Matrix Monitor

Description

• Proprietary 3-way design optimized for audiophile-grade Class D amplification
• Made under U.S. Patent 9247339 with multiple new patents pending
• Ultra-linear frequency response
• Proprietary 21mm 4 transducer [tweeter] ring radiating high-frequency array
• 5” aluminum/ceramic low-frequency transducer [woofer]
• 90dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity
• 4 or 8 Ohm design – we suggest 4 Ohm for optimum performance
• 45Hz-40kHz frequency response
• Height 12.0′′ (30.48 cm) x Width 8.0′′ (20.32cm) x Depth 11.0′′ (27.94cm)
• 100 Watt power handling
• Weight 20 lbs
• Manufactured in the USA

Class-D amplifiers are sounding better than ever and I’m convinced they’re here to stay! I’m also convinced that class-D amplifiers require an optimized loudspeaker for the highest degree of fidelity. Here’s why… for decades class-A amplification was considered the benchmark of high-fidelity amplification. Class-A amplifiers work by grabbing and controlling the motion of the speaker cone at all times. The next amplifier evolution is commonly called class A/B. For many decades class-A/B amplifiers have been more common than class-A. They’re lower in cost, higher in efficiency, lower at producing heat as a byproduct of it’s operation, and much more prevalent than the true class-A biased amplifier. The class-A/B amplifier controls the loudspeaker’s cone motion through a high-speed directional switching polarity hand-off. Modern class-D amplifiers are entirely different and absolutely in a unique class of their own.

Here’s a bit of parallel to ponder… for centuries, mankind heated food with fire as the primary method of heating [think pure class-A]. Then one day a new and dramatically more efficient method of heating food was developed – the microwave oven [think class-D]. Class-D amplifiers incorporate a technology called pulse-width modulation. My explanation of pulse-width modulation is simple… place a AA battery on the terminals of a woofer and it will jump forward and stay in that position until you disconnect the battery. Next, flip the battery’s polarity and place it back on the woofer terminal and watch the woofer cone pull inward and stay in that position until you disconnect the battery. Next, speed this switching process up by many magnitudes and control it correctly and you will get audible sounds and even high-fidelity music reproduction if you hone and refine the technology as has been today. Can you visualize how different pulsing a speaker cone is from tightly grasping it and controlling it at all times as the pure class-A model does?

I suggest we must visualize class-D amplification as a type of amplifier that continually, efficiently, and relentlessly punches and stabs away at our speaker cones to get them moving in the right direction and with the right intensity to reproduce the quality music and sound we love. With this said… I realized the need for a special class-D loudspeaker design 15 years ago when I designed and introduced a model called the Tekton Design Model 8.1T; the T designation was referencing the Tripath [class-D] amplifier of the day. Between now and then I’ve been pulled in other directions (a bit of a pun there) and we’ve been focused on many other forward thinking and innovative loudspeaker projects and designs but I have never stopped believing Class-D amplification should be mated to a purpose-built loudspeaker.