Elektra

"Put your coil in the field. Miss Elektra says so. It's Voxativ's latest based on their AC-X2 field-coil widebander covering 60Hz-20kHz loaded by faceted rear horn. Docked below its cab works a RiPol 2×12" active bass system in gen2 guise. That packs 500 watts of in-house developed class D power to secure seamless 20-20 bandwidth. Efficiency is a hair-raising 110dB/1W/1m. Start your flea-power engines. Bring down the house. On your way to the racetrack, stop by the bank. Take out €65'000." So had gone my newsroom post.

"Would Elektra be something you might like to review?" became Marie Adler's tart follow-on question. Ask whether a guy minds the key to a Ferrari. Hmm. What was my speed limit?

Since my account wouldn't get debited, my only true due diligence before deciding were the respective weights of bass bin and head unit; and container sizes. Could I safely un/repack the lot without doing damage to either of us? At 40x50x180cm WxDxH, I'd stand a mere 6 centimetres taller than Elektra though Marie makes her seem shorter. The published 100kg are rather more than I weigh. How much spike-piercing mass would I have to heave atop the active subwoofers to mar piano-gloss lacquer if not set down just so? Would the set ship in three or four boxes; or two tall crates? Practicalities. To mere mortals, they do matter. To learn what's in a name, I read up on Elektra Natchios, the Marvel Comics character Wikipedia describes as "a highly trained assassin of Greek descent who wields a pair of sai as trademark weapons. Elektra is an unusually ruthless antihero and femme fatale. Film critic Larry Rodman compared her to a psychotic swimsuit model. She is resistant to pain, extreme heat and cold, can keep to the shadows and move with such speed that she remains unseen even in daylight. She can mesmerize others and make them see illusions. Temporary mind control helps her sniff out her targets' psyche. Elektra can communicate telepathically with individuals possessing similar mental discipline even glimpse future events." Would I order a hit on myself if I accepted this gig? Would I have my mind read, get mesmerized then finished off for good in spectacularly efficient fashion? Cut. Hold the fake blood. Next scene. For that we depart the worlds of incestuous Greek myths, modern comics and their Hollywood adaptations.

Let's inspect the two signature weapons of Voxativ's black-latex femme fatale. First there's her point-source dispersion brandished across a full eight octaves. This coverage from the faintly hourglass-shaped cab with twin slotted horn mouths sees no filter parts that could shift phase or absorb/release energy. Second is semi-cardioid 'super-dipole' active bass with adjustments. That exploits 99dB face-to-face woofer pairs which enjoy excellent self damping with a low resonant frequency from extreme proximity loading. If that weren't exotic enough—Voxativ's Alberich² above and below does something similar if smaller—there's what in the 21st century has become rare field-coil drive. A full century ago it was standard. Permanent ferrite magnets weren't yet strong or affordable enough. Modern neodymium magnets didn't become popular until the late 1980s after General Motors and Sumitomo Special Metals had invented them earlier that decade. Enter the classic electromagnet. It runs a DC voltage through a wire coil around a metal core. This generates a constant intense magnetic field. Depending on implementation, it can be of variable power by making the voltage user-adjustable. Claimed ongoing advantages for this vintage concept are a stiffer more stable flux field; and how this informs sonic performance. Drawbacks are higher weight and operational temps. With Voxativ's far-from-silent assassin, not only do the woofers need power cords. So do the widebanders. This occasions calls for four extra AC outlets; and possibly long cords. Practicalities. They matter.

To not overdamp Elektra's ultra-efficient 8-octave drivers, an amplifier of high output Ω is preferred. Having divested myself of suitably low-power no-feedback triodes many bygone moons, my Enleum AMP-23R of 25wpc transistor power had previously juiced Alberich² to award-winning heights. It again would be my designated driver. My back and spare downstairs bathroom serving as empty-box storage simply needed their own easy-go assurances. After all, if I put Marie through all the Berlin⇔Dublin shipping logistics, anything not copacetic afterwards would be on me. Best insure that all small-print facts were on my side. If so, Elektra had her Irish date. If memory serves, it'd be my first field-coil ride. Would I dare accept the key—or not? "These are very heavy. You need two people to handle them." Being one not two, that squarely counted me out. Someone else would have to do the honours. It's how it goes, sometimes. The heart may be willing but the flesh is weak…