For my good Junkie friends! I am pulling this over from the other site.
Preamble
Most members on this forum know about Audible Physics. I won't go through the history of the company here, just my history with the product. This isn't a review to 'drum up business' for Rishi. I'm just trying to provide some information and impressions for anyone that is interested. If upon reading this review, a member is curious about pricing, etc. - you can send an email to audiblephysics1 at gmail dot com instead of posting 'How much are they?' in this thread.
Concerning cost – as Steve (Winno) mentioned in his review – some of the changes / improvements over the previous models included much more expensive parts, and the sources of these parts (Denmark and UK) may influence the cost. From what I hear when I listen to these drivers, the investment has certainly paid off.
My history with the brand
I have had a few drivers from Audible Physics, and I have heard many cars that utilize these drivers. I experienced many hours of listening pleasure with the XR3M’s, the RAM3A’s, and now the NZ3ALBe’s.
I bought my first set of Audible Physics XRs in late 2010 and installed them in my BMW. At the time, I was a devotee to the wideband/noneedfortweeters group. I ran that way for several months and was quite happy with the sound. I had a set of Morel MT23 tweeters in my sails from my previous set up. One day…..I hooked them up and discovered that I ‘needed’ tweeters. Regarding the midrange sound, I loved the XRs – a ton of beautiful sound from small, but tankish 3” drivers.
When I purchased my Subaru BRZ, I mounted the XRs in the factory dash locations firing against the glass. This set up worked well – again with the Morel tweeters in pillars. I developed a problem with one of the XRs (I believe a piece of debris fell between the phase plug and the cone due to the orientation of the driver – cone facing up), so I switched to another 3” driver in the car.
Later, I had the opportunity to utilize the RAM3A in desktop speakers that my Father-In-Law and I built. The design came roughly from Click this link to see the Zaph Page
The RAM with the AT was brilliant in this set up on my desk. At times I would place my B&W bookshelf (2-way 6.5” and tweeter on my desk, and I preferred the sound of the RAMs every time. I am using a powered sub – 10” Sunfire Dominator by Bob Carver.
The Speaker boxes have a simple crossover from PE in each box that provides a high pass at 300 hertz at a 12db slope. With the RAMs, I was using the AT ‘drivers’ that came with them to provide a bit of ‘air’.
I have the privilege to install the new NZ3ALBe 3” drivers in the speaker boxes on my desk.
I asked Rishi if I could give some impressions of the drivers. Forum member Steve (Winno) provided a very insightful review of the drivers here:
Click here for Steve's Review
Aesthetics and driver photos
These are very attractive drivers. I feel that I’m the type of consumer that Rishi has in mind when he is developing drivers. In my opinion, his designs combine a strong mix of aesthetic and performance. All of his designs are visually pleasing to me (XRs with the Rosewood / Ironwood phase plugs and alloy cone, phase plug in the Arians, cone materials of the RAMs, etc). From my perspective, the audible performance pleases my ears in the same way as the aesthetic pleases my eyes. For a consumer like me…….that is important – when I see the new driver, I’m hooked with my eyes…..and I want to experience with my ears. (please excuse the blurry pics - I didn't have time to break out the tripod).
RAM3A