ACOUSTIC ACTIVE

摘要

Whereas the role of a musical instrument is to amplify and add characteristic timbres to the resonant modes of, usually, vibrating strings or columns of air, that of a hi-fi loudspeaker is to be inert, adding no character of its own to the sound. That, at least, is the classic view - but it's one challenged by Brodmann Acoustics, whose speakers incorporate features designed to add resonance to the reproduced sound. The philosophy is called 'Acoustic Active', although its originator - Austrian Hans Deutsch, who has been developing speakers along these lines since 1970 -makes clear that actually there is nothing active about it. 'Brodmann loudspeakers are instruments in themselves. Of course they don't employ active resonators with instrument-specific sounds, as musical instruments do, but instead they use passive resonators, creating a neutral sound. Without resonances, there cannot be lifelike sound.' Most will respond: with resonances, there cannot be accurate sound.