Odd stuff

There were a pair of speakers and an amplifier featured in the Kuala Lumpur International AV Show last weekend that were really odd.


These were the Manger speakers and the Inex amplifiers (Inex calls them AmpliCables) in the Sound Precision room.

Manger speaker and Inex amp (AmpliCable).

The Manger speakers comprise the Manger Sound Transducer units matched with two pairs of normal woofers.


Unlike a cone or dome driver that we normally see in speakers, the Manger Sound Transducer is round and flat like a pancake with a nine-pointed star-shaped design.

The Manger Sound Transducer.

It was invented by Josef W. Manger who "relied on the principle of bending waves, which starting from the centre of a plate-like diaphragm, travel to the outside, like waves after a stone is thrown into the water".


According to the Manger website, www.manger-audio.co.uk, "the rigidity of this thin flexible panel increases from the centre to the outside at an equal ratio, very similarly to the basilar membrane in our ear".


It adds: "High frequencies quickly run out in the inner area of the membrane, whereas long waves (low frequencies) concentrically reach right to the edge at the star-shaped damper. There they are absorbed so that no reflections can come from the edge.


"This way the Manger Sound Transducer controls the complete frequency range from 80 Hz to 35000 Hz on its surface and is at the same time close to the ideal of the point sound source."


Not only does it act like a point source, but it is almost full range too.


In the Manger 107 Zerobox speakers on demo, the music signal is crossed over at 140Hz to the two woofers. Frequency response is touted to be 40Hz to 24kHz.


The Inex amplifiers driving the Manger speakers are also oddball components.

The small box hanging from the speaker terminals is
the amp while the larger box is the power supply.

Hanging from the speaker terminals like the 'Network Technology' boxes of MIT speaker cables is the amp that is connected to a larger box placed on the floor which is the power supply. Optical cables are used to link the components to the preamp.

It was the first time I had seen and heard the Manger speakers and Inex amps. Many audiophiles liked the system for the smoothness and good bass.