Ocean Way Audio New HiRes3.5 Studio Reference Monitor

November 9 2016, 04:00
Anyone that had the opportunity to listen to Ocean Way Audio’s HR4 monitors - as we had - knows that Allen Sides is into something serious. At the 141st AES Convention in Los Angeles, CA, Ocean Way Audio (OWA) proved why they claim to be a “leading manufacturer of high-resolution reference monitors for the professional audio and audiophile market sectors”, and unveiled the new HiRes3.5 Studio Reference Monitor, also known as HR3.5. 
 

The new HR3.5 is based on the acclaimed HR4 studio monitor first shown at the 139th AES Convention in 2015 and released March of 2016. With dozens of HR4 speaker systems in use today, Ocean Way Audio has now created the HR3.5, a larger free-standing or soffit-mounted version. This monitor system delivers a frequency response of 20 Hz to 22 kHz with an SPL rating of 120db.

Together with the new HR3.5 Ocean Way Audio (OWA) displayed the HiRes4S Studio Reference Monitor, also known as HR4S, side by side, and Allen Sides, the founder or Ocean Way Audio and a five-time GRAMMY Award-winning engineer, producer and studio owner/designer, was there all the time to explain why he believes they are into something big.

The highly successful HR4 and HR4S released in March of 2016, are now in their second production run. Recording and mixing clients from studios in NYC, Japan, Europe, South America and even Russia have expressed amazement about the sonic clarity and ultra-wide 100x40 degree of dispersion profile. The speaker’s one-inch HF driver, coupled with an eight-inch LF geometrically reinforced aluminum cone driver, delivers dramatic performance. Combined with its sealed cabinet and stone-casted dual/hybrid waveguide system, the HR4 delivers a near seamless transition between the drivers, creating a massive sweet spot with amazing imaging.

The TEC Award-nominated HR4’s two-way self-powered design delivers an unprecedented level of performance, allowing for flexibility of placement in the room with a matched uniform frequency response of 35 Hz to 25 kHz. HR4S with optional twin sub-bass cabinets, 12” drivers and 800 watts per channel of built-in amplification are very unique delivering a 25 Hz-to-25 kHz frequency response with 118 db SPL.

As stated, the new HR3.5 Reference Monitor is based on the HR4S Studio Monitor and incorporates an integrated two-way dual-horn system with a one-inch HF and eight-inch MF drivers, mechanically time-aligned with twin 12” sub-bass drivers per channel. Three built-in state-of-the-art amplifiers power this speaker, featuring analog and digital inputs, 96 kHz and 24 bit sampling and tri-amped 3,400 watts per channel of pure power. The combination is a practical realization of the HR4 potential, reinforced without the complexity of the separate LF cabinets, and producing a coherent result.

At the heart of the acoustic design is OWA’s geometrically complex, stone-cast dual/hybrid waveguide system. The system delivers accurately matched and detailed imaging with OWA’s signature, unusually wide 100x40 degree horizontal and vertical dispersion, yielding a massive sweet-spot across a broad area of the listening environment. The consistency of its stereo image, even at the far corners of the room, is due to the highly consistent directivity response of this unique speaker system.

Dimensions are: 43”H x 17.5"W x 25.5” D. Remote rack-mounted amplification is available for soffit-mounted installations.
oceanwayaudio.com/hr3-5-2/
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About Joao Martins
Since 2013, Joao Martins leads audioXpress as editor-in-chief of the US-based magazine and website, the leading audio electronics, audio product development and design publication, working also as international editor for Voice Coil, the leading periodical for... Read more

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