When we set out to design our "SA" series component we knew it had to be something special; something to uphold the reputation of the SA series subwoofer line. The SA component set starts out with its custom designed midrange driver. The mid features a high quality cast aluminum basket as its starting point to ensure there are no frame resonances to muddy the sound.
The cone is a carefully selected blend of paper and wool fibers designed to damp any unwanted resonances. The dust cap is aluminum and its size, shape, and material were all chosen to create the type of sound we were looking for. The surround is a very compliant rubber that helps to tame any remaining edge resonances within the cone. With any midrange the cone, surround, and dust cap are CRITICAL to the sound. When designing the SA set we had little concern for fancy cosmetics or other "audio jewelry" -- we only wanted the smoothest sound possible.
The motor was FEA optimized in-house to increase linear excursion and features a full 6mm one-way linear excursion thanks to a carefully designed motor and extended pole piece. The v.2 SA component adds a large magnet ID faraday ring as well to keep inductive distortion to a minimum. We also thoroughly considered thermal performance in the design with the SA mid featuring a vented magnetic gap via channels in the back plate, vented voice coil collar, and a high-velocity pole vent. The 100-watt per side power rating on the SA mid is derived from a full 8-hour test on pink noise (full bandwidth down to 20 Hz) -- so when crossed over on the bottom-end this figure ends up being VERY conservative.
The SA series tweeter had to match the smooth sound of the midrange so we went with a silk dome. We tested numerous versions, tweaked the gap, dome material, tested various lenses, various chamber damping materials, so on and so forth until arriving at the final design. As the response graph is proof of the result is an incredibly smooth sounding tweeter.
The crossover is also relatively simple looking at first glance but it does the job perfectly. It is a 24 dB network centered at 3800 Hz with high quality air core inductors and Mylar capacitors. The crossover supports adjusting the tweeter from -3dB, to 0dB, to +3dB to ensure you can get the level of output you desire. Our crossover also features a built-in protection circuit for the tweeter – if too much power or a heavily clipped signal is present the tweeter will cut off temporarily to help prevent damage.
We are confident that anyone who is after a smooth sounding set will be incredibly pleased with the SA component line. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive on them from all over the globe.
RMS Power: 100-Watts Per Side
