Loudspeakers

Specified sensitivity has dropped 1dB to 91dB for the Sasha DAW compared to the previous Series-2 [HFN Jun '14], but our pink noise figure of exactly 90dB SPL at 1m for 2.83V input indicates that the reduced figure is still a little optimistic. This figure was obtained by measuring at 3m and correcting to 1m, though; had the measurement actually been made at 1m the result might have been a little different. Good news: the DAW is easier to drive than the S2, albeit still challenging. The impedance minimum is a little higher at 2.4ohm and the impedance phase angles no worse, so the minimum EPDR rises from 1.1ohm at 72Hz to 1.3ohm at 67Hz, with a second dip to 1.7ohm at 120Hz. Make no mistake, though: the Sasha DAW demands a partnering amplifier happy to drive low impedances.

Forward frequency responses [Graph 1, above] were measured at a mic height of 40in with the Sasha DAW set up for this listening height and 10ft (3.05m) listening distance. Ignore the decline in output below 600Hz which is an artefact of the necessarily short measurement time window. Apart from a marked dip in output in the octave between 2-4kHz, the trend is flat prior to a narrow peaking just below 20kHz. The response errors between 500Hz-20kHz are lower than the S2's at ±2.8dB and ±3.7dB, respectively, and although pair matching over the same frequency range is a little disappointing at ±1.3dB it reduces to a creditable ±0.7dB below 18kHz. Diffraction-corrected nearfield measurement showed bass extension to be 38Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz) – an improvement over the S2's 49Hz. Resolution of the CSD waterfall [Graph 2] is poor because of the short time window but a few treble resonances are visible. KH