Mid Range Vortexitude Coming in the "Super" Line

This photo escaped MAS Skunkworks so we must now confirm. It's true. Mike Arnopol is working on a new signature line with a Vortex Loaded (MVW) midrange section. Previously this feature was only available in the Flex line of loudspeakers. Initial tests are promising.
Here is what Mike says, "new prototype that I'm excited about.
Essentially a 110 sub with the new custom woofer with a vortex-loaded mid chamber with two 4"ers. Mids as good as the Flex in a 30 x 13 1/2 by 14 1/2" box. 34#. When I was first working on the Big E speakers I was blown away by the mid presentation of the 45. Very 3d. This is pretty astounding in the mids presentation. And you get that really nice cone breakup when you push them (really) hard. Boy does having a vortex loading dedicated to the mids make a difference. Had it on a gig on Saturday. Big wedding band. Big hall.The sound guys came up to me and asked what was different. They said that now they were getting midrange definition equally everywhere in the room. I'll be doing it with switchable crossover for two different midrange profiles.
sorry about the crappy picture. BTW--with the high pass on the Tantra engaged the new 110 covered a LOUD gig. B string was killin."
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I checked in with Mike the other day. He has added some modifications to the mid section to eliminate the need to tilt the loudspeaker upwards to hear the mid/HF information when standing near the loudspeaker. The results are stunning. This loudspeaker and the others to follow are the fruits of quite a bit of research from both us here at BigE and Mike. We have worked with Stanford University as well in furthering the development of the MVW system. This is exciting stuff! We expect to see variations available from Audio Kinesis for home HiFi and GC Soundworks for PA duty.

Sounds like good stuff. I am intrigued.

Any updates? Will this technology be integrated into the 112 series as well?

I'm meeting with Mike later today. The 110 version is in the final voicing stage. A 112 version is planned and to be next in development. It looks like it will be a different 12" waveguide with possibly a modified version of the top section of the Flex.

That sounds cool!

I like the 109. It's an awesome speaker I think. But the MAS112 and 46 were  a bit more to my liking.

That has changed. The new MAS110 is the best one we've done. I'll post a pic but I cut away part of the top panel following the profile of the mid baffle. Holy cow! Steve  was saying that what that does is create a "rooster tail---- that the mids shoot up and almost backward a bit. My friend Randy was over and said that the mids changed less than any of my cabs if you were behind the cab.

Since there is a dedicated midrange section I was able to cross over the mids a lot lower. This gives me much more control over the entire midrange spectrum. I compared it today  to the 112 with the 18Sound woofer. This was my king of mids.The 110 had much more balanced mids---but much more midrange clarity---without a trace of aggressiveness.The 112 sounded a bit grainier where it's prominent--in the area of 800 to 2k.The 110 was as "up front" but much more natural sounding.

For lows I like either the 46/110 sub combo or the new MAS112. With every note there is a bass drum type thump. Punchy  yet still warm. The 110 does the same thing. The bass section is the same as the 110 sub.The 110 sub is a bit punchier than the 109. The 109 goes a bit lower and is a bit bigger in the lows but I find that I can approximate the power and extension of the 109 with a small bass boost.I'm using the new custom 10.

For all of my other cabs (except the Flex) the woofer provides the low to mid midrange and the mid drivers handle the upper midrange.On the 110 the drivers and their enclosures  are optimized for the range that they do best.

BTW---it also breaks up quite nicely when pushed hard.

Sounds like it might make a great e-drum monitor. Powered + tweet.