![]() ![]() “A good way of thinking about field coils, and one that cuts through much of what I was saying yesterday, is that it is highly self-damping – hundreds if not thousands of times more so than even strong permanent magnets. As Ken explained the day after he dropped off the speakers: The power supplies also allow you to adjust the voltage going to the speakers, which affects the sound. On the Songer Audio S2, the field coil is mounted inside a shiny metal enclosure attached to the main driver and powered by two small power supplies that plug into the wall. ![]() By using a motor, you can control the magnetic field and tailor it to the loudspeaker design. With a field coil design, however, the magnetic field is created by the motor. Most speakers use permanent magnets in the drivers–“permanent” means the magnetic field is always there, installed by nature. In the simplest terms, a field coil uses a motor that creates a magnetic field. Ken replied, “Oh, I could write a book about field coil technology.” I suppose the first question is, “What is a field coil?” Don’t be embarrassed about not knowing–I had to tell Ken Songer that I wasn’t that knowledgeable about this technology, either, and I needed a refresher. For me, owning the Songer Audio and Allnic Audio system would suffice. I often talk about “getting off the merry-go-round” in high-end audio, which refers to finding gear that makes you so happy that you’ll never read another review. The last few months with the Songer Audio S2 field coil loudspeakers has been a joy, especially with the Allnic Audio T-1500 Mk 2 integrated amplifier–which uses 300Bs and offers 10wpc. I enthusiastically agreed, and we spent a wonderful day with him and his wife Kimberly. I never imagined having them in for review, but Ken Songer also lives in Oregon and he volunteered to drop them off and set them up for me. Plus, these are easily one of the most beautiful speakers I’ve seen. They sounded great from different vantage points in the room. But the Songer Audio S2 loudspeakers seemed to go far beyond what I expected from a high-efficiency loudspeaker. I’ve heard field coil speakers in the past–the Shindo Labs Latour models and those big horn speakers from Classic Audio come to mind–and I’m always impressed. As Ken later told me, “field coil technology is the best platform I’ve used for speaker design.” (The Songer Audio S1, which isn’t an open baffle design like the S2, is $37,000/pair.) He explained that his speakers aren’t just the usual high-efficiency designs–the secret to the S2’s stupendous musical delivery is field coil technology. Yes, I requested “Chocolate Chip Trip,” and yes, it sounded quite amazing.īefore I left the room, Ken Songer approached me and we had a discussion about the Songer Audio speaker line. Even with just 4.3 watts per channel, the Songer Audio S2 speakers ($49,000/pair USD with external power supplies) had plenty of deep, satisfying bass and plenty of detail, and they could go quite loud. But the Songer Audio and Whammerdyne system exhibited none of those shortcomings. In addition, there’s that “beamy” quality full-range drivers have, which often translates into a microscopic sweet spot combined with a lack of off-axis coherence. ![]() I know that the midrange will be stunning and realistic, but I also prepare myself for limitations at the frequency extremes. When I see/hear such a system, I usually have expectations. A low-powered SET with high-efficiency speakers? It’d been a while since I’ve spent serious seat time with such a system. The room featured a fairly simple set-up that was focused on a massive 2A3 amp (Whammerdyne), and a couple of pairs of full-range high-efficiency speakers with whizzer cones (Songer). When I saw the system in the room, I was surprised and delighted. This is also the point where I admit that “Whammerdyne” was the word that finally lured me in–I’m a bit of a Thomas Pynchon fan. When I first saw the word Songer I thought it was a typo for Sonner Audio, but I was wrong–this was a new speaker company from a designer named Ken Songer. I discovered an exhibit room I hadn’t yet noticed: Songer Audio and Whammerdyne. On the final day of the 2023 Pacific Audio Fest, I found myself wandering the halls looking to see if I missed anything worthwhile. ![]()
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