Legacy Audio’s 24 bit Whisper XDS speaker system sets the mark for dynamic range and imaging accuracy. The Whisper XDS employs a differential acoustic wave-launch which uniquely preserves the directional cues encoded in quality stereo and multichannel recordings. Two full length baffles, driven one behind the other, are digitally synchronized to maintain an ideal directivity pattern.
The Whisper XDS design radically increases piston area in the forward plane extending bandwidth, sensitivity, and frequency range. Because the design is open air, the system is virtually free of enclosure resonance and room limitations. Flaunting the latest in ribbon and cone technology, the elegant monoliths look just as dramatic as they sound. Whisper XDS’s differential alignment is analogous to a dual element microphone. Signals from the two baffles are combined acoustically with time compensation to steer the low frequency wave-launch forward, while creating a progressively reduced acoustic output to the sides until reaching a null at 90 degree off axis. This eliminates boundary interactions from sidewalls, ceiling and floor. The gradient acoustic pressure reaching the listener at each ear contains far less room noise, allowing the brain to lock in on the natural ambience in the recording.
The sweet spot is much wider with the Whisper XDS design, allowing the listener to move outside the left speaker and still hear a balance with the right speaker, and vice versa. The manual recommends a strong toe-in, to cast the strongest acoustic shadow across the face. It explains that the imprint of the shadow of the nose into the opposite ear is the other portion of the stereo signal that is usually washed out by excessive room reflections with conventional speakers.
The nearly six foot towers host dual 15” woofers on each of the two baffles, which are spaced less than four inches apart. The woofers pump in the same direction, so the pressure change between the two is virtually zero (reminiscent of the magnetic caterpillar drive from the Red October submarine). The midrange is covered by a carefully positioned array of four cast frame drivers with a silver-graphite diaphragm. Highs shimmer from the Dual AMT Tweeter system. The ‘plug and play’ 24-bit Whisper system allows adjustment of channel separation, low frequency contour and proximity via the proprietary algorithms included in the Wavelaunch processor. Whisper XDS can also be upgraded with the award winning Wavelet processor for the highest level of performance and even more control. For the tube lovers, the upper portion of the highly sensitive speaker can be driven by the user’s choice of amplification.