SEAS Announces New Excel Graphene C16NX001/F Coaxial Speaker

SEAS announced its fourth speaker model in the company's new Excel Graphene line, designed for modern high-res audio reproduction. The new C16NX001/F is also the first coaxial driver using the magnesium cone treated with the new graphene nano-coating formula, and the successor to the famous C16N001/F (E0051-04/06) driver from SEAS, implementing all the improvements the company introduced into the W16NX003 woofer.
 
Like the first new three drivers in the Excel Graphene line, the new SEAS coaxial C16NX001/F features exceptional high dynamic capability, which the light, stiff, and well damped magnesium cone transfers into clean and undistorted sound. Leveraging high purity Graphene, a nano-material with special properties, which is added to the magnesium cone surface treatment, the new Excel Graphene range benefits from low mechanical and electromagnetic damping that ensures high quality reproduction of even the finest micro details in music.

At the same time the high-performance titanium voice coil former and its connection to the cone has very high power-handling, suitable for modern amplifiers (e.g. Class-D). The titanium voice coil former features a long copper clad aluminium winding for excellent force transfer, transient sound reproduction and large linear excursion, which results in very low mechanical damping.

The precision cast, machined and Graphene treated magnesium cone acts as a piston through the working frequency band without showing any sign of midrange resonances. The woofer has an FEA optimized magnet system with precisely fitted copper parts for excellent linearity, high power-handling and low distortion. 

The coaxially arranged tweeter with a precoated fabric dome is fitted with a Titanium former, which has a low resonance frequency and integrates with the cone driver to form a point source for superior sound stage imaging. This design is assembled with an extremely stiff and stable injection moulded metal basket designed for smooth air-flow, and which keeps the critical components in perfect alignment and reduces sound reflection, air flow noise and cavity resonance to a minimum.

As SEAS shares regarding the original development process for the company's popular coaxial design of the C16N001/F (E0051-04/06), the initial feedback on the specifications was not very optimistic. "Some claimed that you cannot make a great coaxial driver with a hard cone, because normally the coaxial design has modulation between the tweeter and woofer, which must be smeared by a soft woofer cone. Oh boy, were they wrong!,"

"The original E0051-04/06 impresses everybody with its resolution and musical qualities and give you the goosebump feeling that is the essence of SEAS' vision. In addition, the accompanying application note for what we call the "Joy" (pictured below - PDF available here) speaker, where the driver is mounted in a small closed box, has inspired DIY'ers and OEM customers around the world." In Norway, the Joy speaker was directly adopted by Viju, an AV videoconference company, who has installed many of these compact speakers in various installations, from restaurants to oil platforms (Statoil / Equinor). And the coaxial driver was recently installed in a spherical box in a museum in Bergen (opening to the public in September) in a hall named Hvalsalen or the Whale room. This is part of the exhibition, featuring a large skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling, where all speakers were hand built at SEAS. SEAS offers such services to customers as part of the company's Sound Solutions division, a cornerstone of its business for almost 20 years.
  Another success story of a customer who has implemented the original C16 coaxial into their high-end OEM designs is Progressive Audio (Germany), who uses a custom version of the driver. Among other models from the brand, it's Extreme Edition III USM speaker combines the C16 with two tailor-made (OEM) SEAS woofers.

"There is no doubt in our minds that the C16N001/F (E0051-04/06) represents the highest quality obtainable with a coaxial driver, and that the new Excel Graphene C16NX001/F (E0080-04/06) will continue this path of success, now with a further FEA optimized motor system for higher dynamic precision, and T/S parameters more suitable for bass reflex."
www.seas.no