Where's the sweet spot?

As my friend Steve Guttenberg says, it's in your wallet!

This has to be the most outrageously awesome speaker set-up I have ever seen or heard of! Do you know of any theaters who are planning on ordering this system? Like you said, you would have to own a castle to install the entire 12 channel system in.

May I place them up against the rear wall or should a gap be kept :-)

i dont know. when i saw van halen the last time thier system was pretty awesome for about 3 million less. sure wish i had the money to sit around an come up with sound systems.i think i could come with something that would blow this away for ALOT less

E.D, like all dipole speakers, these need some space behind them—Transmission Audio says at least 1 meter for the Ultimate.

But does it have an iPod dock?

No, It has a Zune dock.

I bet my walmart subs could out thump these. ; )

Hmmmm.. I can get 141 spl from 4 fosgate 12" dvc's with 2k behind them. I've seen 161 from factory backed vehicles... is 146 supposed to be impressive?

141 from four twelves? thats weaksauce. i put down 143 on the TL from one twelve inch kicker :) does this system come with all Pear interconnects?

Sonny, you say 161 from vehicles, but with how much distortion? At 120dB SPL, the Ultimate's total distortion in the mid/high frequencies is spec'd at 0.05%, low frequency at 0.5%. TA claims that the distortion at 100dB SPL is unmeasurable. I would guess that any vehicle-based system exhibits far more distortion than that at the same SPL.

Comparing this system's SPL to that of any car rig is meaningless. Besides, who wants to sit in their car to listen to high-end audio? Not me...

The reason they cost so much is because they use Monster Cables.

JFC!! talk about excess!!

[H]Incognito, If I could rate your post, I'd give it a 6 on the dailytech scale.

And if you call in the next 10 minutes, you won't get one, BUT two!! for just 9.99. Call now! operators are standing by...

To all the posters trying to compare these speakers spec's to some monster sub-woofer setup in a car or a Walmart thumper - get a clue. Seriously! Someone even called it a "12 channel system". It's not, its TWO channel stereo in it's complete form. In fact, the power amps feeding each bank of speakers are MONO, fed by a stereo pre-amp. The spec's to look at on high end gear are the efficiency and total harmonic distortion (THD) not the outrageous sound pressure level (SPL), Watts or any of the other rice-boy bragging numbers. Oh, and Sonny, have you ever seen someone in an SPL competition car while it's being tested? Of course not, SPL isn't about sound quality, its about sound QUANTITY. Why does everyone feel the need to comment on things they have no, or little idea about?

is there a way i hook these up in my 1991 ford fiesta?

Back in the late 1980's I was invited to a "listening party" at a local stereo shop. The star of the night was an Infinity IRS speaker system. A local doctor had purchased them from a gentleman who had just finalized a divorce. His Ex-wife got everything except the $90,000.00 Infinity IRS speaker system. (I'm sure he sold them at a considerable loss.) Originally, the bass towers were powered by Great American Sound amps (a.k.a.: GAS Amps) that were "around" 600 watt mono blocks. They were disconnected and removed. A pair of Threshold S/1000 (two series) 500 Watt STASIS Mono-Block Power Amplifiers replaced the GAS Amps. The mid/high towers (a.k.a.: wings) were powered by a pair of Threshold SA-1 pure class "A" 160 Watt STASIS Mono-Block Power Amplifiers. The entire IRS system was connected to the four Threshold amps, the servo control unit for the bass drivers, and the source via Monster Cable's "top-of-the-line" interconnects and speaker cables at the time.

Tom, I remember GAS amps! I almost bought a couple for my studio back then. That sounds like a serious system; how did it sound? Worth the dough?

Dick Sequerra has plenty of drivers in this range.

Back at the end of the 70s, having been bowled over by their performance in a domestic setting, Mike Oldfield spent a small fortune buying shedloads of Quad electrostatic speakers and Quad 303 power amps to drive them. He'd jumped to the hasty and ill-informed conclusion that a wall of them either side of the stage would make a fantastic PA. Apples : Oranges ("rice-boy" ...that's an interesting term that I'll have to research!)

CyberTech - you are on the right track but THD is worthless as well. THD at what frequency? At what level? What are the gain conditions set on the tested unit? Number of harmonics measured? IMD is more meaningful since these artifacts make music sound harsh. But even that is no reason to buy gear (or not). The point is - don't try to look at specs and determine what sounds best. Sit down and listen. Buy the stuff that sounds best to you.

Very interesting, however what happened to the reality in recognizing the point beyond diminishing return????? A million dollars per channel wildly surpasses this point!!!!!

Nice but there is a lot of snake oil in there and the price does not reflect what it can or can't do.

"His Ex-wife got everything except the $90,000.00 Infinity IRS speaker system" ... now THERE'S an example of WAF and spite

to Tom in Albuquerque - I know Cary Christie, the designer of the IRS betas. He is still building crazy speaker configurations. Check out Artison speakers. There are some new things coming from them in the next couple months that actually outpreform the IRS Beta system for less $$$. Turst me, you'll want to check these things out.

143 dB? WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! Seriously, this system is for trophy collectors. I'd wager a tidy sum they don't image worth a damn. I'd take a 2-channel version of what Ray Kimber has shown in his IsoMike demonstrations over this system, and add a couple of Bruce Thigpen's rotary woofers.

@ bpw: "I'd wager a tidy sum they don't image worth a damn." I'll take you up on that...two million bucks tidy enough for you? We're impressed by your name-dropping and all, but these dipoles ain't exactly a pair of Polks that need to pull 250 watts before they start sounding decent. Not even Snoop Dogg would run Ultimates at 143 dB sustained SPL. It's called headroom--ever heard of transient-handling capacity? The price point and the very size of this audiophile matériel predicate professional room correction and system calibration, respectively. Given that, Transmission Audio's unimpeachable accuracy, sensitivity, THD, dynamic range, and frequency response are just icing on the reference imaging cake. Cheating? Not on the order of four-channel SACD baffled mic'ing.

@ Silver Seven: Agreed. The most important quality in a speaker is to be as transparent as practicable (i.e., introduces no artifacts, loses no information, undergoes no distortion). Once transparency is achieved, the critical determinant of spatial information is speaker placement. Indeed, this is a very Bob Carver-like exercise on the part of Transmission Audio: the Ultimate (1) Rubs audiophiles' noses in their loss of rationality around absurdly-priced equipment; (2) Showcases mainly qualities available in much less expensive speakers (i.e., the transparency discussed above); and (3) Reveals placement, a largely free component of all loudspeaker/monitor systems, to be the most important ingredient.

what the heck can you play on those speakers to use their capabilities ? an old vinyl lp ? a $10 cd ? a $20 dvd ?

I dont know why the english want use "Ne Plus Ultra" (introduce in 1630s) instead of "Nec Plus Ultra" (the true sentence).

"Ne" or "Nec" what's the difference ? it's all Greek to me....

If a theater does install this system I hope they will have all their customers sign a waiver if they plan to test out the systems upper limit. The OSHA standard allows for 15 minutes of 115 SPL exposure before hearing protection is required. Hopefully the people talking about car speaker systems don't care about not being able to hear their grandchildren later in life!

@Tom from Albuquerque "Originally, the bass towers were powered by Great American Sound amps (a.k.a.: GAS Amps) that were "around" 600 watt mono blocks. They were disconnected and removed. A pair of Threshold S/1000 (two series) 500 Watt STASIS Mono-Block Power Amplifiers replaced the GAS Amps." Hi Tom, I believed that the IRS Basstowers had there own dedicated 1.5 kW amps amd later a 2kW amp. I know a guy in Germany that has two S/1000's on his Mid/Hightower IRS wing.

I bet these speakers were created by the same people who sell the $1,000,000 bed that is threaded with gold filament and sheep hair/human hair/horse hair. Pretty sad world we live in.

Posted Sat Aug 8, 2009, 1:08 AM — By Silver Seven Transmission Audio's unimpeachable accuracy, sensitivity, THD, dynamic range, and frequency response are just icing on the reference imaging cake. Are you really serious? You show me one person that can tell the difference between a $5000 setup and this system and I'll fly into the sun head first. If any human can tell the difference between 0.01% THD and 0.0001% THD prove it. There are tons of systems like this(priced ridiculously) all over the internet, and nobodys ever heard them, who cares. Anyone with any knowledge of how sound works knows that you can't fully reproduce live sound with a conical shaped speaker. You want to impress me then build a system that has a hundred speakers...one designed like a kick drum, 6 designed like guitar strings, probably a couple hundred more designed like piano strings, etc...if spending a million dollars on a speaker makes you happy then you have more problems with your life than how the music sounds.

If this system does what the articles purport it to do, it is likely a delicious sounding system, sounding unearthly. Why? There are several factors. They mention the drivers have very low distortion-0.02%. That is vanishingly low. If the loudspeakers can project properly, given that an acoustic space cab support their ungodly size, then they should project a headphone-like phantom image-wow. That is a tall task. I would think that the the woofers are specially designed precise extra-long devices. But they don't mention if and if so how the speakers are amplified or electronically multi-amplified. I would also be concerned on what electro-mechanical resonances this huge array might have. I would love to imagine someone installing this in a premium movie theater on the east or west coast (so I could hear it), but I would then wonder if it could be well-maintained for the long haul.

Don't get me wrong, I love great speakers and fabulous sound. But 2 million dollars would let Oxfam sustain 4,274 people (at AU$39/month/person) for one year. That's another reason why these speakers are a little over-indulgent.

Is there a return policy without 15% restocking fee?

Would it fit in a small rucksack?

You ignorant peasants! Why must you always critisize and look for negative elements when something extreme comes up? At least show some competence before moaning and bitchin'. Extremely good sound reproduction requires extreme measures. Headroom in every respect is an important factor. Ever heard a big rig PA system at a concert, playing background music at reasonable levels before the performers go onstage?? Very effortless and clean. Reason?? Tons of headroom, minimum THD and IMD. If you want 100-110 dB of concert hall music at home, you also need headroom. Dipoles are very interesting, they do not add "box" effects to the drivers. BUT, you need driver area and dedicated drivers. This system has it in spades. Price can always be discussed of course, but you WalMart DIY'ers can forget about creating something like this for pocket change. Get real. Get positive. Or go back to your puny LS3/5A's and PRETEND that you have good sound!

do they make headphones?

Some nice fabric covering wouldn't go amiss.... maybe something in a beige paisley and some padding to soften those nasty sharp edges.

The important specification: If you have ever listened to a $10,000 speaker system, well this ultimate system costs 100 times more. It could even be a hundred times better than the best sound that you rarely hear. This sound requires a room which you do not possess, and demands ears that you once had before you were 18. It could be better than sex you will never have, unless you simply don't really require all of that flabby cash for your Bugatti Veyron or Platinum Ipod/Iphone/Iposer and Enzyte ear-buds / suppositories. . No really, your ultimate is way bigger and better than what most audiophiles enjoy, Pharaoh. The Ultimate ultimate, ultimately. Monster Cable and room tunes and Emperor's Club Outcall not included.

Having been involved in the design of the IRS Series I can assure you that the IRS Subwoofer amplifier was ours. The IRS Beta used any amplifier with our servo interface electronics for the Subwoofer. Expensive doesn't necessarily mean good but sometimes there are costs involved in manufacturing that determine the price. At the time the IRS was priced to break even with our cost but it still made it the most expensive loudspeaker produced then . We used it as a marketing tool for the rest of the product line. There are so many aspects of a loudspeakers design that determine how it reproduces sound that you can not determine them all with measurements alone. Distortion, power response, impulse response, polar response, and the list goes on are all important. There are a number of approaches that our industry has used to make some very good replicators of an original performance. I have my philosophy as do other designers. We will be showing something soon that will reflect our latest thoughts. Art