MISSION UPGRADES TWEETERS
Mission has updated the QX Series of speakers it launched in 2017 to MkII status. All new models feature a new 38mm diameter ring-radiator style tweeter and newly engineered ‘DiaDrive’ bass/midrange drivers.
Mission’s new tweeter uses a different construction to typical soft dome tweeters. In most soft dome tweeters the voice coil is connected to the outer circumference of the dome so as the dome moves ‘out’ into the room, the centre of the dome can collapse inwards due to air pressure. Various systems have been developed to counteract this, including doping the fabric to make it stiffer, and fixing the top of the dome to a strut running across the top so that it can’t collapse (as in Sonus faber’s Damped Apex Dome (DAD) tweeters).
Mission’s solution is to fix the centre of the textile dome from inside the tweeter and attach the voice coil part-way down the dome, which it says forms the dome into two rings with the voice coil in the centre, enabling it to drive the dome more accurately and efficiently. “The result is lower distortion and superior performance at frequencies well in excess of 20kHz,” says Raffi Keverian, of Audio Visual Revolution, which distributes Mission in Australia. “Transient performance is dramatically improved, as is musical detailing, particularly of instrument overtones and harmonics, enabling the full character of instruments and voices to be conveyed with outstanding clarity.”
All models in the QX MkII Series also feature the latest version of Mission’s ‘DiaDrive’ bass/midrange driver unit. In this design, the seamless curved diaphragm surface you see from the outside is not attached to a voice coil, as would usually be the case, but to a completely separate cone underneath, and it’s this secondary sub-cone that is attached to the voice coil. Mission says this design improves the efficiency of drive and provides superior control of the dished outer diaphragm. Unlike earlier versions, the subcone on the new models is vented, which Mission says reduces resonances and allows a clearer midrange performance to beyond 3kHz. The outer dished fibre-composite cone material has also been upgraded by incorporating long acrylic fibres to improve stiffness and enhance the cone’s self-damping abilities.
The QX-1 MkII ($899) and QX-2 MkII ($999) are two-way two-driver stand-mount/bookshelf models, with 135mm and 165mm diameter bass/midrange drivers respectively. The QX-3 MkII ($1,499) and QX-4 MkII ($1,999) have identical drivers to the two stand-mount models, but are two-way, three-driver floor-standers.
For more information, contact Audio Visual Revolution on (02) 9521 4844 or visit www.avrevolution.com.au
NAD LAUNCHES NEW C 399 HYBRID AMP
NAD has released its C 399 Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifier, which becomes the new flagship model in the Canadian company’s ‘Classic Series’ of integrated amplifiers. It features nCore amplifiers, a 32-bit/384kHz ESS Sabre DAC (as used in NAD’s acclaimed M10 and M33) and has NAD’s new MDC2 (Modular Design Construction 2) architecture.
“This new C 399 is the clearest expression yet of, of Convoy International, which distributes NAD in Australia. “It uses NAD’s HybridDigital nCore amplification, a state-of-the-art ESS Sabre DAC, and is the first amplifier to incorporate the latest generation of NAD’s MDC technology, which lets users add optional modules to provide functions such as BluOS Hi-Res multi-room music streaming, Dirac Live room correction and more.”
