Usher Audio - Company Information

• Usher
• Joe D'Appolito
• MusikMatters

Why Should Anybody Accept Compromised Performance In Real-World Priced Speaker Systems?

Usher Audio Technology speakers and electronics are built for the experienced listener who just won’t compromise on sound quality even at moderate prices. Our loudspeakers are produced with skill and pride in an ultra-modern factory in Taiwan with great attention to manufacturing efficiency and productivity, turning out beautifully-crafted speaker systems incorporating advanced technologies like beryllium midrange drivers to match Usher’s superb beryllium tweeters.

Usher’s designs are optimized from the start of the manufacturing process with full confidence that Mr. Tsai and his dedicated employees are as devoted to perfectionist sound, surprising value, and extraordinary craftsmanship as importer MusikMatters is.

Beryllium Domes and Usher’s Drivers

Usher has been producing speakers in Taiwan for more than thirty years, and makes a number of specialized in-house drivers featuring Be beryllium ceramic diaphragms. These are created by heating beryllium formers to greater than 700 degrees, transforming them into brittle but extremely high-strength beryllium oxide. This ceramic’s enormous strength-to-weight ratio pushes the Be dome tweeter's transient response to an extraordinary level while minimizing distortion as no fabric-dome can claim.

The Be tweeters’ upper-frequency response is extremely focused and dynamic, but full-bodied, grain- and glare-free. Some manufacturers run their beryllium tweeters above 30kHz because they can, but research with the standard-setting Klippel R&D System (http://www.klippel.de/) that dynamically measures non-linear motion clearly shows that running beryllium tweeters out to almost 40kHz causes break-up distortion. Usher’s Be tweeter operates up to 30kHz eliminating the dual resonance points most beryllium tweeters are saddled with.

As a cost-cutting measure some manufacturers specify a voice coil that’s smaller than the dome it drives, but that creates resonance and distortion. Usher uses a full 1.5-inch voice coil driving the diaphragm close to its outer edge for better control, higher velocity, and power without break-up distortion. One cost-cutting technique some use is specifying

Symme-Motion® Technology Explained

Usher’s Symme-Motion® technology–applied to all Usher drivers–symmetrically locates the voice coil within each driver’s magnetic field “linearizing” the motor’s movements. That is to say, when applying positive voltage to the cone moving it outwards, it must move backward in an exactly symmetrical way when presented with the same negative voltage. Symme-Motion® ensures the voice coil remains exactly centered within the magnetic field.

Usher ensures optimal symmetry and linearity for an amazing lifelike sound as individual drivers and paired speakers are closely toleranced to within 0.2dB sensitivity for stereo pairs before we’ll let you have them! They arrive at your door tuned to begin making music!

Another element of Usher’s driver designs are the selection of materials and the design of the supporting basket or spider. Without careful engineering the baskets may act like springs and cause non-linearities in the output. Even the driver surrounds are designed to absorb vibrations that might otherwise reflect back into the cone resulting in more non-linearities.

A Word About Dr. Joseph D’Appolito

We are very happy to have Dr. Joseph D'Appolito as Usher’s technical consultant since early 2000. He provides guidance on all our speakers’ crossover designs. A world-renowned authority in audio and acoustics, he specializes in loudspeaker system design with credentials galore: BEE, SMEE, EE and Ph.D., degrees from RPI, MIT and the University of Massachusetts. As a member of the Audio Engineering Society, Dr. D'Appolito has published over 30 journal and conference papers. His most popular and influential brainchild has to be the MTM (midrange/tweeter/midrange vertical array) commonly known as the D'Appolito Configuration that’s used by dozens of manufacturers throughout the world.

Music Matters!

MusikMatters distributes and markets high end audio brands dedicated to superior products at reasonable prices. Founder/CEO Atul Kanagat explains “We at MusikMatters believe that the considerable achievements of the High End should be captured in new, affordable designs and marketed to a broader, music loving audience. We are dedicated to the goal of understanding the factors driving consumer behavior in today’s crowded marketplace and to craft offerings that help bring new customers to the industry.” Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, MusikMatters works through and wholly supports traditional dealer distribution channels, adding value with optimal distribution of specific audio product lines, unsurpassed support, easy and reliable ordering, and joint marketing efforts. MusikMatters is the exclusive US distributor for Usher and now represents JPS Labs line of cables.

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For Press Information and Photos Contact
Jonathan Scull • Scull Communications
jscull@scullcommunications.com
www.scullcommunications.com
212.807.0519