New Edge 216 Price/performance TOP CLASS positive ... - Magnat

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<strong>positive</strong> sound<br />

high maximum level<br />

high quality workmanship<br />

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<strong>TOP</strong> <strong>CLASS</strong><br />

<strong>Price</strong>/<strong>performance</strong><br />

<strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> <strong>216</strong>

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<strong>TOP</strong> <strong>CLASS</strong><br />

<strong>Price</strong>/<strong>performance</strong><br />

<strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> <strong>216</strong><br />

The 16cm <strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> <strong>216</strong> speaker from<br />

<strong>Magnat</strong> is attractive with a flow-optimised<br />

design. What about the aerodynamics?<br />

When setting up home speakers it is entirely<br />

self-evident: the sound is meant to travel to<br />

the ear as directly as possible, without being<br />

hindered by objects which could distort the<br />

sound pattern. The same problems are evident<br />

in a vehicle: everything lying between<br />

the cone and the ear influences the sound.<br />

But this piece of acoustic wisdom isn‘t everything.<br />

While the front of the cone gives free<br />

rein to the sound, things don‘t appear quite<br />

so rosy at the rear. Here the basket, magnet,<br />

voice coil, pole plate and connections<br />

obstruct the path of the sound. This realisation<br />

is not new by any means, but the developers<br />

from <strong>Magnat</strong> have now addressed<br />

the problem. This has resulted in the speakers<br />

and subwoofer of the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> series<br />

becoming more aerodynamic. The result of<br />

the engineers‘ efforts is termed ‚Air Flow<br />

Technology‘ (in short: AF Tech). We ordered<br />

the 16cm <strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> <strong>216</strong> speaker system<br />

for around 300 Euro and put it to the test.<br />

The woofer of the 2-way component system<br />

comes with five, almost graceful looking<br />

supports. Its visual profile is modelled on<br />

that of rotor blades: these are arranged on<br />

both sides in order to allow the air to flow<br />

unhindered and with as little swirl as possible.<br />

This is completely in keeping with<br />

the motto: as much as necessary, but as<br />

little as possible. The basket offers sufficient<br />

free space behind the centre spider and it is<br />

open on all sides, which also enables the air<br />

to circulate freely without any obstructions.<br />

This also allows the heat to be removed<br />

and dissipated by the 15 cooling fins that<br />

are positioned on the rear plate. In addition<br />

to the many technical features there is<br />

certainly something for the eye to behold.<br />

The bezel of the die-cast basket is turned<br />

and processed in a glossy silver finish and<br />

the dark chrome-plated pole plates are also<br />

very attractive. And the aluminium cone has<br />

a light-grey ceramic coating, which provides<br />

better resonance damping. The wide<br />

rubber surround enables a large excursion,<br />

which is necessary for the production<br />

of high sound pressure. These fine touches<br />

really pay off: the autohifi laboratory<br />

TEST factory confirms a maximum<br />

sound pressure for the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong> woofer<br />

of around 98 decibels at 50 Hz. This kind<br />

of level has only been created previously<br />

with a crammed-full chassis. At 90 Hz the<br />

woofer produces a level slightly above 103<br />

decibels. The bottom line is a considerable<br />

16 points for the maximum level.<br />

Open Air: 15 cooling fins positioned in front of the<br />

pole plate absorb the heat from the coil.

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The tweeter with its turned aluminium edging<br />

and stylish honeycomb grille looks very<br />

appealing. It has a mature, 25 mm fabric<br />

cone. The dome shape goes under the<br />

name „Canternary“, which depicts an arc<br />

with an inconsistent radius. „This can be<br />

envisaged like a sagging chain“, proclaims<br />

the figurative explanation from product manager<br />

Nic König. This should enable cone<br />

resonance to be repressed. The dome has<br />

a small flange-mounted coupling volume,<br />

which ensures a low resonance frequency.<br />

The <strong>Magnat</strong> engineers have dispensed with<br />

the conventional cooling ferrofluid in the air<br />

gap. The speaker specialist accepts the lower<br />

load capacity in favour of a more impulsive,<br />

undamped sound rendition. In terms of<br />

measurement the tweeter has a more pronounced<br />

resonance frequency, which could<br />

have a negative effect on the crossover. But<br />

the engineers at <strong>Magnat</strong> have done their<br />

homework and provided the high-pass filter<br />

with an absorption circuit to linearise impedance.<br />

An LRC element is arranged in the<br />

crossover parallel to the tweeter connection<br />

for this very purpose; i.e. a resistor, a capacitor<br />

and a coil in series, which reduces<br />

the impedance peak that is co-ordinated<br />

with the resonance frequency of the tweeter<br />

at 1400 Hz. The crossover, however,<br />

has even more to offer beneath its attractive<br />

aluminium panel. The tweeter can resort to<br />

three different sound level settings and, on<br />

top of everything, it also possesses a jumper,<br />

which increases the level in the super<br />

high range. In terms of sound it provides<br />

more „glitz“ when suited. The low-pass filter<br />

also has a small circuit, whose purpose is<br />

to steady the cone resonance of the woofer<br />

at around 4.5 kHz. The mid-tone range<br />

can also be lowered in the car if necessary.<br />

While a normal 12 decibel crossover manages<br />

on four components, the extras on the<br />

<strong>Magnat</strong> unit produce the same as 15. Despite<br />

this nothing has been compromised in<br />

terms of quality: all capacitors consist of<br />

high-quality metallised polyester films<br />

and all resistors are manufactured from<br />

low-inductance metal oxide. The air core<br />

coils in the treble range are distortion-free<br />

and the inductance in the low-pass can<br />

also be observed. All in all the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Edge</strong><br />

<strong>216</strong> marketed by Audiovox produces a<br />

well-rounded, high quality impression,<br />

which would be perfectly acceptable for<br />

speaker systems costing twice as much.<br />

After this early praise the <strong>Magnat</strong> speaker<br />

had to compete with test references in the<br />

listening area. The playback was fresh and<br />

lively. The brilliant tweeter didn‘t omit<br />

any detail and avoided over-exaggerating<br />

any aspect. In the bass test the <strong>New</strong><br />

<strong>Edge</strong> <strong>216</strong> did not completely live up to the<br />

liveliness of the 28-point reference system<br />

‚Syrincs Cryor 62‘, however it did produce<br />

more force and depth and, thanks to its<br />

spirited playback, achieved an extra point,<br />

which meant: 29 sound points. The aerodynamics<br />

of the woofer also bore fruit with regard<br />

to maximum levels, which merely adds<br />

to the overall high-quality of the components<br />

that you get for the favourable price.<br />

Variable: the crossover offers several setting possibilities<br />

for the woofer and tweeter. It has been manufactured<br />

from particularly high-quality elements.