Why Aren't More Speaker Designers Building Augmented Widebanders?
https://hometheaterreview.com/bache-audio-metro-001-floorstanding-speaker-reviewed/ The review is of the standard pair. Mine have upgraded cabinets (3/4" bamboo instead of mdf, and premium crossover parts including Audyn True Copper Max capacitors). |
Here is a paragraph excerpted from Laurence Borden's July 2014 review of
the earlier Bache 001 for Dagago. I think it gets to the heart of the
augmented widebander advantage: "In a typical 3-way speaker, the crossover point between the midrange and tweeter is typically between 1 and 2 kHz, which is smack-dab in the region to which our ear is most sensitive. No matter how well designed a crossover might be, the tweeter and midrange drivers invariably differ in their dispersion characteristics, transient response, and distortion characteristics. Making matters worse, the crossover often introduces phase shifts. Although these differences are often not recognized per se (except in especially poor implementations), they become apparent when they are absent, as they are in a speaker based on a wideband driver. As implemented in the Bache Audio speakers, the Tangband covers the range from about 100 Hz to about 10,000, or almost seven octaves. Not surprisingly, they are superbly coherent. As a result, music has a wholeness — or oneness, if you prefer — that makes it seem more lifelike. One has a sense of being more relaxed while listening, a trait I find very desirable in a speaker. Not surprisingly, instruments that span many octaves — like the piano — are especially well served, yet all instruments benefit". Here's the link to the full review: https://www.dagogo.com/bache-audio-001-loudspeaker-review |
My Bache Audio Metro 001’s are now substantially broken in, and my enthusiasm for them continues to grow. The imaging and sound staging now surpasses what I enjoyed with the Merlin VSM’s, and the midrange, which has opened up since I took delivery of the speakers, is even more clear, tonally dense, and articulate than when I started playing them. While the VSM’s BAM produced bass response down to 35hz, the bass from the Metro-001’s eight inch woofer goes lower, is more tactile, and can be felt as well as heard. The Heil air motion transformer, used above 10,000 hz gives up little if anything to the Esotar in the VSM. I am not qualified to debate the technicalities of speaker design, but I have 40+ years of high end audiophile experience and fairly educated ears. I used the word "coherence" at the start of this thread but perhaps that term is inadequate to describe what I am hearing. To my ears the Metro-001s sound more relaxed, natural, and "all of a piece" than any non-wideband speaker I have heard, including every Thiel loudspeaker I have heard, and I have heard many of the models. |
Greg Belman of Bache Audio has perfected the use of wide band drivers
(covering most of the frequency range) augmented by a woofer and (super)
tweeter - no negatives that I can hear with any of his models. My
upgraded Metro 001's are extraordinary - 4" Tang Band bamboo wide band
driver covering 500hz - 9,000 hz is superb, as is the legendary, out of
production Japanese version of the Fostex FT92-EX2 tweeter. About seven months ago Greg Belman emailed me to say that he had figured out a crossover upgrade that would improve the sound. A couple of months ago he emailed me to say that he had tested an Eton woofer in the Metro 001 as an upgrade of the Tang Band unit currently in my speakers. The Eton produced both deeper and tighter bass but required enlarging the port. I asked if he could replace the air motion transformer tweeter with the Fostex FT96-EX2 he has used in more expensive models, and also rewire the speakers with Stage III Concepts (tweeter) and Dueland tinned copper (wideband driver and woofer). Several weeks ago I finally drove up to Brooklyn to take him the speakers. When I arrived I discovered that he had actually built and tested a prototype with the Eton and Fostex drivers that I could listen to and compare with my current speakers. Needless to say upgrading those two drivers made a significant improvement. Still breaking in but initial listening suggests significant improvements in sound quality. With the Eton woofers bass is subjectively deeper, more forceful, and more articulate. I was told by the designer that the Fostex FT96-EX2 tweeters, which extend to 33hz, would expand soundstage width and depth, and that is what I am hearing. Timbre is more realistic across all frequencies (particularly noticeable with piano), and images are more naturally fleshed out with no spotlighting. Every piece of music I've played has sounded more natural than I remembered. |
