Newport 2012: Audio Artistry and Hsu

Psst! Hey! Hey you! Wanna see something totally sick?

Well, here it is, you rubbernecker! Check out the Audio Artistry CBT36 — this $6,500 speaker has more drivers than all of Mitt Romney’s millionaire NASCAR owner buddies combined, and includes a Behringer unit to use as an external crossover.

This room had some crazy acoustics — and with this speaker design, I was able to stand up, move around, sit, squat, lunge, do handstands, suspend myself feet-first from the ceiling, and have the sound stage be not only remain stable but be crazy-clear, detailed and extended.

Okay, so, no, I wasn’t actually swinging like a bat while I was in this room. But, interesting fact, the drivers do gradually attenuate the farther up the array you go, so you are able to move all over the place and have the system sound remain pretty much the same wherever you happen to stand. That said, there is a true sweet spot and it’s pretty narrowly defined (this is true with any line-array) — sit there, and they system’s imaging goes pinpoint. Spooky-good imaging.

Best part of the demo? When they started up a Stearman biplane in the room. Yeah. Like 8′ from my face. How those pilots didn’t go instantly deaf is completely beyond me. All I have to say is that with that big Hsu subwoofer, we did some extremely unfriendly things to our neighbors. And by “neighbors”, I mean the airport that was down the street — and everyone in between. Brain? Instant mush.  Holy Sweet Mother Of God was that loud. I think the concrete floors actually flexed. Of course, that may have been the jelly in my eyeballs that was compressing.

InSANE. I am totally getting this CD to use as a demo for the next show.









2 Comments

  1. I am assuming that the “Insane” comment is a compliment? It sounds like you were impressed with the idea of having a sound stage that encompassed the whole room

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