Producer and song writer Andy Gray has written the film score for the new documentary film ‘TT3D Closer To The Edge’ at his Isle Of Wight studio, ‘Real Noize’ using a 5.1 Unity Audio monitoring system comprising of the Rocks and forthcoming Boulder active monitors.
The film tells the story of last years Isle of Man TT motorcycle race, featuring Guy Martin who now has his own BBC television program called ‘The boat that Guy built’. A combination of orchestral arrangements, record in Prague, and electronic music which Andy is renowned for truly captures what the competitors feel while hurtling around the 23 mile TT circuit according to racer Coner Cummins.Hundreds of cameras used to capture the event, and 500 hours of footage were edited to portray the legendary dangerous race that has claimed many lives over the years. The film also boasts Japan’s latest 3D techniques in a subtle but effective way to highlight the speed and tension of the event even more.
Mixed by Air Studios Jake Jackson at Andy’s studio on the Rocks and Boulders the new 5.1 system performed admirably. Andy, a committed fan of The Rocks added the three Boulders for the L,C,R and used his everyday nearfield Rocks to handle the surround channels.
“The Rocks have become the only monitor I use now in my studio from writing through to the mix stage, I totally trust them and I no longer feel the need to reference to any other monitor. The Boulders sound massive and more than twice the size of the Rock, the same open super detailed sound as the Rock.. and a bit more.. the bottom end is unreal for a speaker of this size.. and like the Rock really wide.”
The next active professional monitor following on from the The Rock, is the new larger 3 way Boulder, due to be available at the end of May.
Unique Cabinet Construction
The Boulder shares some of the same interesting material and designs of The Rock, such as a Baltic Birch plywood cabinet instead of commonly used MDF, but this time 18mm instead of 12mm as used in The Rock. The cabinet dimensions are 368mm deep x 256 mm wide x 549mm high.
To add density, mass and rigidity to the design, the front baffle is manufactured from Corian, like The Rock, and bonded to an internal wooden baffle, but the Boulder uses a huge 30mm slab of Corian instead of The Rocks 12mm and with large radius edges and scalloped sections either side of the coaxial mid/tweeter unit to reduce reflections.
The Rock has gained a fantastic reputation for it’s super accurate smooth, fast, deeper and detailed bass response, partly due to it’s closed cabinet design, and The Boulder continues with this closed cabinet design. An ingenious bracing system has also been designed to stop cabinet flexing.
Woofers
Unlike other 3 way monitors, The Boulders 2x180mm (7” ) woofers are employed purely for bass reproduction, and they are the same woofer model as used in The Rock, the crossover point being 454Hz. This will increase low frequency extension and achieve higher SPL’s. Each woofer has a 0.2mm aluminium foil chemically bonded to a rigid pulp fibre cone. This reduces harmonic anomalies and permits +/- 15mm of woofer travel producing accurate low bass frequencies. The use of Aluminium bound to a pulp fibre cone insures that the woofer cone will remain symmetrical at all frequencies, producing a long life for the woofer element and full accuracy of the driver through its life. Something few other materials can claim.
Unique Coaxial Midrange-Tweeter
A new dual coaxial Midrange/Tweeter is employed, another unique feature of The Boulder. This very special new unit is a combination of a 5” midrange ring radiator and a concentrically arranged folded ribbon tweeter. This design realizes the vision of an acoustic point source eliminating phase issues This facilitates an optimized acoustic power response and results in a homogeneous and very wide sound dispersion angle which provides for a new kind of relaxed but very precise reproduction.
Custom Discrete Amplification By E.A.R
The Boulder uses the same custom designed Tim de Paravacini Esoteric Audio Research Class A/B amplifier modules from The Rock, but a total of four amplifier modules are used, one for each drive unit. A high frequency shelving EQ with a +/-2.5dB control, and mid band cut/boost control as well as an overall level control with also be accessible on the rear amplifier panel.
“I’m very excited about the new Boulder, the team involved, acoustician Kevin Van Green and Tim de Paravacini have helped to create and produce something really special. Field trials with numerous UK engineers and producers have confirmed this. The continuing association with Elac who have allowed us to use their coaxial mid/hf unit, which from the company’s range of drivers is their jewel in the crown. Like The Rock, this new model will boost true fidelity, fast, accurate detailed sound but with extended bass response, even more detailed mid range and higher SPL’s for larger rooms.” Kevin Walker-Unity Audio LTD MD.
Estimated price £5,000 inc VAT a pair. Available May/June.