Guppy and Mud Puppy Phase Coherent Speakers
With the introduction of the Mud Puppy loudspeakers, Daniels Audio takes a tiny step forward in the
reproduction of acoustical instruments. If you know and love live unamplified music and recognize the
disturbing sound effects created by all other loudspeakers you will quickly fall in love with the
Mud Puppy loudspeakers!
How can we claim to have taken only a "tiny step forward" and yet have produced such an incredible
loudspeaker? The sound field produced by a live orchestra (with its characteristic diffraction around
the listener's head) is extremely complex. A few vibrating discs or membranes, normally called
loudspeakers, could not hope to reproduce it exactly. In fact, it would require many vibrating
strings, columns of air in tubes, etc. to reproduce it exactly. That is, it takes a full orchestra
to reproduce a full orchestra! Fortunately it is not necessary to reproduce the sound field exactly.
For example, even the most fastidious of us would not mind (or perhaps hear) the differences between
orchestra A, and orchestra A with its members shifted randomly a bit to the left or right. It is,
however, critically important to understand the physics involved in a systematic approximation scheme.
The first step in such a scheme is the faithful reproduction of the original recorded signal at the
listener's ears. While this is not the same as the original sound field with its attendant
diffraction, it is a "tiny step forward" that finally preserves, in large part, both the amplitude
AND timing information of the original sound field.
A look at the standard technical specifications of loudspeakers tells us little, if any, about the
sound of the speaker. All they specify is the ability of the loudspeaker to reproduce single continuous
test tones. The Daniels Audio loudspeaker uses a single driver, with what appears to be limited
frequency response. A fuller list of specifications, however, would show the Mud puppy loudspeaker
to have a far wider bandwidth than other loudspeakers. We faithfully reproduce both the amplitude
AND timing information of the original recording well out past the range of the human voice (out to
about 8 KHz). Using this same criteria, other loudspeakers have a range of essentially a few tens of
hertz! Note that even though the Mud Puppy attenuates the amplitude of very high frequency signals,
the phase information remains unchanged. For example an 800 Hz square wave will look like an 800 Hz
square wave, albeit with the edges rounded and with a slower rise time, whereas this same square wave
through another speaker looks like noise, whose only relationship to the original square wave is the
period with which the noise repeats itself. If you want a speaker which can emit high frequency chirps,
then any other speaker fits the bill. If you also want to generate a lot of low frequency noise, then
any speaker that goes below 30 Hz will do. If, however, you are interested in the reproduction of music,
as produced by acoustical instruments (not simply single continuous test tones), then your only choice
is the Mud Puppy.
The Daniels Audio Time and Amplitude Compensation module is the reason for the exemplary performance
of our speakers. Since the DATAC module maintains the phase and amplitude of the signal, the detail,
timbre, dynamics and soundstage of the original recording are retained. This means violins finally
do sound like violins, and double basses like double basses. Voices and all other instruments retain
their proper timbre, dimension, and spatial location; none of the syrupy, veiled or edgy high end and
low frequency garble that characterize all other speakers. In spite of the Mud-Puppies apparent poor
frequency response, they will sound brighter and show more apparent high frequency extension than most
speakers with "continuous sine wave" responses well beyond 20 KHz. Those who dislike the sound of
unmplified music, who prefer exceedingly large orchestras where a few musicians seem to play all these
gigantic instruments (that occupy the same space) simultaneously, or again those unfamiliar
with the sound of unamplified acoustical instruments are to look elsewhere for the appropriate
sound effect generator.
For those who enjoy music that does not require the bottom octave, the Daniels Audio Guppy
loudspeakers will provide the same unadulterated sound in a much smaller package and at
substantial savings.
For the discerning few who love the sound of live, unamplified music, we invite you to hear the closest
thing to it at any price, the Daniels Audio loudspeakers.
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Mud Puppy Specifications:
| Dimensions | 47.5" H x 11" W x 15" D | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speaker Type | Dynamic, single driver, sealed enclosure | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effective Driver Diameter | 5.96 inches (7.8" O.D.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frequency Response* | 24 Hz -- 8 KHz: -3 dB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Phase Response | 24 Hz -- 20 KHz: +-10 degrees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sensitivity | 91 dB @ 1KHz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Impedance | >3 ohms (20 Hz - 20 KHz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 112 Lbs. each (51 Kg.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Standard Finish | Oak Veneer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power Requirements for DATAC module | 100 -- 130 VAC/200 -- 260 VAC @ 1 Watt, internally selectable. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | 21" H x 10.5" W x 10.5" D | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speaker Type | Dynamic, single driver, sealed enclosure | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effective Driver Diameter | 4.87" (6.8" O.D.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frequency Response* | 45 Hz -- 8 KHz: -3 dB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Phase Response | 40 Hz - 20 KHz: +-10 degrees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sensitivity | 91 dB @ 1KHz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Impedance | >3 ohms (20 Hz - 20 KHz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 37 Lbs. each (17 Kg.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Standard Finish | Oak Veneer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power Requirements for DATAC module | 100 -- 130 VAC/200 -- 260 VAC @ 1 Watt, internally selectable. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||