ENIGMAcoustics Sopranino

As new pair of ENIGMAcoustics SOPRANINO Super Tweeters in upgraded
CRYSTAL. Work and sound great. Excellent upgrade for many speakers.

Trades Considered. Paypal adds 2.9% Midwest Audio 574 329-1850

ENIGMACOUSTICS
THE SOPRANINO SUPER-TWEETER
​​
Utilizing
our patented SBESL™ (Self-Biased Electrostatic) technology, Sopranino
is a groundbreaking product. As add-on super tweeter Sopranino brings
the magic of electrostatic performance to essentially any full-range
loudspeaker system, capturing air, texture, focus, and inner detail that
you otherwise would not have known were there. Its ability to retrieve
ambience and to reproduce music with a true listen-through quality
simply must be heard to be believed.

Unlike the conventional
approach to electrostatic design, which requires the inconvenience of
external bias voltage (and connection to an AC wall socket), Sopranino
derives its polarizing voltage in a proprietary manner from the signal
itself. This results in ease of use, and more easily brings
electrostatic technology, long considered the holy grail for its
transparency and resolution, to virtually any high-end system.

Sopranino
extends high frequency response to over 40kHz and operates via totally
passive connection, with selectable 8k, 10k, or 12kHz crossover points,
all of which further contributes to its ease of implementation.
Sopranino’s diaphragm is an ultra-thin polyester film membrane which
operates by static attraction (as opposed to voice coils and magnets),
with a fraction of the mass of conventional drivers. Its ultra low
moving mass contributes to its frequency extension, but also results in
lightning quick transient response for realistic reproduction of a
drum’s rim shots, the snap of a plucked guitar string, or a piano’s
hammering action--with all of the immediacy of being there.

Sopranino’s
patented SBESL™ technology also forms the technical cornerstone for the
Mythology M1 Hybrid Electrostatic Mini-Monitor and Dharma D1000 Hybrid
Electrostatic Headphone. All three of these products are receiving
accolades from every corner of the high-end audio community--for cutting
edge electrostatic technology and excellent sound quality.


SPECIFICATIONS - SOPRANINO 1

Nominal impedance 4 ohm

Sensitivity (1m/2.83V) 90dB with 0/-3dB switch

Crossover frequency 8/10/12 kHz

Crossover slope -12dB/oct.

Frequency response 8 - 40kHz (+/- 3dB)

Recommended input power 50W

Dimensions / inches W 7.1 x H 7.60 x D 8.2

Dimensions / mm W 181 x H 193 x D 207

Weight (Net/Shipping) 6 lb./ 27 lbs -- (2.7Kg / 12.3 Kg)

From Absolute Sound:

There
was a time in the 1960s and 70s when the add-on electrostatic tweeter
was commonplace. In particular, the Janszen Z-130 and the RTR ESR-15
come to mind as stellar examples of this genre. Multiple angled panels
were used to improve dispersion though with limited success. This type
of tweeter has become nearly extinct over the years, the only commercial
version I could locate that is still in production being KingSound’s
Hummingbird II super-tweeter.

It would be correct to characterize
the EnigmAcoustics Sopranino as an add-on electrostatic super-tweeter.
But that’s where the similarity to past designs ends. For starters there
is no external bias supply—nothing to plug into the wall! That’s right,
the Sopranino is self-biased and should be thought of as an electret
tweeter. The name electret is a concatenation of sorts of electrostatic
and magnet, and refers to a material that is permanently polarized. An
electret diaphragm is typically manufactured by melting a PTFE plastic
(e.g., Teflon), sometimes with additives to increase the polar molecule
loading, and allowing it to solidify in the presence of a strong
electrostatic field. The field aligns the material’s polar molecules
producing a permanent electrostatic bias, which in the case of a
high-resistivity material such as Teflon can be stable for up to several
hundred years.

Electret diaphragms have been used in microphones
for many years. In fact, electret mikes are heavily used today, not
only for measurement and studio recording but also for mass-market
applications such as cell phones and laptop computers. However, turning
an electret diaphragm into a tweeter demands a technological
breakthrough. This new technology was developed with research
contributions from several Taiwanese institutions, including National
Taiwan University, and mainly the Taiwan Industrial Technology and
Research Institute. EnigmAcoustics and others have been licensed to use
this technology. One of the other licensees is Taiwan Electrets
Electronics Corporation (TEEC), which has been marketing a low-end
electret speaker. But according to EnigmAcoustics, the TEEC device lacks
several key elements, making it unsuitable for high-fidelity
applications. These are said to be high-THD, fragile stator materials,
susceptibility to environmental factors, and inadequate SPL and dynamic
range for high-end audio applications.

The challenge before the
Enigma R&D team was to forge this new technology into a form that
would deliver high-fidelity performance. The stator structure and
materials were modified and patented. Spacer materials were replaced and
the driver circuits were completely re-designed. The Sopranino employs a
custom transformer for stepping up the audio signal and for maintaining
the nominal impedance at about 4 ohms, the minimum being around 3 ohms.
There is also a protection circuit for enhanced reliability. To be
clear, this is a push-pull design with the diaphragm sandwiched between
front and back stators. The key issue was to create a PTFE-based
material that, according to Enigma, “would be able to hold as many
electrons as possible and also to keep them there for as long as science
and the laws of nature allow. Hundreds (if not thousands) of formulas
were concocted and experimented with during years of R&D before we
came up with the current patented commercial version.” The dimensions of
the diaphragm are 9cm x 12cm, and at a thickness of only 25 microns its
moving mass is only about 1.6mg.

The tweeter is horn-loaded in
order to increase its efficiency. The horn’s flare profile is said to be
non-standard. The rationale given was as follows: “We indeed started by
first using a standard exponential-flare-type horn with the purpose of
eliminating back waves and avoiding standing waves. However, we soon
discovered its shape also had an adverse effect on the dispersion angle
of front waves, and we subsequently made a conscious decision to adjust
the exponential flare in order to more effectively control the overall
dispersion angle. The finished product, therefore, doesn’t technically
represent the standard exponential-flare shape.”

A crossover
frequency selector switch is located on the back panel of the enclosure.
Available options are 8, 10, or 12kHz. These settings provide
second-order high-pass filters for matching the Sopranino to the main
speakers. The nominal sensitivity is 90dB; however, a gain switch on the
back panel provides a -3dB setting for level-matching. The Sopranino is
intended to be placed on top of or next to the main speakers and is to
be connected in parallel with the main speakers. Hookup is simple
enough, and involves installing short cable runs between the main
speaker inputs and the Sopranino input terminals, with care taken to
maintain correct polarity.

What is not so simple is the task of
integrating the Sopranino into an existing system. Lacking a volume
control (save for its -3dB switch), there’s the practical problem of
gain-matching the Sopranino to a range of speakers of varying
sensitivity. It turned out that this is not as serious an issue as it
sounds, since an indirect adjustment of volume level is possible by use
of the toe-in angle. The fact that output level falls off with angle,
though not as dramatically as is the case for a large flat panel, can be
put to good use in controlling the tonal balance at the listening seat.
The most serious set-up complication arises from potential interference
between the super-tweeter and the main speaker’s tweeter. The latter is
not rolled off by an external crossover network and depending on its
relative distance from the super-tweeter, response dips and peaks may
result in a frequency overlap region. Granted that with two level
settings and three crossover frequencies, there is fair amount of
flexibility built-in for experimentation, far more than is offered by
other add-on tweeters, but that of course is no guarantee of success.

When
the review project was arranged it was agreed that the Sopranino should
be evaluated in one specific context. The framework chosen for this
review involved mating the Sopranino with the QUAD-57 ESL. The rationale
was based on three factors. First, the QUAD needs help in the treble.
Second, it made sense to extend the response of an ESL with another
electrostatic driver. And third, since there are over 60,000 QUAD ESLs
out there, this coupling would be of interest to a large audience. There
is already an established history of extending the QUAD-57’s treble
response via the use of an add-on tweeter. The JansZen Z-130, Decca
Ribbon, and even the Dukane Ionovac plasma tweeter have been used for
this purpose. I recall Bob Graham describing such a setup many years
ago, where he used a Dukane Ionovac tweeter crossed over at about 8kHz
to very good effect.

Stands were provided by EnigmAcoustics to
allow positioning of the tweeter behind and a few inches above the top
of the QUAD, the bottom of the stand being at about 39 inches off the
floor. The stands were machined out of high-grade acrylic stock and were
beautifully finished. Optimal placement is with the Sopranino centered
behind the QUAD’s treble panel. As you might have expected,
level-matching the 83dB-sensitive QUAD necessitated use of the
Sopranino’s -3dB gain setting. In order to obtain a natural brightness
level, it was also necessary to toe in the Sopranino such that the
tweeter axes intersected in front of the listening seat. To be a bit
more precise, a toe-in angle between 5 and 10 degrees (with zero degrees
being straight out) should do the trick. A side benefit of such a
toe-in angle was an apparent increase in soundstage width.

It
turned out that the best way to hone in on the optimal crossover
frequency was to focus on female soprano voice. It’s easy to be seduced
by an overabundance of presence region energy. Initially, I was wowed by
an 8kHz crossover setting, but it quickly became clear that tonal
colors just weren’t right, being too hot, while the treble range
developed some rough spots texturally. It has been said that if
something measures good but sounds bad, you’re measuring the wrong
thing. But this was a case of measuring bad and sounding bad. There were
severe interference effects measured at the 8kHz setting, fewer with
the crossover shifted to 10kHz. Moving the measurement mike several
inches vertically also resulted in significant response dips. The most
synergistic and stable blend was observed at the 12kHz/-3dB settings,
and all subsequent listening tests were conducted with these settings
dialed in.

If ever a speaker needed a super-tweeter, the QUAD is
it. It is a prime example of British sound, being laid-back and a bit
polite though the midband. Well, with the Sopranino in the system, the
presentation was fundamentally transformed. Imagine, if you can, a QUAD
that is much more neutral in character, whereby instruments are brought a
bit more forward in the mix. Where the QUAD sounded somewhat muffled
and lacking immediacy playing solo, the Sopranino enhanced transient
clarity and soundstage transparency. There was now a genuine sense of
treble air, and, most importantly, tonal color saturation improved
significantly, especially when it came to soprano voice and violin
timbres. It was hard to believe that a driver that outputs such a small
fraction of the total acoustic energy could have such a dramatic impact
on the perceived sonic impression. But that, ladies and gentlemen, was
what happened. I also noted a consistent improvement in image focus.
Image outlines coalesced into palpable organic wholes that made for much
more secure spatial resolution of complex orchestral passages.

There’s
no doubt in my mind that the QUAD and the EnigmAcoustics Sopranino are
soul-mates. Despite my initial reservations about driver blending, the
Sopranino proceeded to strikingly refresh and extend the QUAD’s
performance. Once experienced, there’s no going back. I can’t imagine
enjoying the QUADs in the future without the Sopranino super-tweeters.
It’s fair to say that performance-wise the Sopranino catapults the
venerable QUAD-57 into the 21st century. If you’re a QUAD owner, be sure
to check out the Sopranino—it’s a QUAD’s best friend!