂和其它一些常见问题。
最后我终于明白我所找寻的高品质低音是不能使用动态驱动器来实现的。然后过了一段时间,我确信振膜才是关键,紧接我就着手设计了一个15英寸宽的振膜。
这种设计的声音不错但还不够好,在女声的部分有些刺耳,而且在振膜上有打火的情况出现,我都一一记录了下来。
最后我利用振膜的几何学去控制住了这些不稳定性的因素并完成了设计工作。
这个最终设计可以在1米的距离测量到超过110dB的宽波段粉红色信号,低频令人非常满意。
最终结果成就了Well Tempered TESLEX,在整个研发过程中我做了至少300套立体框架,每套都进行了3到10次变化,甚至更多。
在超过20年的时间里,错误的试验和方法我做了至少1000次或者可能是2000次。
整个TESLEX的低频并没有依靠共振来完成。相反,TESLEX低频的均衡器是通过用宽频光谱分析仪作为音箱的音场输出这一个专利技术来调整的。
我想提到开发中的3个重要因素。首先是Bill Wazlo Omnimic的音频测量系统。
离开它我不可能开发出TESLEX。Bill,我向你致敬。其次,我必须向我的商业合作伙伴Frank Denson和他的新西兰团队致敬。Frank Denson他从不气馁或沮丧,总是有一个明确目标并且脸上总挂着微笑。Frank,我向你致敬。
最后并不意味着不重要,北京欧博的刘士珲,没有他TELSEX就不会成为现实。刘,向你致敬!