Seawave Acoustic AM 23

A culmination of 30 years of design

The AM 23 represents a milestone for Seawave Acoustic – the culmination of our design goals of 30 years, bringing together cabinet design, component manufacturing, compression horn technology, and now our very own beryllium super tweeter.

The AM 23 form is a triumph, unicast from AC4C aluminium alloy and thereby creating our most inert cabinet ever. Coupled with our titanium compression horn driver, NST connection method and our full complement of handmade electrical crossover components, the AM 23 exceeds our previous designs in every aspect of performance.

The cherry on the cake (quite literally, as it is located at the top of the speaker!) is the Beryllium super tweeter which extends the high frequencies to 35 kHz to lend a final level of refinement to the horn standmount design.

The AM 23 possesses a dynamic realism and transparency, not to mention a speed and depth of control in the lower frequencies, that might embarrass the makers of some larger, hi-end designs. For many, this speaker will fulfil their every need and reacquaint them, intimately and refreshingly, with all their favourite performances

Technology

AC4C Uni-Cast Cabinet

We learned much from our previous designs featuring the AC4C Uni-Cast moulding technique. The AM23 cabinet features a much more complex structure – which in turn created many fresh challenges in the production of its mouldings. However, the new cabinet form has further enhanced the vibration-dampening characteristics of the alloy and produced an even more inert structure. The horn too has benefited from this process, since it is now threaded into place to produce a tightly-fitting bond, eliminating any risk of resonance.

We have also attached a seamless ring for the location of a metal grille which eliminates the need for a fabric one.

The uniquely attractive cabinet complements the contrasting, skilfully-painted horn to ensure that the new AM23 look as good as it sounds and sound as good as it looks.

Beryllium Super Tweeter

With the introduction of the AM23, we are proud to showcase our very own Beryllium super tweeter. Bo San, CEO of Seawave Acoustic, devised this concept many years ago, and he has now realised it by bringing to market a tailormade unit for his horn speaker designs.

Combining the two qualities of extreme lightness and very high rigidity, Beryllium provides an ideal material for tweeters. It allows for the extreme acceleration, deceleration and re-acceleration required of super tweeters as they perform at up to 35,000 cycles a second, while it accurately plots the increasing and decreasing voltage demands of a complex musical signal.

The incorporation the new Beryllium super tweeter gives the AM23 silky extended highs, greatly enhancing the harmonic information while delivering additional spatial information to recreate realistic soundstages.

Non-Soldering Technology (NST)

Every electrical connection point within the AM23 is made using our proprietary non-solder methodology (NST). Solder is lead-based and therefore impedes an electrical signal, causing a drop in the voltage which negatively affects the sound. And so, we twist and press together the connections using our specially formulated method, sealing them to create a long-lasting, high performance electrical pathway. The result: an increase in the transparency of the loudspeaker and an enhanced sense of dynamic expression. Harmonic integrity, too, is also improved. Seawave Acoustic’s NST demonstrates the lengths we go to minimise any loss in performance of the original electrical signal that ultimately defines the speaker’s acoustic output.

Specially Produced Resistors

When developing the AM23 we took our resistor technology to the next level. Utilising manufacturing techniques for military applications our new resistors have ceramic housings which have now been made to the highest standard realisable. Incorporating our NST method to eliminate lead solder as it is harmful to electrical signals passing from one conductor to another, we have ensured the highest quality signal path and complete integrity. Featuring silver adhesive to bind the connections with a military spec housing we have managed to create our ultimate resistor component.

Kapton Inductor

For our previous designs we developed our own nickel alloy core inductors using 6C OFC and DuPont PTFE film. For the AM23, however, we took this one step further using Kapton tape (which is much thinner and uses less copper) to create an even more powerful inductor. While the results of the original inductors were revelatory, the new Kapton inductor has given a realism and naturalness to the bass frequencies that are simply phenomenal. Hand-built to our exacting standards, our new inductors produce a bass in our stand mount which, during demonstrations, regularly invites one question: Where’s the subwoofer?

Capacitors

Our most recent incursion into high-end component production has been in the field of capacitors. Utilising 69 OFC and Kapton insulation, we have succeeded in created a capacitor with an unsurpassed level of performance.

Hand-crafted locally, we have created a component that matches perfectly the requirements for our discriminating horn, producing the naturalness and transparency of our design ambitions.