Soundcraft ABSOLUTE ZERO BROCHURE

Absolute Zero has been designed
by audio guru Trevor Stride, the
man behind the acclaimed
Absolute 2 monitor.

Trevor has over 15 years of
audio design experience behind
him, working for a number of the
industry’s leading names, including
SSL and Focusrite.

Trevor’s design philosophy
behind the Absolute Series is
deceptively simple:

• Any professional monitor should exhibit an even
frequency response at high and low levels, on
and off axis;

• it should have the most natural, uncoloured sound
possible, whatever the price level;

• it should not exagerate or enhance sound;

• it should not cause listening fatigue (often arising
from the inappropriate use of driver materials that
produce spurious resonances masking the monitor's
true sound);

• it should be reliable in prolonged, professional use.

To satisfy these criteria, Trevor has scrutinised every
element of Absolute Zero’s design to optimise its

performance.

The sturdy, vented cabinet design complements
the 170mm low-frequency driver to give smooth,
extended bass response and the soft-dome
tweeter is mounted in a proprietary waveguide to
ensure controlled dispersion.

In the tradition of all good monitors, the wide
frequency response remains even at all listening
levels, both on and off axis - so you can be
assured of consistent, dependable results
every time. Furthermore, special attention has
been paid to the impulse response of the system
in order to give the most natural, uncoloured
sound possible.

Absolute Zero offers superb all-round
performance, is remarkably versatile and comes
at a price that is truly affordable.

Absolute Zero

COMPACT PROFESSIONAL MONITOR SYSTEM

APPLICATIONS

Any studio monitoring

application
Video edit/

post-production suites

Multimedia

Small venue sound

reinforcement/distribution

Hifi/AV systems

Absolute Zero at Roundhouse Studios, London

http://www.spirit-by-soundcraft.co.uk

DESIGN CONCEPT

THE MAIN FEATURES

• High definition Linear
Phase design

• Flat on and off axis frequency
response

• Wide, controlled dispersion

• CAD optimised, low loss crossover

• Custom designed drivers

• Long throw 170mm LF driver

• 25mm soft dome HF unit on
proprietary waveguide

• Ported cabinet for extended LF
response at all listening levels

Spirit by Soundcraft™, Harman International Industries Ltd.,
Cranborne House, Cranborne Industrial Estate, Cranborne
Road, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 3JN, England.
Tel:

[phone]. Fax: [phone]

Spirit by Soundcraft™, 11820 Kemper Road, Auburn,
CA. 95603, USA. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone]

http://www.spirit-by-soundcraft.co.uk

Part # ZL0364

THE INSIDE STORY

The Tweeter

Absolute Zero’s tweeter is a custom­designed catenary-profile soft dome
unit which exhibits all the extended
high frequency characteristics of
standard metal dome tweeters, without
sharing any of their harshness. The
tweeter is recessed to help protect it
from surface impacts.

The Bass Driver

Absolute Zero uses a new 6.5"/170mm
bass driver with a 30mm voice coil,
providing extended bass response
with high power handling capability.

The Waveguide

Absolute Zero’s proprietary wave­guide serves to “time-align” its
tweeter with its bass driver, and to
restrict the tweeter’s dispersion to a
90° angle. This reduces cabinet­edge diffraction and the risk of
acoustic feedback in sound
reinforcement applications, whilst
increasing high frequency power
handling.

The Port

Many monitors utilise deep port
designs positioned at the front of
the cabinet, which can cause mid­range response to vary by as much
as 6dB. Absolute Zero’s deep port
is rear facing, guaranteeing
midrange consistency.

The Cabinet

Many small cabinet speakers suffer
from diffraction problems in the
upper-mid frequencies caused by
sharp vertical edges. In contrast,
Absolute Zero’s vertical edges are
contoured to minimise diffraction
from reflected sounds.

The Connectors

Poor quality connectors are often
the weakest link in the signal path,
reducing signal quality from
amplifier to speaker. Absolute Zero
uses only top-grade gold plated
binding posts which give better
contact for many years.

Custom Components

Many of Absolute Zero’s components,
including its tweeter and bass driver,
are exclusive to Spirit to ensure that
performance is not compromised
by the use of off-the-shelf designs.

USING ABSOLUTE ZERO

The in-line driver array, with its
wideangle tweeter, means that
Absolute Zero may be used
horizontally or vertically. With
flat response up to 30° off-axis,
speaker angle is less critical than
with many monitors. In addition,
the rear-ported design not only
makes for a smaller front baffle
area but also allows the speaker
to be used in mid-room
positions.

Absolute Zero is rated at 95

Watts

RMS but its high quality

design permits the use of more
powerful amplifiers, albeit with
caution.

The sturdy, recessed binding

posts will accept bare wires, 4

mm

‘banana’ plugs or 6mm fork
terminals.

Most tweeters have a wide

dispersion angle

Absolute Zero’s
tweeter is more

efficient because it

has a narrower

dispersion angle

and a higher

on-axis output

Power handling (typical music signal content): 95 Watts RMS
Frequency response (half space on axis): 55Hz - 18kHz, +1/-3dB
Impedance: 8 Ω nominal
Crossover (4th order acoustic Linkwitz-Riley): 2.5kHz
Sensitivity (half space): 89dB/2.83V/1m
Driver complement: 170mm LF/25mm HF
Dimensions (HxWxD): 320

×

230 ×290mm

12.6

×9 ×

11.4 in

Weight: 11kg (24lbs) per pair

E&OE. Spirit by Soundcraft ™ reserves the right to alter designs or specifications
without prior notice

SPECIFICATIONS

CONTROLLED DISPERSION

Accurate monitoring is all about
hearing a faithful rendition of
your programme material. But
sometimes your judgement can,
quite literally, be ‘coloured’ by
the environment in which you’re
working. High frequencies from
wide dispersion tweeters can
reflect off nearby surfaces,
creating unwanted echoes. In
imperfect or untreated acoustic
environments, it is useful to
control dispersion.

Absolute Zero’s controlled

dispersion

of high frequencies

means you hear more

of your

music and less of your room.

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auto

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100 1000

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Hz

dB