Top Recording Professional Aids D5 Development
San Diego, California July, 2011 …. Equator Audio Research, recognized globally as a leading manufacturer of highly accurate studio reference monitors for mission critical recording applications, is pleased to announce that acclaimed recording professional Elton Ahi has joined the Equator Technical Advisory Committee.
Elton comes to the Equator Technical Advisory Committee with a long list of successful projects to his credit including his engineering work on the Oscar winning movie “Last of the Mohicans”. Elton has recorded and/or mixed an extremely long list of successful, well-known movies www.imdb.com/name/nm0013941/ and television shows. He has also successfully engineered various POP and other forms of music in the US and around the world. Currently he owns Rusk Studios and makes it his home base. Rusk is a world class recording facility in Hollywood. We stopped by Rusk with D5s in hand in June. While referencing his current recording project, Elton made a series of voicing suggestions to allow the detail to shine through the general “sweetness” of the D5 sound. His comment: “the mid-range is perfect and I actually hear the high hats more clearly than I’ve heard them before.”
All too often products have been developed in a vacuum with professional consultation often occurring after the product is completed and already being sold. Elton has been consulting for Equator for some time but has increased his involvement during the D5 development process.
With the D5 now in its final voicing phase, The Technical Advisory Committee has been intricately involved with detailed evaluation and adjustments of its default frequency response curves to ensure that the D5 is a viable recording and mixing tool.
Most $300 monitors are voiced for consumer excitement. The low end is extremely boosted and the high-end is extremely boosted, resulting in a smiley face frequency curve that leaves a hole in the mid-range. Manufactures have done this because it is fairly easy to accomplish and, conveniently, in a store demo situation the speakers “cut through”. During recording and mixing, however, the mid-range is the most critical area and if the monitors lack mid-range detail the resulting mix will not translate appropriately.
The new D5 (Direct 5) studio monitors are geared for the recording professional in need of a small (9.75" x 7" x 8.5"), affordable, accurate, well-voiced, reference studio monitor solution.
To achieve extensive mid-range detail the D5 shares much of the acclaimed Equator Q Series technology. Like all Equator 2-way active monitoring systems, the D5 employs a Zero-Point Reference™ coaxial design with internal DSP handling numerous tasks, including matching the Digitally-Controlled Transducer’s™ output and the ability to apply pin-point accurate voicing. The DSP allows for instant A/B voicing adjustments. With highly successful professionals like Elton Ahi aiding in the development and the voicing we have a high level of confidence that the end result will be worthwhile.
The tiny D5 features a coaxially designed 5.25” woofer and center mounted 1” silk tweeter in an all wood cabinet. The newly designed digital amplifier boasts extremely low distortion specs and delivers 2 x 50w of peak power. SPL is rated at 103 dB combined @ 1m.
The D5 incorporates the highest quality components.
The introductory price for the D5 is under $300 per pair, Equator has developed an online store to sell them directly to users throughout the Americas and is offering a 60 day money back guarantee. Shipping is to begin summer of 2011.
About Equator Audio Research
Equator Audio Research is committed to delivering studio reference monitor solutions that overcome the myriad of challenges faced in today’s production environment. From our phase and time accurate coaxial designs to our matched transducer manufacturing to our sophisticated Q Series Room Analysis and compensation software; our products meticulously provide solutions to existing sonic obstacles. Equator products are used daily in mission-critical applications at many of the world’s finest recording studios. For additional information on all Equator Audio products, visit the company online at www.equatoraudio.com.
