New Entry to Monitor Market - Signals Clarity

Signals

Signals

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Apr 5, 2011
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clarity.png


Hey guys!

I was never happy with the sound of inexpensive studio monitors available, so I designed some for myself, and due to demand I am now manufacturing and selling them.

You can get them here: http://www.signalsaudio.com (still workin on the site!)

If you use the coupon code "early" at checkout you will get an additional 25% off listed prices, for being an early adopter <3!

This is a pretty new start up and everything will be made to order at first, so it will probably take about two weeks for us to build the monitors and then whatever time on top of that it takes to ship, so you'll probably receive them in approx 3 weeks from ordering.

Most studio monitors available utilize porting (putting a hole in the enclosure to tune the speaker enclosure's resonance to a certain note) to extend low frequency response at the cost of the accuracy of the speaker. Porting creates extra group delay (the speaker is slower at reproducing certain frequencies, especially in low frequencies). It also creates a lot of harmonic overtones and mud in the mid range. Transient response and ringing after the transient are also common ailments of ported monitors.

Signals Audio Claritys are sealed speakers. They avoid these issues, and still have great low end extension due to the use of quality parts. They are passive speakers that require a separate amplifier.

Here's some images and an audio comparison test.

Audio test:

Toss these in your DAW and compare the audio of the original source track to the various monitors. The less change you hear between the source material and the monitor, the "better" the monitor (more accurate, transparent, will translate better, etc):

http://www.signalsaudio.com/Clarity_Speaker_Shootout_Comparison.zip

Measurements (mic 1 meter away, on axis, in between tweeter and woofer for all monitors).

yay.jpg


Legend:

HS8 - Yamaha HS8
HR624 - Mackie HR624 Mk 1
Spiral - Spiral Groove Studio One
NS10M - Yamaha NS10M
A7X - ADAM A7X
Clarity - Signals Audio Clarity

Amp for passive speakers (NS10, Spiral Groove, Clarity) - Dayton APA 150. Specs for these monitors would likely see slight improvements with utilization of higher quality amp.

spl_1.png


spl_half.png



spl_ns10_1.png


phase_1.png


phase_2.png


impulse_1.png


group_delay_1


Clarity (approx $600 per pair at the moment, will go up a bit later) vs Studio One Spiral Groove (approx $2000 per pair - and fantastic sounding, love 'em!):

spiral1.png


spiral2.png


spiral3.png


spiral4.png


spiral5.png


spiral6.png


Also if anyone has anything they would like to see that would persuade them to purchase a set, let me know, I'm just starting to create marketing materials now that the final production model is finished.

Cheers,

Alex
 
I'm actually in the market for some new speakers. I've used HS80's for ever but sold them a while back when I was moving. I've never used Passive speakers but if those charts are correct.. "IF" and with the right testimonials/feedback I would definitely be willing to buy a few pairs. Good work love the look to these.
 
Kaleb Formz said:
I'm actually in the market for some new speakers. I've used HS80's for ever but sold them a while back when I was moving. I've never used Passive speakers but if those charts are correct.. "IF" and with the right testimonials/feedback I would definitely be willing to buy a few pairs. Good work love the look to these.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the trick to it, I'm trying to figure out how to sell these things online without people hearing them, which takes some serious persuasion! That's why I've priced them so aggressively, I'm really trying to get as many sets out as I can so people can hear them and they'll start to sell themselves. $550 incl. amp (with "early" coupon code on checkout) + shipping for speakers that will perform equivalent (or superior in many cases) to monitors three or four times the price, and people are still skeptical to purchase. I think people might be less skeptical if I raised the price a bit (which I plan to later, basically selling at cost right now).

Yeah, you would have to trust me the charts are correct and undoctored, etc, which is tricky until the speakers build their own reputation.

I figure an uncut GoPro video of testing the speakers would be far too boring for the average customer, but maybe a good sales tool, haha!

Actually, you can listen to the speakers in the audio test in the original post. If you wear headphones (good ones like 702s or HD600s, etc), you can easily hear the Clarity is most similar to the original source material - as reflected by the specs in the measurements.

The charts and measurements I will likely redo one more time with the measurement a few degrees off axis, which would generally present the flattest response of the speakers, they might be slightly affected by beaming the way I measured them (straight on axis, as per the first picture), etc, but I don't think they'd be very far off. Plus it's not technically wrong to measure speakers this way, it's done often.

Planning to do a road trip to the States sometime to demonstrate the speakers to some name engineers and get some testimonials.

Passive and active speakers don't really sound too different in my opinion. I find passives often sound clearer, and the reason I think this occurs is because they often are hooked into higher quality amplifiers, or maybe just because they utilize less parts in general which could effect the resulting sound - No driver protection circuits, that kinda stuff, right in your audio path. However, if you show me a speaker and ask me if it's active or passive, I'll have no idea just from the sound of it alone. Probably a lot of confirmation bias going on. :)
 
Saw these a few weeks ago and I'm definitely intrigued. If shipping wasn't so much to the US, I'd have bought them already :(
 
Axonic Rot said:
$600 for passive monitors? At that price you have to expect them to be powered and also biamped with decent proprietary components.

Also:
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-da175-8-7-aluminum-cone-woofer--295-335

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs28f-4-1-1-8-silk-dome-tweeter--275-140

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-xo2w-2k-2-way-speaker-crossover-2000-hz--260-140

?
Click to expand...

Really man? List price on the speakers is $300 apiece. JUST the three components you listed come to $115. When you factor in Wire, Wood, packing material if used, paint, all the labor, design and marketing costs, do you REALLY think they could fit in a bi-amped setup and expect to ever make any money at that price? Methinks you're not quite sure how a small business works…..

I'm not sure what it costs for him to build the rest of the speaker but it doesn't seem like there's too much gouging going on. You could always build your own!

I could definitely use a decent pair of passive monitors to go along with my Adams. I'll be keeping an eye on them.
 
^Exactly... I mean... I don't think people realize how a large company works, either. I'm sure $5000 Adams cost the company less than 1/5 that price to build, but you don't see people complaining about paying that much for those. These are certainly priced appropriately, especially with the discount. I just wish that shipping to me wasn't ~$120 :(

Also, maybe I'm missing it somewhere... but where exactly does it say that these new Signals monitors are using Dayton woofers, tweeters and crossovers? I know he's using their power amp to power them... but that doesn't mean he's using their speakers?
 
Axonic Rot said:
$600 for passive monitors? At that price you have to expect them to be powered and also biamped with decent proprietary components.

Also:
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-da175-8-7-aluminum-cone-woofer--295-335

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs28f-4-1-1-8-silk-dome-tweeter--275-140

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-xo2w-2k-2-way-speaker-crossover-2000-hz--260-140

?
Click to expand...

I don't think the woofer listed is the exact same one being used in these monitors. The parts express woofer is an 8 ohm speaker, while the monitors are listed on the Signals website as 4 ohms.
 
MatrixClaw said:
I'm sure $5000 Adams cost the company less than 1/5 that price to build, but you don't see people complaining about paying that much for those.
Click to expand...

I don't know if 1/5 is fair considering the amount of R&D that ADAM has done in designing their own woofers and tweeters in addition to the box. I don't mean this to say Signals haven't put their own R&D in but assuming those were the parts listed it's different to ground-up design a speaker than it is to design a box to go around a woofer, tweeter, and crossover.
 
mva801 said:
Really man? List price on the speakers is $300 apiece. JUST the three components you listed come to $115. When you factor in Wire, Wood, packing material if used, paint, all the labor, design and marketing costs, do you REALLY think they could fit in a bi-amped setup and expect to ever make any money at that price? Methinks you're not quite sure how a small business works&#8230;..

I'm not sure what it costs for him to build the rest of the speaker but it doesn't seem like there's too much gouging going on. You could always build your own!
Click to expand...

yeah i found those parts after i started looking at dayton stuff on the parts express site haha as mentioned earlier, he's basically selling at cost price right now. if ihad the money i'd get a set, but unfortunately i do not :( also not sure what shipping to australia would be haha

edit: if they are the woofer/tweeter listed above (which im pretty sure they are) then they get really good reviews around the web, so it's not a bad thing at all. if alex has put the r&d into making them truely world class monitors that do everything he says they do, then he has a great product at a great price!
 
Axonic Rot said:
$600 for passive monitors? At that price you have to expect them to be powered and also biamped with decent proprietary components.

Also:
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-da175-8-7-aluminum-cone-woofer--295-335

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs28f-4-1-1-8-silk-dome-tweeter--275-140

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-xo2w-2k-2-way-speaker-crossover-2000-hz--260-140

?
Click to expand...

Hahaha, what.......

At $600, you expect them to be powered because a lot of cheaper monitors are? Or $600 is too much for passives?

The Squawk Box on their site is more interesting to me personally but I always like seeing smaller shops come up with speakers. Was a huge fan of Elemental Designs stuff before they got sold to somebody else.
 
JeffTD said:
I don't know if 1/5 is fair considering the amount of R&D that ADAM has done in designing their own woofers and tweeters in addition to the box. I don't mean this to say Signals haven't put their own R&D in but assuming those were the parts listed it's different to ground-up design a speaker than it is to design a box to go around a woofer, tweeter, and crossover.
Click to expand...

FWIW ADAM only makes their own tweeters. They use Eton for the woofers.
 
JeffTD said:
Ahh, okay - thanks! Do you happen to know if it's a bespoke thing or if they just use stock Eton designs?
Click to expand...

The A series are just stock Etons from what i have seen. I am not so sure about the S series as i have never opened a pair.
Though they do hand make their tweeters. :)

Even a company such as Barefoot uses oem speakers. Vifa for mids and scanspeak for the tweeter.
I would guess much of the work for Barefoots has gone into their cabinet development and programming the dsp which i believe is a Hypex module.


Anyway back on topic.
I do hope these signalsaudio monitors do well as it looks like he has put a lot of thought and work into the design and testing.
Also you should check out hypex amp modules when you get a chance. Great amps and i think actives could be an easier sell than passives. :)
 
Glad to see there is so much interest in the monitors!

Here's a couple more cool promo pics now that the backs are finished:

signals_clarity_back.jpg


signals_clarity_front.jpg


Also TaylorG did a quick testimony when he popped by my studio:

http://youtu.be/lIit23LTh9Q

I got the shipping box sizes in on the website for more accurate shipping cost prediction. As expected they are much lower than when it was estimating shipping cost by weight alone, which is great!

Oh yeah, obviously I don't have million dollar CNC machines to build my own speakers. I doubt many companies do.

I just created these speakers because I was tired of the low end monitoring situation being pretty bleak, and I wanted something decent. Figured I could help some other people out and make a buck or two at the same time!

If people will pay $600+ for 15 year old NS10s, the price I'm charging is pretty fair for monitors with far better performance/components. The price of the paint job on the Claritys alone is $70 per pair.

I could not put out an active monitor with any sort of desirable qualities for $600, however in the future I will be selling passive/powered/active high end monitors that will have serious price tags. At that point you could approach a speaker manufacture and have custom speakers (more likely a recoloring or slight modification of an already existing speaker) created specifically for your project.

I'm not trying to hide the fact I'm just a guy who makes killer speakers in between beers with his friend, hahaha.

Cheers,

Alex
 
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