audioXpress Magazine July 2023

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audioXpress Magazine July 2023

audioXpress remains the authority on audio and reproduced sound by connecting manufacturers and distributors with developers, buyers and consultants around the globe! It's readers are the audio product designers, consultants, integrators, DIY enthusiasts, opinion leaders and your best customers. All of them agree that the coverage of trending topics, unique in the audio industry, make audioXpress a must read.

Every month, audioXpress combines the best educational articles on topic such audio electronics, speaker and headphone design, amplifiers (from tube to Class D), acoustics, practical test and measurement, audio engineering praxis, and standards. audioXpress provides inside stories on new audio developments, on R&D Stories, the most complete objective reviews of innovative products and software, and selects some of the best DIY audio projects from worldwide experts.

4 Audio, Power, And Efficiency
Engineered to provide the best audio quality experiences possible.
Editorial By J. Martins
The first half of 2023 allowed us to get back on the road and attend some of the busiest trade shows ever for the audio industry. From CES and a deep immersion into cutting-edge innovation in the consumer space to professional audio shows at ISE, the NAMM Show, and NAB. We also attended AXPONA and more recently, an extremely successful HIGH END show in Munich, Germany. With a few other events in the mix, this provided us a very good overview of the state of the audio industry. From the most affordable (and highly competitive) segments in consumer electronics, to the pro audio segments of live performance and touring, content production, media, and broadcast. We do it to better understand the audio industry and gain a broad outlook of the trends and the opportunities. More importantly, we can follow the companies that are active in each space, and understand how relative things can be.
---> Audio, Power, And Efficiency.

5 Supporting Companies

Features
28 Grimm Audio: Building The Dream
By Jan Didden
Grimm Audio has put its mark on both the pro audio
and hi-fi scene. Jan Didden visited the company
in The Netherlands to meet the people behind its
products, and to learn more about its very unique in-house
development philosophy.

32 GRAS EQset "Fire And Forget"
Measurement Microphone Series
By Rens Tellers
audioXpress interviewed Rémi Guastavino at GRAS
Sound & Vibration to uncover the details about its
new EQset measurement microphone series.

36 WiiM Pro Music Streamer
Smart Network Streaming System
By Oliver Masciarotte
with Measurements by Stuart Yaniger
Linkplay Technology's new WiiM Pro is a versatile
music streamer. audioxpress received a pre-launch
unit to review subjectively and objectively.

42 Room Gain
By René Christensen
Room acoustics is often discussed in the hi-fi
community. In these discussions, the term "room
gain" sometimes comes up. This article was inspired
by Erik Wiederholtz (CTO of Perlisten Audio) and his
interest in the topic. He also provided measurements
and photos from his own listening room for a sealed
subwoofer as well as for a vented subwoofer.

46 Acoustical Measurement and DSP
Application in Automotive Audio
Frequency Bands, Sound Philosophy, and NVH
By Philipp Paul Klose
This article is a continuation from the series
"Acoustical Measurement and DSP Application in
Automotive Audio." Here, the author discusses the
philosophy, fine tuning of the parameters, and noise,
vibration, and harshness (NVH) issues in car cabins.

52 Bass Reflex Performance Envelope
Part 1 — The Foundation
By Gary Gesellchen
This article takes a novel approach to estimating
the performance envelope available from bass reflex
loudspeakers. Part 1 discusses how bass-reflex works,
the analysis approach, and the assumptions.

56 Power Transformer Parameters, Selection, And Testing
Part 9 — Testing and the Results
By Chuck Hansen
Part 9 of this audio electronics series focuses on
testing and the results that are obtained.

Audio Amplifiers
Market Update
8 Evolution Of The Species Extended
By J. Martins
Audio amplification is on the move with Class-D
not only dominating but improving exponentially.
This 2023 Market Update details important technology
announcements and some key product launches.

20 Hypex Nilai500DIY 500W Mono Power Amplifier Kit
A New DIY Benchmark
By Stuart Yaniger
The highly anticipated Hypex Nilai500DIY 500W mono
power amplifier kit is specified to deliver 500W with 1% THD
at 4 Ohm, improves output noise and idle losses significantly,
and comes with a discrete buffer stage and voltage regulators,
just like the venerable Hypex NC400 module it will be replacing.
audioXpress offers an extensive review with measurements
of the full kit, including the PS500 DIY power supply and
DIY preamplifier kit.

Columns
Hollow-State Electronics
62 Ten Decades Of Home Music Systems
A Family History
By Richard Honeycutt
The history of home music systems is directly intertwined with the
use of tube electronics and how these devices were crucial to
the development of radio, television, sound recording, and
reproduction, as well as analog and early digital computers, among
many other things. This article revisits part of that history from
a personal perspective.