Motus + ScanSpeak = NatalieP Ultra... Black is back

[Evil Twin]

Possibly of interest to those looking for a high end solution at more of a midrange price (of course, everything is relative, including those adjectives...)


Components are in the lab and testing under way, after careful selection...

Motus UH165PW1 - the 165 refers to the cone diameter, not the frame diameter- actual frame size is approximately 18.5 cm.

Key characteristics:

• FEA optimized Underhung voice coil motor
• Dual shorting rings for flat impedance curve, low inductivity modulation distortion
• Aerodynamic frame design with minimal acoustic shadowing
• Pressed paper cone with minimal resonance at any frequency
• 89 dB Sensitivity for 2.83VRMS
• Fs = 33.8Hz
• Optimum Sealed Q of 0.707 with 0.48 cu ft, 1 cu ft for MTM (standard NatalieP)
• Optimum Vented QB3 alignment with 0.9 cu ft (approx 2 cu ft for NatalieP)

Tweeter is planned as the Scanspeak D2904/7100, well known to most of us here.




Excellent performance, and repairable...





Yes, I am certain the the Millenials will be saying that this is about 10 years late for a dual 7" MTM, but yet the configuration is not without merit, and drivers and other technologies take time to evolve....

This will be developed with a new generation of components and techniques, compared with the original classic. How that works out will be interesting to see... most interesting.

[wkhanna]

our darkest of the dark Master is hinting at revolutionary concept that is of great interest in my quadrant.
my years of experience with the Natalie Portman MTM has proven its merit.

one of a precision in imaging that when coupled with twin bass assist (two subs configured in stereo output, in my case) in a system with good resolution that stands proud against some of the best from both the Empire's or the Rebel's arsenal.

our Master's long absence is past, in his new, albiet conditional freedom, i foresee a revolution from within our stanchions.

black is not back....it never left

we salute you, oh darkest of the dark side!

[---k---]

I've not heard of Motus before, though admitedly I don't pay much attention to drivers above my price desire. Have they been around a while? What's the story behind this driver?

[Evil Twin]

An American manufacturer, they seem to only be readily available through everyone's favorite Canadian distributor... Meniscus carries the US165PW1, but none of the others.




Rumor has it that the line of three mid woofers and one tweeter was developed to spec for a moderately high end loudspeaker system, but came in too expensive for the planned resell price. The designs were transferred to another company which is marketing them and developing an updated tweeter. This is mere rumor...

it is very unusual to find drivers of such sophisticated design appear somewhat out of nowhere- they have been around several years, and still are available, but seem to fall into the "best kept secrets" category.

If measurements pan out relative to the manufacturer's claims, their might well be justification for a "Motus Ardent", as well as another dedicated system design or two in the Osiris series. There is clear potential... how or if it can be realized is another matter.

Motus Audio is the culmination of over 25 years of experience in the high end audio industry. The goal of every Motus driver design is linear frequency response, low distortion and superb tonality.

All Motus drivers are hand assembled using only the finest materials. Each material chosen for its sonic integrity after extensive evaluation.

Each Motus driver goes through a rigorous four stage quality control process to ensure that the driver in your loudspeaker represents the best Motus has to offer.

At Motus Audio, we know thru personal experience what matters to cutting edge speaker manufacturers and serious hobbyists. We are dedicated to applying this knowledge to all the products in our line.

[fbov]

"If measurements pan out..."

How true... especially the impedance curve. They look like a real 6 Ohm speaker. NatP's had a reputation for being hard to drive (no problems here), and the RS180 was more like 7 Ohms. Did your stay in Bespin give you any insight?

Have fun,
Frank, who had the uncontrollable urge to find a Redbox yesterday to rent The Force Awakens, and didn't know why until I told my son.

[Evil Twin]

The NatalieP is a not friendly to 8 ohm only HT receivers- this is unquestionable. On the other hand, it's no where near as difficult to drive, as say, an Avalon Indra, which is around 2 ohms in much of the mid bass. Nonetheless, you are correct to point out that dual 6 ohm drivers could become an issue, especially with out some extra care in the crossover design to optimize the system impedance.

As William Shakespeare is reputed to have said, "There is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip..." ...always a wise adage to keep in mind.

[fbov]

Not worried. An old Pioneer AVR, c. 2000, never complained, the current Onk 707 does just fine (on 8 Ohm setting) driving 4 NatPs, and a Modula MTM CC, and there's an XPA-5 under the kitchen table, waiting on a HT redo. These would be a nice upgrade, on paper, thus the interest in real-world results.

Have fun,
Frank

[Hdale85]

So these well be more than double the Nat P cost?

[Hdale85]

OK just looked up driver cost and guessing more like triple lol. I was thinking about an upgraded nat p for my next speaker but sadly this is likely out of range . Those miss are interesting though. Did anyone ever do an MTM with those Dayton Esoteric drivers?

[JonMarsh]

Did anyone ever do an MTM with those Dayton Esoteric drivers?

Been meaning to, have crossover issues worked out, but they just keep slipping on the priority list.... even the small Esoteric has the typical (for large voice coil mid woofers in my experience) funny dip in the 1500 Hz. region (HiVi, some Morels).

And yeah, it would be interesting to see just how much you get for the extra bucks- it's never a linear function, though sometimes there are clearly drives that are special.

A direct shoot out between the UH165 and the RS180 might be interesting.... throw in an Anarchy 7 and it would be even better!

[Hdale85]

Yes the anarchy is nice too and goes very low. I'm hoping in the next year to replace these Andrew Jones pioneer speakers with something nicer though.

[JonMarsh]

The Anarchy's look to be a question mark for high high one really wants to use them- although published curves don't show a big upper breakup mode, they do show distortion resonance amplification in the range between 1 and 2 kHz, unfortunately. Until I see my own data, hard to say what's possible. And I sure do wish I remember whether I had the 8 or 4 ohm versions- but they never published the T/S parameters for 4 ohm version, so it's likely the 8. We're leaving for a couple of days in the mountains with the Husky on Sunday, and doing all our Mothers's day stuff on Saturday, AND having dinner with my daughter, so it won't be an audio productive weekend.

[Face]

I've crossed them at 1200 and 1500 with 4th and 2nd order slopes respectively without any nastiness rising.

Their breakup is pretty benign.

[CraigJ]

We're leaving for a couple of days in the mountains with the Husky on Sunday, and doing all our Mothers's day stuff on Saturday, AND having dinner with my daughter, so it won't be an audio productive weekend.

The door is open, run (or walk)!