Nacho and Alejandro are two of our electroacoustic engineers who are part of the Beyma R&D department.
We have been talking with them to tell us how two of the last subwoofers we have launched to the market were born. Nacho was responsible for the development of 18LEX1000Nd and Alejandro of 15LEX1000Nd.
Hi guys, tell us, why did you start developing these two subwoofer and not another type of speaker?
Nacho: After the success of the 18LEX1600Nd, we realized that we had to take advantage of the features of this speaker, to expand the family, and benefit from this development and features.
And why 1000 w and not continue with the 1600w family?
Alejandro: After the launch of the LEX1600 we perceive a demand for similar performance speakers with a lower power capacity.
1000w subwoofers are a standard in the industry, they are widely used, but we wanted to get something different from the speakers you can found in the market.
Your starting point was 1000w or did you have another parameter in mind to start the development?
Nacho: Well, we made a study of the speakers that are available today in the market of 15”and 18” and we saw that they barely existed with a 3.5 ”coil, most of them were 4”, so we set out to launch market the only 15 ”and 18” subwoofer with 3.5 ”coil and we get it!
Alejandro: Indeed, you have achieved the benefits you have in a speaker with 4 ”coil, but with 3.5” coil. This makes everything more compact, generating an improvement in weight and price. Our patented Maltcross technology has helped us to achieve it.
What is Maltcross technology?
Nacho: This technology (developed several years ago in Beyma) allows the woofer to handle bigger rates of power with a smaller coil diameter, so we can think in smaller coil designs with smaller motor structure, reducing the weight but increasing the sensitivity and also keeping an adequate power handling for a target application.
Why is important to achieve a reduction in speaker weight?
Alejandro: The weight was critical in the development of the product given the growing need to reduce the weights of sound systems (trend of flown subwoofers, less weight usually results in a lower need for assembly workers … and in general to make the work easier for Touring companies).
Therefore, it is important to lighten the weight of the speaker to achieve a lower weight in the final system.
And well, we can affirm that we have achieved an extraordinarily light 15 ”and 18”!
In general, in the development of new products, what do you consider important?
Alejandro: In the development of new products we give much more importance to non-linear behavior in fatigue than to Thiele Small parameters, because we are aware of the use that will be given to the speaker and it is in non-linear behavior where a speaker has to be prepared in the day to day.
Nacho: Yes… the Thiele Small parameters are standard and are measured with comfortable conditions for the speaker. We measure it again after being fatigued because we are interested in knowing the parameters of the speaker during use, which gives us a clearer idea of the consistency of the basic or fundamental parameters of the speaker during its life and in the long term. The final results are speakers with great linearity and consistency over time.
What are the challenges or difficulties you have faced in these developments?
Alejandro: Personally, the development of suspension geometry was really challenging.
For the suspension we have generated new geometries developed with finite element software, obtaining fully customized and exclusive suspensions for our speakers.
It was a great challenge to achieve the target parameters.
Nacho: For me the biggest challenge was to balance the cost-weight-performance triangle.
Getting a subwoofer with reduced weight and cost and high performance has not been an easy task, but we are very proud of the results achieved.
When will we have them available?
Alejandro: Well, we are already sending samples to many customers who have requested it after the introduction of the models in the past Frankfurt PL&S, and we are receiving very good feedback from both 15LEX1000Nd and 18LEX1000Nd
In November we will be able to serve standard product orders.
Guys, thank you so much for sharing your work with us.
Alejandro: Thank you very much, it has been a pleasure to give some tips of how we have developed these products. We really enjoy our work and when you feel so passionate about something, you enjoy sharing it.
Nacho: Actually, it has been a great teamwork, since Alejandro and I were constantly sharing our progress with each other and this has made us have achieved two subwoofers than the ones we would have achieved separately. We hope to have another talk soon!
