New Artisan-Built Four-Way Speaker System, Ingeniously
Constructed, Delivers Exquisite Style and Performance
The David Wiener Collection (DWC), a luxury line of audio, entertainment, furnishing and fashion offerings, introduces the Art.Opera during CEDIA EXPO ’09. Elevating loudspeaker design to new levels of performance and execution, this extraordinary fusion of style and technology is the new flagship of the exclusive DW Collection (DWC). It delivers exceptional clarity, imaging, dynamics, spaciousness and realism.
The Art.Opera was inspired by requests from two-channel audiophiles who wanted the exotic styling, build quality and performance of the limited edition Ferrari Art.Engine, as well as the ability to use their own audio electronics. The result is a pair of floorstanding loudspeaker towers unlike any other, with superb performance and features that include an innovative ambience recovery system, precision crossovers, a two-way bass system, and a rigid, acoustically inert solid inch-and-a-quarter thick aluminum enclosure.
Art.Opera consists of a pair of 47-inch high aluminum towers with a surprisingly small footprint. The towers house passive four-way speaker systems with a frequency response of 32Hz to 22KHz, and matched, mirror-imaged speaker pairs for the right and left channel. Each tower’s drivers include two 10-inch woofers, a midbass array of eight 3.5-inch woven carbon-fiber cones, a midrange array of two 3.5-inch woven carbon-fiber cones, and a pair of one-inch Scan-Speak soft-dome neodymium tweeters. A four-way hybrid crossover boasts composite slopes optimized for each driver.
Ambience Enhancement
Art.Opera also features DWC’s proprietary Concert-Studio circuitry, which enhances recordings that inconsistently capture the ambience of their recording venues. Many older recordings, for example, are unnaturally “dry,” lacking the liveliness desired in most music. The Art.Opera’s mirrored speaker array is driven through a unique circuit that helps to recover the ambience buried in the mix.
This gives recorded music a wider, more spacious sonic image that restores the missing ambience without adding artificial information. The music is recovered within the recording. Concert-Studio lets listeners select two levels of recovery, or easily disengage the system for recordings that don’t require the adjustment.
The Art.Opera’s unique bass drive incorporates a rear-mounted 10-inch woofer and a 10-inch auxiliary bass radiator that combines with eight 3.5-inch drivers mounted on the front. The two-way system delivers both the transient accuracy of small, lightweight drivers as well as the serious bass usually associated with larger woofers.
Its “V8” mid-bass array uses drivers identical to the midranges, facilitating a seamless transition between midbass and midrange frequency bands. The exceptional woofer design provides powerful low frequency extension with extremely low distortion by using a magnetic assembly sheathed in a distortion-reducing collar and an aluminum cap. The cap resists modulation of the magnetic field by the strong voice-coil current, dramatically reducing distortion. The woofer’s die-cast alloy basket allows an unrestricted airflow so there is no aerodynamic compression from the powerful bass energy.
The Art.Opera’s precision crossover is constructed of components selected for their transparency and for sonic signatures that perfectly complement the transducers. Point-to-point construction using high-purity copper wire and high silver content solder guarantees transparent signal transfer and a seamless integration that reveals all the nuances of high-quality recordings. The circuit topology provides bi-wire capability for the main speaker portion of each enclosure.
Artisans on Board
Built by artisans using the most sophisticated materials and machinery, the Art.Opera’s fabrication is both unique and noteworthy. Unlike conventional loudspeaker manufacturers, DWC pursues a performance-above-all/cost-no-object philosophy visible in the Art.Opera’s every detail. Each loudspeaker array begins as a billet of solid inch-and-a-quarter thick 6061 T6 aluminum, which is machined over a 24-hour period to produce an inflexible, extraordinarily damped, acoustically inert speaker enclosure. Even the woofer grilles on the back are machined from solid plate. The aluminum shell provides a rigid, vibration-free, sonically dead, foundation for the speaker’s many components, adding no unwanted coloration of its own and significantly contributing to the Art.Opera’s superb sonic transparency.
Every shape on the enclosure is precisely measured to ensure consistent performance and finish, and all its parts are anodized for superior aesthetics and durability and coated with Alodine, a protective film that resists corrosion while enhancing the aluminum’s electrical characteristics. The baffle then receives four layers of Ferrari factory paint, followed by a clear coat. Finally, artisans hand-polish the surface to provide a luster and elegance worthy of the Art.Opera’s extraordinary characteristics.
Each meticulously matched mirror-imaged pair of Art.Operas comes equipped with Floor Spikes for installations on carpet, and a pair of Techno Fleece protective slipcovers.
DWC is interviewing during CEDIA for a small select group of luxury Resellers to offer the Art.Opera within the U.S. marketplace at a suggested retail price of $39,995. It can be seen with other outstanding DW Collection products at Suite 1710, The Atlantic at Atlantic Station, 270 17th Street, during CEDIA.
About DWC DWV was founded in 1982 to create advanced vehicles, products, furniture and fashion, and prides itself on a unique operational model, based on experience with Formula One teams, that inspires its staff to optimize performance, style, operations, image and success.
DWV has worked with many of the world’s great brands, including Ferrari, the U.S. Ski Team, Columbia, Cannondale, Ben & Jerry’s, Nike, Ganassi IndyCar, Hollywood, TWR, Old Navy, Bloomingdales and many others. DWV programs have also been sponsored by such highly regarded companies as Adidas, Campagnolo, AMF, DuPont, Fischer, Salomon, Revo, and Vuarnet. In addition, DWV’s work has been featured in major media worldwide, as well as on a PBS-TV documentary.
DWV’s and DWC’s Park City, Utah, design facility and Salt Lake City-based Technology Center exhibit DWV’s F1 culture with Ferrari and assorted exotic cars on display.
David Wiener Collection (DWC), a spin-off of David Wiener Ventures (DWV), creates extraordinary music and entertainment products, and licensable technologies. DWC products exhibit uncompromised performance, styling, materials and craftsmanship. The company is relentless in its pursuit of superior products and groundbreaking technologies.
