As first reported by my Berlin colleague Ralph Werner of fairaudio.de, ATE of Germany will expand their RMD for Ring Mode Driver tech from automotive and aerospace applications to our high-end space. The probably best-known bending-wave driver from Germany is the Manger but Göbel had their own. The UK have the BMR flat-cone version, the US had the Linæum and its current derivates including the French AudioNec. Norman Gerkinsmeyer's transducer is oval and incorporates unique membrane and damping materials. That driver will feature in a new speaker series with the models Imagine Monitor, Imagine 180 and Imagine 220. Their heart is the RMD capable of covering eight octaves so 250Hz-30'000Hz. We're promised less resonant distortion and superior off-axis response than competing bending-wave designs. By eliminating the need for the typical presence-region crossover point, all Imagine models merely need bass augmentation so can remain 2-ways with very low crossover points. That means an 18cm paper-cone woofer for the monitor, dual 18cm or 22cm units for the floorstanders. To those are added passive radiators, side-firing for the monitor, rear-firing for the towers. What's more, Hypex electronics turn the lot fully active. Visitors to this year's Munich HighEnd can sample these novelties in Hall 3 stand L07. Pricing will span €15K – €30K/pr.
If you suffered the nothing-new-in-speakers Blues, ATE might just be your wakeup call this year?
