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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Aries Cerat Contendo - the newest "fat" kid in the block....
Post Subject: Aries Cerat Symphonia, version 2020Posted by Romy the Cat on: 1/3/2020
Nine years ago, when I posted the initial post in this thread the Aries Cerat was a different company with different products.  As I understand in 2014 they changed a lot and today they have a speaker that I would like to talk a little: Aries Cerat Symphonia. Again, I never heard it, I do not recommend anybody to buy or not to buy it, I just want to observe and to comments about the directions where this horn making company went.  
 
https://ariesceratespana.com/pages/symphonia-horn-speakers/
   
Obviously, the marketing write up they presented at their site is pompous garbage to a great degree, all of the companies do it, and there is no need to blame them in it. Let try to read between the lines and to reconstruct what they were trying to do. 
 
The Tweeter. RAAL ribbon. To me it looks like standard with version. I would like to see in there more narrow ribbon. The reasons why they went for so wide ribbon is because they ether they did not want to pay for customization or because they put it on too low crossover point. They fact the they chose to load the ribbon into horns also saddest that they use low crossover point. I do not know where they cut the tweeter but I think it will be well under 10K. Generally I am not a huge fun of this configuration and I would rather to see a MD is full able to go to 10K.    
The MF channels. A 4” titanium cone compression driver. I understandable not a hug fan of titanium diaphragms. Still I do not know what the driver is. The multitap transformer before the driver is interesting but in DSET configuration kind of irrelevant. I would argue the validity of transformer before the MD driver.  Most of the people who use those speakers would drive them with SET amplification, so it will be two transformers in sequence? If you in so much need to attenuate the MF channel, you use a single amp and you do not want to use a voltage divider then why do not run MF from another tap of your output transformer of your amplifier? I do not get it. Another thing that I do not get. They use some of the La-horn profile philosophies and they are very proud that they “eliminated all possible diffractions”. To a degree it is a valid statement as Le Cléach profile indeed has less detractions. Still they did not run the proper La-horn curve and they at the very edge of the horn introduced very harsh border. It might make the hoe to look sexy but it is absolutely defeating the purpose of killing the diffractions. 
 
The mid bass. I have written tone about this type of the configurations: I very much hate yellow driver with back loaded horns. They all sound like sewer pipes and this one not exception look like.   I am not the person who make a concussion about sound by YouTube video but feel free to be my quest. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7lxYAaJ_oo&t=614s 
 
The garbage music they play at this video has one remarkable quality.  Any single note under 100Hs sounds like the very same generic note. Tis is not the YouTube or your computer garbage sound, it is how the choked back loaded horns sound. 
 
They claim the they have Bass Horn but it is not on the picture and the description is very general. My presumption is that they have no Bass Horn but wiling to build it on demand. The choosing of the tractrix flare of 3.3 meters is kind of peculiar but I do not think they know what they are writing as they did not build it yet.  
 
How what I do like in the new Aries Cerat. The time-alignment and constant group delay filters.  Just perfect. Only this should elevate the Aries Cerat over all competitors. The integration of the front-fairing yellow driver with horns is very interesting concept. Some of the yellow drivers properly used and properly drive and with a limited range can be incredibly interesting as they have transient characteristics like no tomorrow. I do not know HOW Aries Cerat did it but I find the direction is lucrative. The MF they mostly like use at 350Hz and the midbass under it. I would like to have a good yellow driver at let say from 700-800Hz to fairing up along with MF horn where yellow driver injects transient but horn with compression driver overrides the dynamics. Of course, to have this configuration you will the yellow driver and MF horn with a compression driver to be positioned one above the other, not the way how Aries Cerat did. Here is where all conversations about the advantage of the Le Cléach profile ends… Anyhow, this is the whole other subject….

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