AXPONA 2018 Show Report -- Audio Expo North America

Gayle Sanders Returns With Eikon DSP-Based Speaker System

   Gayle Sanders' Eikon integrates reference DSP-based electronics, cabinet, driver and user interface technology, setting a new standard for total system performance ($24,500 includes speakers, amplifiers, and Eikontrol). Gayle Sanders, cofounder of MartinLogan and one of the industry's most celebrated speaker designers, turns a new page in his prestigious career with the introduction of his new company, Gayle Sanders Eikon. The world premiere of his new digital active loudspeaker system, featuring the Image1 and Eikontrol, will take place in Rooms 742 and 744 at the 2018 AXPONA Show.

According to the press release, "Some time after Gayle Sanders entered 'retirement,' he once again picked up his paper and pen and began tinkering with ideas. "I found myself missing our industry — the people, the excitement, the creative process of designing — it pulled me back," Sanders said. "I still love learning about new technologies, diving into research, and exploring the possibilities of putting it all together."

After examining several evolving digital technologies, Sanders saw an opportunity to return to the market with a new approach that would be a complete departure from his previous electrostatic loudspeaker designs. Eventually he began designing and building prototypes in his garage. Working through several prototypes over four years, Sanders refined their industrial design and improved their performance. Today, Gayle Sanders Eikon occupies a dedicated workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut, where the Image1 speakers are hand-built, tested, and refined.

With the DSP-based Eikontrol serving as the command center, the Image1 system can accept any digital or analog input, and can be easily accessed and controlled with any smartphone or computer. By integrating the latest-generation amplifier technology, directly coupled to extremely low-distortion drivers, the system can achieve excellent precision and coherence without the need and expense of big stacks of gear.

The cabinet was designed using a proprietary, constrained-layer cabinet system that dramatically damps spurious chassis activity while significantly eliminating sympathetic resonances, ultimately contributing to effortless reproduction of dynamic range and dimensionality in space throughout the audioband.

Customized bass performance has been perfected using advanced wavelet signal processing for room control. This process dramatically expands the Eikon system's ability to recognize and analyze energy buildup in the amplitude and time domains. The result is a far more consistent control of destructive energy, dramatically improving uniform frequency response in-room.

This sophisticated system is easily accessed and controlled from any smartphone, tablet, etc. (iOS/Android), and controls all of the basic preamp functions as well as multiple contour mapping settings, fine adjustments and environmental settings.

Black Piano Gloss finish immediately available; other finishes coming later in 2018.

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