I am pleased to announce [tour of Westlake]
We have been invited to tour and photograph the Westlake manufacturing facility in Newberry Park, California. This is a wonderful opportunity as they don't make a habit of granting access to the factory. I am most grateful to Sherwood Davies (VP of Manufacturing) for making this possible. This tour will take place after CES, Probably around the middle of January. They want to make sure there is a pair of SM-1's going through final listening tests when we are there.
I am told Glen Phoenix has agreed to an interview. His reputation is that of a hard core perfectionist. For those that don't know, Westlake Audio was arguably the most influential / successful studio design engineering and consulting companies during the 70's and 80's.
I know from my conversations with Sherwood, Glen has some interesting opinions on the direction (or lack there of) Commercial Audio, specifically studio mains. Their main market is now the far East which I am sure comes as no surprise. During a visit last month they had no less than 3 pair of SM-1's in the construction stage for shipment to Hong Kong and Japan. I also noticed a pair of BBSM15's in the final assembly stage as well.
The tour will include all aspects of the design and manufacturing of these esoteric monitors. Steve Schell, I and at least one other member will represent the Lansing Heritage site.
May I suggest to the moderators that a thread be started with members being able to post questions that they would like answered by the people at Westlake?
Should be a great learning experience and a wonderful opportunity to gain some insite into a facinating company.
Ken
Westlake Tour This Thursday or Friday
Hi All
I just spoke with Westlake and we are setting up the tour for this week. I will confirm what day as soon as I hear from Steve Schell.
For those wanting to join us, please contact me by phone at 760-574-8786 and I will explain how we will select the individuals who will come along. At this short notice perhaps none of you will be available? I am rushing this tour because of moving away in 2 weeks.
Ken
Westlake Tour This Thursday or Friday
The tour will be Thursday morning early (9:00am till noon). Edgewound, myself and Steve Schell are going. We have room for 1 maybe 2 more people? We are meeting at the crack of dawn and will all ride togther from the 605/210 area to Westlake. We want to finish up and get back to East side of LA before rush hour. For those of you who know I-10 you will understand.
We will take many photo's and post the interview results on the site. Should be a great morning.
Ken
Glenn Phoenix replies to Ian
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Mackenzie
Very interesting.
So Ken,
From what you now know having done the lavish Westlake tour why the need for all the elaborate passive crossover networks (inside the boxes) when they have SOA active crossovers?
I would be interesting to hear Glenn Phoenix reponse to this question.
Ian
Dear Ian,
As most visitors to the "Audio Heritage" website probably know, "its all about the sound you get". On the surface it's obvious that the primary distortion components are at lower levels (% or actual) in signal processing devices and at higher levels in speaker systems themselves, with or without their power level crossovers. But yet we all agree that tremendous sound style and quality differences between manufacturers or manufacturers models exist and are readily heard in both electronics and speaker systems.
So what's the deal? Customers want choice and thus we offer both. The models with built in high level networks allow the customer total control of his active electronics sound. The models that employ the Westlake Audio MRX-2 (2-Way, 2 Channel) or HR-X (4-Way, 2 Channel) active crossovers reduce the power level distortions to a point, but introduce a small degree of active electronic signature to the sound.
The last few years of research have produced an understanding of a distortion that we fondly call "P.E. Distortion". We are steadilly producing products(including both passive and active crossovers) that have less intrinsic "P.E. Distortion" (Trademarked/Westlake Audio Inc.) as well as products that are less likely to cause or be receptive to "P.E. Distortion" when installed in a complex audio system. For information see our White Papers "P.E. Distortion, The Last Barrier to High Fidelity" available for online viewing at www.westlakeaudio.com under "Loudspeaker Systems".
Thank you for your question Ian. To you and the other Audio Heritage members we are always happy to answer specific questions regarding our products and audio quality issues, we can be contacted at the following:E-Mail: [email protected], FAX: (805) 498-2571 or phone at (805) 499-3686.
Glenn R Phoenix, President
Westlake Audio
Glenn Phoenix replies to Ian Mackenzie Part II
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Mackenzie
Glenn,
Thankyour for you post.
I will download the paper and have a careful read over the weekend.
Can I ask do you feel more of the unique Westlake sound style comes from your specialised passive networks and enclosure techniques than Westlake electronics?
My own feeling is that until recently active crossovers were a step backwards from serious audiophile loudspeakers...The added complexity of the signal path using chip opamps tends to cause a loss of information and intrusion of noise and other distortions and colourations. However recent advances in simple discrete class A opamp based crossovers may make these blemishes a thing of the past.
I would add that Ken holds his HR1 Westlake active crossover in high regard.
Perhaps you can elaborate .......
kind regards
Ian Mackenzie
ps Your post is going up on the wall in my "Audio Hall of Fame" along with Norman Thagard, Nelson Pass, Greg Timbers, Giskard and Doug Self.
2/27/06
Ian,
Well as to what effects the "Unique Westlake Sound" most:
I (and most knowledgeable audio types I know) subscribe to the theory "everything effects the sound". It's only a matter of whether you're paying attention, have a system with enough resolution to dig it out and whether you think it's a good or bad effect.
And so, trying to say where, in a complex electro-mechanical system that, the significant bodies are buried, is tough. But in a system (and we have many) that would not include our active crossovers, the passive network and system design is all it can be. So, the answer to your question is "yes, probably". But let's not forget the obvious (or maybe its not so obvious?) that the crossover is the all important control and synchronism mechanism that ties it all together in both cases. Additionally there are equalization issues that are addressed at high level in the case of our all passive systems, and with a combination of active and passsive circuitry in our multi-amp models that use our active crossovers. Over the years we have gotten a lot better at passive E.Q. execution, without screwing up the sound (as much as we might have in days gone by).
Your thoughts about active crossovers intruding on sound clarity is pretty much on the mark. For our own evolution we have yet to fully explore the distinct Class A OpAmp circuitry you mention, mainly because we are real estate and power bound in our existing HR-X(which can be fitted with up to 44 I.C. opamps per channel if required) and MRX-2 packages. We have however, as mentioned recently been incorporating changes to these systems based on our "P.E. Distortion" research. Direct A/B comparisons between older units and current production shows we are making steady improvements on the sound quality front with what is essentially the same basic approach that we (Deane Jensen, audio guru now deceased,Rob Robinette, our then chief engineer and myself) took back in the mid 70's to early 80's when the active crossovers were first developed.
Thanks for the "Audio Hall of Fame" mention Ian, hope this information is useful.
Sincerely,
Glenn R Phoenix
Westlake Audio
1 Attachment(s)
Westlake Tour 2008 (not really)
I was there a couple of weeks ago trying to fix my Westlake BBSM-10 and SWP, snapped a picture of what they were testing at the moment.
