The brains, heart and soul of the new Firewall for Loudspeakers by LessLossTuesday 27 August, 2019
Dear esteemed Customers,
Learn more about our promotion, ending soon! Newsletter #1 Newsletter #2 Newsletter #3 Newsletter #4 Don't miss it! The new Firewall for Loudspeakers is so effective because in designing it we did not ask the typical questions. We asked fundamentally different questions and came up with fundamentally different answers than would have been possible otherwise. This product is not about what the amp sees in terms of impedance or load. This is no Zobel network or other invasive technology. What the speaker does in conjunction with the amp remains absolutely the same as before. In terms of electrical performance, what the amp will "see" per polarity when sending its signal through the Firewall for Loudspeakers is a 16mm^2 cross section of pure copper, which is incredibly high conductivity, much higher than most any loudspeaker cable, and certainly more than any internal wiring of any loudspeaker. So, in no way does the Firewall for Loudspeakers impede dynamic signal flow, nor does it influence the impedance of the speaker that the amp sees. In flowing through the Firewall unit, the signal is conditioned without ever influencing its resistance at all, at any audio frequency. This has a profound effect because only the most natural results follow, without any adverse effects to micro-dynamics. The amp (any amp in fact) will continue to perform in conjunction with the speaker exactly as it did before. The resulting sound quality, however, is greatly improved. Our approach can be split up into three basic terms. (1) The brains (unique in-house controlled copper processing), (2) the heart (proprietary Firewall™ noise reduction solution) (3) and the soul (special assembly approach). A perfect balance of the three, all three being exemplary and far beyond the typical scale for audio solutions, results in a magnificent boost in sonic performance. Let's take these three and unpack them. (1) The Brains In standard extrusion processes, the copper undergoes many forces until the desired size is achieved. Pictured at the top of the image below, you can see a standard copper wire as extruded using industrial methods. Next to this standard copper wire, you can see our copper that we use in the Firewall for Loudspeakers. It is a completely different beast. This is created through proprietary means. LessLoss proprietary copper sourcing and in-house processing creates absolutely purpose-specific raw material which undergoes absolutely no tension or forces other than those which are specific to each polarity of our design. Thus, the positive and negative Firewall for Loudspeakers units are completely different from the very inception of the individual conductor material used. This is no typical exercise in choosing different off-the-shelf metals for positive and negative polarities to get a 'house sound' deemed 'nice.' It goes much more fundamentally into the nature of the material itself. We come intriguingly close to dancing with the concept of brownian noise itself. This time consuming and fundamental level of detail adhered to in production creates a material (seen here next to standard copper) which bears a physical malleability closer to that of lead (or even butter), than industry sourced copper. Thus, even its acoustic properties are fundamentally different than those of standard copper. Industrially annealed copper, known as 'soft,' does not even come close. In slightly different lighting, this image shows in direct comparison how different our in-house made raw material is from standard copper. Standard copper, even soft annealed type, withstands considerable pressure. Our special material does not at all and must be handled with the most extreme care. 99.99999999999999999%... ad absurdum We have painstakingly investigated the tie between copper purity and resulting audio performance. You will see much talk in the audio world about the so-called 'nines race.' Through direct consultation with several metallurgy labs which determine metal purity with governmentally recognized certification processes, these bearing legal status, we have no doubt that this type of claim is complete bogus. In fact, there is no certification laboratory on earth which will certify any purity higher than the industry standard 'four nines,' which means 99.99%. Anything you see over and above this in terms of purity is pure fiction. And even the four nines purity cannot be guaranteed for an entire spool. Buyer beware. What we have established through our fundamental investigation is that, in fact, it is not the purity in terms of material analysis which yields the performance we are aiming for, but rather the purity of the process. For it is easy to take the purest copper, process it according to our proprietary methods, assemble it specifically, and the resulting sound quality will be far worse than using run-of-the-mill industrially sourced re-cycled copper which boasts no exotic purity at all. These types of tests prove without doubt that people have been asking the wrong questions and have been looking in the wrong place for sonic bliss. We take pride in this proprietary knowledge which allows us to boost performance to unworldly levels far beyond what any fictitious 'nines race' leader can even dream of achieving. (2) The Heart The heart of our solution is the special Firewall technology we have been constantly working on and perfecting for over a decade now. Again, due to the proprietary nature of the solution, we cannot delve too deeply into its every intricacy. But we can explain how it is made. It is made by laser. Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), also known as Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique designed to use a high power-density laser to melt and fuse metallic powders together. This process has the ability to fully weld the metal powder material into a solid three-dimensional part of any conceivable shape or form. We are using the most advanced AM system called Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). Research on this process began in 1995 as a German research project at the Fraunhofer Institute. This new technology was first commercialized only in the year 2000. From the Wikipedia entry for Selective Laser Melting: (the link is here.) "Since the components are built layer by layer, it is possible to design organic geometries, internal features and challenging passages that could not be cast or otherwise machined." A computer process slices the 3D CAD file data into many ~20 micrometer thick layers. The thin layers are, one by one, selectively smelted by the laser which is located in a tightly controlled atmosphere of argon gas. This is no simple desktop operation. Oxygen levels must be kept lower than 500PPM to prevent explosion. The high-power ytterbium fiber laser beam is literally hundreds of watts strong. The laser energy is intense enough to permit full welding of the particles to form solid metal, without creating a porous internal structure. Any approach to the machinery must be made wearing protective gear, as seen below in an image of the people working on our Firewall™ production. Magnified many times, below you can see the implementation of the latest Firewall technology in conjunction with our special in-house designed raw copper rods. Because the Firewall is made by laser, extremely fine details of design can be taken advantage of, resulting in a very sensitive part. We could not deliver this product and provide reliable long-term results in the exposed form as pictured below. Through simple usage, it would quickly bend or break up and lose its physical integrity. Careful assembly techniques need be established because any maladjusted move results in immediate compromise to this delicate solution. These techniques require special tooling custom manufactured for LessLoss to enable a rational assembly speed and to keep costs down. The Soul When the brains and heart come together, in strict fashion according to our best knowledge resulting from years of countless experiments and discoveries, the soul of the device shines through. The transparent housing refracts the ambient light creating optical illusions of a fantom third Firewall inside. Continue turning the cylinder and at times it can even appear that there is no wall thickness. This approach takes care of two things. Firstly, structural integrity of all of the sensitive components is maintained, even if you throw this device around or drive on it with an industrial vacuum cleaner. It is rock solid to the user, and liquid soft to the signal. Secondly, the lack of any colored material surrounding the active portion of the Firewall guarantees the most natural sound quality possible. As in any refined balancing act, too much of any one ingredient will inevitably color the outcome. The closest thing to a total absence of coloration is the least electro-magnetically filtering material, which means in this case absolutely pure transparency. This allows the perfect conditions for the new Firewall for Loudspeakers solution to really shine. Magnificently so, as you will instantly hear. Using C-MARC™ cable to top it off Of course, with a solution so effective and mature, we need a flexible umbilical of the same uncompromising performance. C-MARC™ cable is the only choice for this, of course. Nothing even comes close in terms of purity, naturalness, and silence of operation. One listen, and you'll see why. Learn more about our promotion, ending soon! Newsletter #1 Newsletter #2 Newsletter #3 Newsletter #4 Don't miss it! Don't miss this chance to revolutionize the performance of your speakers! Regards, Louis Motek | LessLoss.com |