Amina Plaster In Speakers
Discussion
We are looking at some plaster in speakers as an alternative to the std Dali Zensor 1's supplied with this - http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...
The system is in a conservatory, so acoustics pretty poor anyway. Has anybody used the Amina range of speakers before as they look, on the face of it, very good indeed.
The system is in a conservatory, so acoustics pretty poor anyway. Has anybody used the Amina range of speakers before as they look, on the face of it, very good indeed.
By the nature of Plastering them into the wall and over the top of them they don't have a great bass or even mid range as it will cause the plaster to flex and possibly break.
Also they are quite expensive for what they are.
Alternatives could be Stealth Acoustics, which you plaster up to the edge of, rather than over so they can put out a proper full range of frequencies. Or the new Monitor Audio Radius Series speakers where the new 225 On Walls are only 65mm deep or even their Shadow Range.
Hth
V.
Also they are quite expensive for what they are.
Alternatives could be Stealth Acoustics, which you plaster up to the edge of, rather than over so they can put out a proper full range of frequencies. Or the new Monitor Audio Radius Series speakers where the new 225 On Walls are only 65mm deep or even their Shadow Range.
Hth
V.
Hi IN51GHT,
Before I say anymore I should make it clear that I work for Amina, I saw your post first thing this morning but thought it best not contribute to the discussion because of my association. The reason I am posting now is to comment and hopefully clarify some points raised by VEX above regarding playing bass/midrange and cracking plaster.
The vast majority of speakers use moving coil transducers which use pistonic motion to generate their sound. Amina speakers work on a different principle and are resonant devices, like acoustic stringed instruments such as guitars, cellos, violins, pianos, etc. and similarly they use bending waves to propagate their sound, not pistonic movement. VEX has been critical of Amina's panels previously on PH, and that's his prerogative, but I don't think he understands enough about their modal principle of operation and assumes there is some kind of excursion that might damage the plaster in some way; the panel's physical excursion is less than 0.1mm in normal operation. Amina have made over 35000 plaster in wall speakers since 2001 and are very proud to offer a full 10 year warranty on our panels, which are designed and built in Huntingdon; we've never had an instance of cracking plaster.
Sound quality is very subjective and I always advocate listening to a system, which has been properly installed, to determine its performance; reviews are very helpful but the end users ears are what really count regarding sound quality imho. Here's a link which does contain reviews, it may be of interest, it contains over 60 case studies where Amina's speakers have been installed. http://amina.co.uk/media/ . You are also very welcome to visit us here in Huntingdon for a demo so you can decide , first hand, what they are capable of.
Best of luck with BloodhoundSSC, makes me proud to be british.
Before I say anymore I should make it clear that I work for Amina, I saw your post first thing this morning but thought it best not contribute to the discussion because of my association. The reason I am posting now is to comment and hopefully clarify some points raised by VEX above regarding playing bass/midrange and cracking plaster.
The vast majority of speakers use moving coil transducers which use pistonic motion to generate their sound. Amina speakers work on a different principle and are resonant devices, like acoustic stringed instruments such as guitars, cellos, violins, pianos, etc. and similarly they use bending waves to propagate their sound, not pistonic movement. VEX has been critical of Amina's panels previously on PH, and that's his prerogative, but I don't think he understands enough about their modal principle of operation and assumes there is some kind of excursion that might damage the plaster in some way; the panel's physical excursion is less than 0.1mm in normal operation. Amina have made over 35000 plaster in wall speakers since 2001 and are very proud to offer a full 10 year warranty on our panels, which are designed and built in Huntingdon; we've never had an instance of cracking plaster.
Sound quality is very subjective and I always advocate listening to a system, which has been properly installed, to determine its performance; reviews are very helpful but the end users ears are what really count regarding sound quality imho. Here's a link which does contain reviews, it may be of interest, it contains over 60 case studies where Amina's speakers have been installed. http://amina.co.uk/media/ . You are also very welcome to visit us here in Huntingdon for a demo so you can decide , first hand, what they are capable of.
Best of luck with BloodhoundSSC, makes me proud to be british.
Edited by Crackie on Thursday 12th September 13:39
VEX said:
Hi Crackie, I must come over and gave a proper demo to get the full experience and learn more about them.
And maybe tell the teams that do the home building shows to play something with good, deep bass on it
V.
Hi VEX, you're more than welcome to come and visit us here in Huntingdon anytime; alternatively you could also visit Robert Taussig's showroom in London http://www.roberttaussig.co.uk/ where our products are on permanent demo. I or one of Amina's team would be happy to meet you there if you'd like to learn more about them. And maybe tell the teams that do the home building shows to play something with good, deep bass on it
V.
Point taken regarding deep bass at the home building shows; using big bass at shows like this doesn't make us too popular with neighbouring stands though. Our neighbours at last years CEDIA show in Indianapolis were not happy about the volume we played some of our cinema demos..........
Edited by Crackie on Thursday 12th September 17:42
Crackie said:
Point taken regarding deep bass at the home building shows; using big bass at shows like this doesn't make us too popular with neighbouring stands though. Our neighbours at last years CEDIA show in Indianapolis were not happy about the volume we played some of our cinema demos..........
That is just comical, our industry body, complaining about music and cinemas being to loud!It doesnt need to be loud, it just needs to show that you can actually do it.
I'll arrange a visit to your offices in the new year (rush to finish before Christmas is already on)
RT, seen some 'interesting installs' from them.
V.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
We use both Amina and Stealth with perfectly good results, if you want hidden speakers there is no better solution but you do pay a premium for what is, arguably, not as good as a conventional speaker. Moot point though as you'd be using traditional speakers if you could so pointless debate.
The Stealth range has better low frequency response and is more directional in a traditional Hi-Fi sense, Amina seem to fill spaces more effectively and are better from an integration prespective - you can just about detect the location of a Stealth as it protrudes very slightly whereas Amina are completely invisible. If being used for serious listening (other than background) we will employ a compact subwoofer to enhance low frequency. Quality is more than good enough for all but the most descerning listener and they always impress. Something about hearing sound but having no idea where it's coming from adds a dimension people seem to enjoy.
If you can stomach a visible pair then Artcoustic are great, there's always a model / finish for most environments and paired with one of their subs audio is first rate.
Me, I'd have a stinking great pair of floorstanders and aesthetics can go jump! I like speakers you can see and the bigger the better - unfortunately very few interior designers have the same view... Funny that!
The Stealth range has better low frequency response and is more directional in a traditional Hi-Fi sense, Amina seem to fill spaces more effectively and are better from an integration prespective - you can just about detect the location of a Stealth as it protrudes very slightly whereas Amina are completely invisible. If being used for serious listening (other than background) we will employ a compact subwoofer to enhance low frequency. Quality is more than good enough for all but the most descerning listener and they always impress. Something about hearing sound but having no idea where it's coming from adds a dimension people seem to enjoy.
If you can stomach a visible pair then Artcoustic are great, there's always a model / finish for most environments and paired with one of their subs audio is first rate.
Me, I'd have a stinking great pair of floorstanders and aesthetics can go jump! I like speakers you can see and the bigger the better - unfortunately very few interior designers have the same view... Funny that!
VEX said:
Crackie said:
Point taken regarding deep bass at the home building shows; using big bass at shows like this doesn't make us too popular with neighbouring stands though. Our neighbours at last years CEDIA show in Indianapolis were not happy about the volume we played some of our cinema demos..........
That is just comical, our industry body, complaining about music and cinemas being to loud!It doesnt need to be loud, it just needs to show that you can actually do it.
I'll arrange a visit to your offices in the new year (rush to finish before Christmas is already on)
RT, seen some 'interesting installs' from them.
V.
Crackie said:
Hi VEX, it would be good to see you in the New Year for a proper demo. If you, or any other PHers, are around for this week's 100% Design show at Earls Court, Amina's stand uses a pair of AIW550 Evolution speakers. We commissioned the new stand earlier today; some loud Deadmau5 gave it a good workout. I'll see if I can get the sales team to agree to Deadmau5 being part of the show demo.
I'm dropping in on Saturday...ASK1974 said:
We use both Amina and Stealth with perfectly good results, if you want hidden speakers there is no better solution but you do pay a premium for what is, arguably, not as good as a conventional speaker. Moot point though as you'd be using traditional speakers if you could so pointless debate.
The Stealth range has better low frequency response and is more directional in a traditional Hi-Fi sense, Amina seem to fill spaces more effectively and are better from an integration prespective - you can just about detect the location of a Stealth as it protrudes very slightly whereas Amina are completely invisible. If being used for serious listening (other than background) we will employ a compact subwoofer to enhance low frequency. Quality is more than good enough for all but the most descerning listener and they always impress. Something about hearing sound but having no idea where it's coming from adds a dimension people seem to enjoy.
If you can stomach a visible pair then Artcoustic are great, there's always a model / finish for most environments and paired with one of their subs audio is first rate.
Me, I'd have a stinking great pair of floorstanders and aesthetics can go jump! I like speakers you can see and the bigger the better - unfortunately very few interior designers have the same view... Funny that!
Almost identical views from me too - we recently installed circa 130 Amina speakers in an apartment block and everyone is very happy with them. We have found that they sound best when installed with some airspace behind them (like in a bulkhead) or when used with a sub. The Stealth's do give much more bass output but are never quite fully invisible.The Stealth range has better low frequency response and is more directional in a traditional Hi-Fi sense, Amina seem to fill spaces more effectively and are better from an integration prespective - you can just about detect the location of a Stealth as it protrudes very slightly whereas Amina are completely invisible. If being used for serious listening (other than background) we will employ a compact subwoofer to enhance low frequency. Quality is more than good enough for all but the most descerning listener and they always impress. Something about hearing sound but having no idea where it's coming from adds a dimension people seem to enjoy.
If you can stomach a visible pair then Artcoustic are great, there's always a model / finish for most environments and paired with one of their subs audio is first rate.
Me, I'd have a stinking great pair of floorstanders and aesthetics can go jump! I like speakers you can see and the bigger the better - unfortunately very few interior designers have the same view... Funny that!
stanwan said:
Crackie said:
Hi VEX, it would be good to see you in the New Year for a proper demo. If you, or any other PHers, are around for this week's 100% Design show at Earls Court, Amina's stand uses a pair of AIW550 Evolution speakers. We commissioned the new stand earlier today; some loud Deadmau5 gave it a good workout. I'll see if I can get the sales team to agree to Deadmau5 being part of the show demo.
I'm dropping in on Saturday...Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff