Alumine Five of Stenheim
Stenheim is a relatively late entrant to the high-end speaker field. It was founded in 2010 by a collective of mainly ex-Goldmund engineers, and its products have inherited an unmistakable aesthetic and, to a lesser extent, sonic DNA, although it was a significantly evolved character that was to emerge in the shape of the debut model, the compact, two-way Alumine Two. It’s a developmental divergence that has continued and, if anything, accelerated with the emergence of each subsequent product. The latest Stenheim speakers, developed under the auspices of new owner Jean-Pascal Panchard, definitely have their own, unambiguous identity, both visually and musically.
I’ve been seriously looking forward to the arrival of the Alumine Five. Previous experience with the brand has included impressive exposure to the various versions of the enormous and enormously impressive Ultime Reference models, as well as a brief but highly rewarding flirtation with the stand-mounted Alumine Two in my own system. The possibility of combining the sense of musical articulation, enthusiasm and communication I experienced from the Alumine Two, with more than a hint of the clarity, scale and authority so effortlessly delivered by the Reference models, all in a package that, if not exactly affordable, at least isn’t completely out of the question, makes the Alumine Five a distinctly interesting proposition.
Yet, confronted with the Alumine Five in the flesh, there’s little to hint at the extraordinary promise lurking within. Resolutely rectangular in true Stenheim style, the Five’s aluminum cabinet, with its plate-to-plate construction, stands just 48" tall, 15" deep and presents a broad 11" face to the world, dimensions based on golden-ratio numbers. The front baffle is split by a physical break between the upper midrange-treble enclosure and the lower bass cabinet, independently ported by the laminated full-width slots above and below, a physical separation that is mirrored by the contrasting inlaid strips that help visually break up the one-piece side panels. The regular lines, smooth surfaces, flawless matte finish and lack of visible fixings could easily result in a bland, almost featureless appearance. But those trim strips and the offset midrange and treble drivers do just enough to give the Five a subtle hint of individual style without resorting to the sort of gauche and ostentatious flourishes that so often pass as design.
The result is a refreshingly clean, classical appearance that will blend seamlessly with a range of different decors. Despite the lack of grilles (although they are available as an option, does anybody really spend this kind of money on a speaker and then compromise the performance by fitting covers?), the beautifully profiled baffle and absence of visible fixings makes for a genuinely neat, finished appearance that matches the superb surface finish on the cabinet. The end result just looks right, in a way that makes you wonder why you’d want grilles anyway.
The first hint of its potent sonic capabilities comes when you try to pick it up. Each comparatively compact cabinet tips the scales at 220 pounds. That’s a grunt-inducing, two-man lift. Now, take a look at the figures for bandwidth and sensitivity, and an in-room response that digs down as far as 28Hz combined with 94dB efficiency should raise your eyebrows, especially given the compact cabinet dimensions. Which brings us to the first experiential disconnect: boxes this size shouldn’t produce this much bass or do it so easily. Nor should they weigh so much -- although therein lies the clue to this particular conundrum. When it comes to bass extension, it’s not the external dimensions of the box that matter, but its internal volume. Just like the Crystal Cable Minissimo, a thin-wall cabinet makes for a much larger internal volume than the external dimensions might suggest -- especially if we apply the expectations of more conventional wood-based construction. Throw in the sheer weight of the aluminum panels and the combination of mass and physical dimensions would subconsciously suggest massively thick walls -- and a correspondingly limited internal volume. Instead, what we have here is a deceptively large volume, which, combined with the inertia of the heavy cabinet and the mechanical stability provided by the material, makes for an effective mechanical reference for driver movement, meaning that more of the energy your amplifier sticks into the speaker comes out as sound and (at least in theory) it will be more precisely rendered.
So far, not very much that’s new. It’s not like Stenheim (or Magico, or YG Acoustics) has exclusivity when it comes to aluminum cabinets. But what does make Stenheim different is the unique material they use in damping their cabinet panels. Of course, the separate enclosures and the internal baffles they demand make for an inherently heavily braced structure, but look inside a dismantled Alumine Five and you’ll find strategically placed pads stuck to the cabinet walls. These three-layer, self-adhesive pads combine a heavy damping layer (adjacent to the cabinet wall itself) with added foam and impervious layers, allowing the low-volume pads to influence both the mechanical behavior of the cabinet itself and the enclosed volume. It’s an interesting solution because it manages to overcome the weakness so often audible in simple, braced aluminum cabinets (the all-too-recognizable resonant signature of the material itself) while maximizing the benefits (large volume and rigidity) by obviating the need to stuff the internal space full of wadding or long-haired wool. In fact, if the Stenheims were stood behind a sonically transparent curtain, you’d be hard-pressed to recognize the music as emanating from an aluminum cabinet at all. The absence of the bleached, grainy or lean colorations, the lack of sterile, mechanistic reproduction, is one big half of the Stenheim story, living, breathing proof that it’s not what you use but how you use it that counts.
The other half is down to the drive units, and after the cabinets, those come as quite a surprise, both the lineup and the chosen materials. In stark contrast to the use of the latest, precision CNC techniques, complex damping pads and finishing options, the Alumine Five's drivers are as traditional as they come, with a coated silk-dome tweeter and pulp or laminated paper midrange and bass drivers. The cone drivers use textile double-roll surrounds and massive magnets more normally found in pro-audio applications, and while Stenheim doesn’t build its own drivers, the company works closely with its chosen supplier (PHL, definitely not one of the usual suspects) to specify the electrical parameters, mechanical characteristics and precise details of the surface coating.
The use of such lightweight cone materials and large motors aids the system efficiency, while a hybrid second-order/Linkwitz-Riley crossover, the result of extended listening and evolution, ensures phase coherence and excellent out-of-band attenuation and makes for easy non-reactive load characteristics, despite the three-way topology. The other aspect of the driver lineup that might be considered slightly unusual is the use of a large-diameter (6 1/2") midrange unit -- although less so since Vandersteen’s patent on the approach lapsed some years ago, resulting in a rash of companies suddenly exploring the possibilities of the topology.
Perhaps more important, in the case of the Alumine Five, it means that you are getting the tweeter and midrange drivers from the Ultime Reference series speakers, teamed here with a pair of 10" woofers but without the benefit of a super tweeter. Even so, Stenheim quotes bandwidth out to 35kHz, which should suffice for most purposes. The review speakers arrived with the optional second set of terminals installed, allowing for biwiring or, more significantly, biamping, an upgrade opportunity that makes this an option you should take. If, in the meantime, you are single-wiring the speakers, make sure you factor in a set of jumpers that match your speaker cables: the Alumine Five's overall sense of musical coherence makes the benefits especially obvious. Likewise, good wiring practice is essential, both in terms of cable dressing and diagonal connection (red to midrange/treble, black to bass, with jumpers arranged accordingly).
Aside from the speaker's substantial weight, the parallel sides and flat surfaces of the four-square cabinet make setting up the Fives an absolute joy. Precise, repeatable, angular adjustments are easily achieved, while changes in attitude are just as straightforward, helped by the beautifully profiled stainless-steel spiked feet and deeply cupped footers. Both the cones and their locking rings have nice, large ports to take the supplied pry bars, but it’s worth greasing the threads before installation. One other thing to watch out for: the spikes are seriously (refreshingly) sharp -- sharp enough to penetrate a thick rug and score the floor below, so be careful where you stand the speakers once the feet are installed. Final positioning disposed the speakers on a broad front with minimal toe-in. When it came to dialing in their considerable musical energy, the most critical factor proved to be height off the ground, with tiny adjustments of the spikes making profound differences to the weight and pace of the presentation. Likewise, equal weighting of the four spikes was crucial to a proper sense of grounded weight and dynamic authority.
........................................................
Price: $60,000 per pair.
Warranty: Five years parts and labor.
(Source: The Audio Beat)
effective communication model 在 喬寶寶 Qbobo Facebook 的最佳貼文
Hongkong Immigration Department-
Our Vision-
We will be the foremost immigration service in the world in effectiveness and efficiency.
Our Mission-
We will contribute to the security and prosperity of Hong Kong by:
exercising effective immigration control
facilitating the visit of genuine travellers
keeping out undesirables
preventing and detecting immigration-related crimes
issuing to residents highly secure identity cards and #travel #documents
providing efficient civil registration services for births, deaths and marriages
We will provide quality service without #discrimination and treat each member of the public with #respect, #consideration and #compassion, irrespective of disability, sex, marital status, pregnancy, family status, #race, #nationality and #religion.
Our Values-
Integrity and Impartiality
We will faithfully apply our policies and practices with impartiality and honesty, and will uphold our high standards of integrity at all times.
Courtesy and Compassion-
We will treat each member of the public with respect, consideration, courtesy and compassion. We will be empathetic, appreciative of different perspectives and flexible in the application of policies to meet specific needs.
Care and Cohesion-
We will adopt people-based management to care for our staff's need and development, enhance communication, cultivate harmony and trust, and build a professional team with high morale and cohesiveness to serve the public.
Alertness and Awareness-
We will remain sensitive to ever-changing social, economic and political environment, assimilate trends and realign our business strategies and operational procedures to meet new challenges.
Improvement and Illumination-
We will continuously strive for excellence in whatever we do and seek to be the role-model for other immigration services worldwide.
今天的她:Asma 今年成功得到特區護照
我是 Asma。從小到現在都是就讀本地學校,因為我是土生土長,我亦覺得在香港生活就應該要適應香港的環境,所以一直都是就讀本地學校,就是為了可以跟不同的華語學生一起,希望可以從他們當中了解到更多本地文化。雖然我覺得香港是我的家,但香港是否覺得我們非華語人士是他們的一份子呢?現在我是在本地學校就讀中六,但在我中四的那一年,有一個轉捩點,因為我獲得一個利希慎獎學金,可以在新加坡讀三年書,一般華語學生能獲得獎學金也會很高興,更何况我是南亞裔學生。
在開學之前,我獲新加坡領使館簽發一個短期簽證,因此前往當地居住了一星期,嘗試適應當地環境,但因為我是持有巴基斯坦護照,所以不獲批學生簽證,但並沒有說明原因。突然獲悉不能去當地讀書,我完全不知如何是好,不過我並沒有一下子便放棄,所以我前往獎學金的基金會和學校求助,他們跟我說,我是可以提出上訴的,我上訴了三次,但三次都失敗了。
在上訴期間我沒有在原校出席補課,因為他們都知道我會出國,但可惜我去不成,要返回原校就讀,使到我不知如何面對同學,當時我就把事情交給上帝,看它如何安排,所以我便留在香港繼續讀中五。
基金會提議我申請特區護照,因為我爸爸要保留巴基斯坦國籍,因此我們一家人從來沒有申請特區護照,因為今次我需要特區護照才有機會出國,所以今次爸爸便和我一起去申請特區護照。我們跟華語人不同,申請護照需要經過很多手續,但等了十個月之後,在本年十月接獲通知,申請被拒絕,那天剛好是我十七歲生日前的一天。我想知道原因,但得到的答案是他們有權不透露原因,當時我有一種受到不公平對待的感覺,因為我是土生土長也不能得到一個國籍。
我希望自己能適應這個環境,所以入讀本地學校,因為我把香港當成自己的家,亦沒想過巴基斯坦,為甚香港不發給我護照呢?香港又是否有把我們當成香港的一份子呢?
我很想分享這次經歷,讓多些人能夠知道我們南亞裔人士很需要別人幫助。
所以自己身為一個南亞裔人士,希望將來能夠成為註冊社工,幫助一些南亞裔人士解決問題。
- Asma, 29/10/2015@香港故事Hong Kong Stories
effective communication model 在 Azizan Osman Facebook 的最佳貼文
[10 Leadership traits that we could learned from the 7th Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad]
9th May 2018, the day Malaysians witnessed unbelievable radical change for the first time in the political history of this country.
And how did this all happen? It took one MAN with a VISION on a MISSION to help REFORM MALAYSIA and of course with the vote from the people.
Reflecting on the recent scenario that has impacted every individual in this thriving nation, both rivals and supporters are impressed by the leadership of one man to bring about change in the next 5 years.
Now what makes this man so remarkable and to be the talk of the town and the world is his compelling LEADERSHIP.
That’s one reason why I love observing leaders. I enjoy reading and following their journey. Being able to reflect on the reasons I admire countless leaders opens my eyes to the qualities of Great Leadership.
What makes a Great Leader?
As far as I can recall, my childhood years till I was a young adult were during the 22 years reign of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the 4th Prime Minister back then.
In general, life for Malaysians were rather peaceful with a sense of growth and progress for the country though there may be differing opinions on this subject.
Since then, I have always admired Tun as a great leader to this country. I was so inspired by him so much so that I even adapted my signature similar to his.
Today, in my private circle business coaching and mentoring session, I laid down 10 things that Tun has done right in “leading” the changes in the government together with all the parties that were once his foe and opponents.
How could this be possible?
It wouldn’t have materialized unless it’s being done by a person who has great leadership traits. And this brings my point to how you could apply these traits at work and in leading your businesses, organizations and team.
1. The Power of Alignment - Setting a clear Vision.
A great leader possesses a clear vision. He is courageous to lead that vision and has a clear focus of what needs to be done to attain that vision.
In many circumstances in the past few weeks leading to the elections, we saw one very clear role that Tun and his team of leaders had. They all led the role of articulating a clear vision for the future of Malaysia with a 100-day manifesto and this short-term vision gave hope to Malaysians of what Malaysia could be in the next 5 years to come if they are the governing administration.
Tun not only united the parties for a common goal but he was able to influence and unite the hearts of the rakyat to achieve this one similar vision – to REFORM MALAYSIA.
Likewise, in business, the power of alignment between a leader and the team plays a significant role in ensuring the vision, goals and objectives are met.
2. Identifying the same purpose - The Big Why and the common frustrations.
What are the main drivers of frustration for your team at the work place? What are the frustrations of your clients? In this context, what are the common frustrations of the rakyat. What are the common identifiable struggles? What's the future frustration if the problem is not resolved now?
Identifying the root problem is the foundation of addressing the common frustration as the livelihood of the rakyat depends on this. Likewise, if you don’t know what the critical issues and problems are faced by your team and clients within your organization, they will resort to other leaders, other products and brands or to any other available options to help them solve their frustrations.
That's why understanding, identifying, and eliminating the causes of frustration is critical for success.
Being a leader requires a lot of soft skills as you need to make sure that your team is comfortable with the goals that you are setting for the team. What is the Big Why for your team? Your organization? Why do you do what you do?
Leaders need to have a better working strategy and make sure that each and every one on the team is focused on achieving the same Big Why and results. This is what separates a high performing team from failing or underachieving.
Common goals are important not only because it gives your team focus on the big picture but because it brings people together and encourage them to communicate problems and results. This allows for a much earlier and faster recognition of problems to address as you progress to achieve your goals.
An obvious thing we have witnessed is the common goals and frustrations addressed by Tun and the party leaders. If that connection wasn’t clear, they would have been on shaky grounds. And by addressing the frustrations of the rakyat, they have minimized and eliminated fear, doubts and uncertainty about the rakyat’s future.
As such, it is critical to identify the common values of your team members. Goals need to be aligned with common values or you definitely won’t get people buying in.
3. Harnessing teamwork by negotiating for one coalition on an agreed and acceptable win-win formula for all parties involved.
Being a strategic planner, Tun first garnered teamwork by uniting the 4 parties to be represented as 1 united coalition for the 14th General Elections. By doing this, he had reduced confusion among the voters and lessened the dispersion of votes. So, voters did not have to decide among the 4, they just had to choose 1 unified party.
Imagine if Tun had not done so, the voters would have been undecided to elect their representatives as there are about 9-10 parties including the independent candidates.
It was definitely not an easy feat to unite the 4 parties as one, and this leads me to my next point – the negotiation skills of a leader, his ability to influence without authority and his proposed winning formula for one coalition.
4. Negotiate with the decision makers, the right people with influence over others.
A key skill relevant to leaders at all levels is the ability to positively influence people in such a way that others follow and act willingly, as opposed to complying because of the authority factor. This is the power to influence others without imposing your authority.
It’s a great skill that you could develop over time and with experience but it’s definite a powerful skill to have when you are able to influence others to voluntarily and willing act out of their own will just by sharing your vision or negotiating for common values and benefits.
Enemies. Rivals. Adversaries. Foes. Competitors. Haters. Critics. Skeptics. Sadly, in politics and business, we all have them.
They make our lives more difficult and less pleasant. And regrettably, enemies will always exist in your life. But they are just an additional obstacle on the way towards your goal. If you look for solutions, you can defeat them or make them your allies. We all have the ability to win over our enemies.
Let me explain. Here’s how. Win them over with cooperation.
Sometimes you can’t ignore them. If so, it is better to enlist the help of these people, rather than oppose them. Tell them that you understand their concerns. But tell them too that their help and support is very important to you. This is where the power to negotiate comes to play.
You must first understand your rivals. Who are they? What are they goals? Why do they oppose you? It’s the same scenario in the work place. Your rivals could be your colleague, your boss, a customer or anyone related to your work and business. Study them, their strengths and weaknesses and propose your winning formula for cooperation that benefits both you and your rival.
With great humility, Tun met his opponents requesting for cooperation. As we know, the opponents and Tun himself have had a painful past and unpleasant experiences, but for a common goal, they are willing to be professionally united though with differences in opinions. They are willing to let go of the past to achieve a higher goal that mutually benefits everyone for the future.
5. Lead from the front. Be the example.
The key factor to any leader is connection to the people they are leading. Who are the people that you are leading and do they believe in you? To be a great leader, first and foremost, mutual trust between you and your team is essential.
Nobody is going to give their all for a leader who can’t be forthright with the information or fails to keep up their end of a deal. Responsibility and dependability are critical traits of a great leader, and it earns respect from those who are working with you to achieve your vision.
At the end of the day, the key to effective leadership is commitment to the cause, being the first on and the last off the battlefield.
Did Tun and the party leaders portray this? Definitely they have led by example. They did their homework, they met the rakyat at grass-root level, they addressed their concerns, they communicated clearly with everyone and they shared with clarity how they plan to resolve the problems of the rakyat.
Is that a winning formula? I would say yes.
6. Declaring the winning manifesto which reflected the key frustrations of the people. Understanding what people want.
Why is it important to understand what people want? What do your clients or customers want? What do your employees want?
Basically, the social perception involves you as a leader being able to identify the mental states of others, their thoughts by putting yourself in someone else's shoes. This helps us understand their beliefs, feelings, experiences and intentions.
By understanding someone means you have the ability to empathize with that person. You are able to think along the lines of what the other person is thinking. You are able to reason out what transpired in someone’s mind before doing what they have done.
For example, understanding why did the rakyat protest the previous government? Or why did your customer buy from a competitor? Why did your employees leave?
Understanding with empathy is important because it helps us understand how others are feeling so we can respond appropriately to the situation. When you are able to empathize with others, you can build and sustain meaningful relationships, hold a job, or client effectively.
And the winning formula with the rakyat was creating a manifesto that understands and empathizes the rakyat’s frustrations.
7. Tun has been consistent in “advising” and “demanding for changes” up to the point that he is even willing to do whatever it takes to create the change.
Tun had always been outspoken in his views with regards to the progress of the country and the direction that the nation was heading to even long after his retirement 15 years ago.
He was always consistent in championing causes for the rakyat’s future. He wrote on his blogs, he spoke in public, he addressed the media, he collaborated with people, he met his opponents with humility, he admitted and apologized for his past mistakes, he adapted technology, he embraced young people, he in fact did everything possible to ensure he achieved his goal. And that every effort he built consistently over 15 years gave him his biggest victory.
Similarly, growing and running a business takes a tremendous amount of roll-up-your-sleeves and hard work. The long hours and "do whatever it takes to get the job done" work ethic is important to achieve success especially in the early phase of your business.
And as leaders and entrepreneurs, if you're going to do it, do it well, do it right. Be a role model for others to follow. You have to push yourself to be the best in what you do and stay laser-focused till you achieve success.
8. Push till the last mile. Never give up.
Sometimes, there comes times in the lives of all great leaders when they are pushed to their physical, emotional, mental or spiritual limits. Fatigued, exhausted and drained by their experiences, they still relentlessly pursue their journey. They never give up. It is their attitude and mindset to hold on to their hopes, dreams, determination and life’s purpose.
When the rakyat was rather uncertain on the victory rate of Tun and his party due to various known and unknown factors, Tun and his team still pursued relentlessly to campaign till the last mile. They exhausted every single medium, resources and people to reach out to the rakyat to champion for a common goal.
We`ve seen the content on social media, the virality of the news, the uprising of the rakyat and the gathering by thousands of people all over the country in very medium and platform.
The leaders were willing to sacrifice their time, resources, energy and effort to be that servant leader of love, caring and hope for the rakyat.
Would you do the same for your people, your team or your customers?
9. Constantly updating and communicating the progress. To build trust, confidence and to gain more support.
Communication is at the core of every political campaign. Certainly, issues like the economy, GST, unemployment, money laundering and policies matter, but the way Tun and the leaders conveyed their ideas to the voters hinges their success and ability to communicate messages effectively to the people.
Today, political parties no longer determine the election. The leaders and candidates must appeal to the voters directly and with greater frequency. They have to sell themselves to grab people's attention. And we’ve seen in the recent elections how social media has aided these leaders in their quest to effectively engage voters.
Leaders are communicators. Their key responsibilities are to “communicate, communicate and communicate even more.” Why? Because communication is fundamental to building trust.
It creates an environment of trust around leaders that enables them to lead effectively, engage employees and ultimately deliver results. And building trust in an organization requires a personal effort on the part of the leaders themselves besides a team effort.
10. Committed to Leadership
What does it mean to be a committed leader?
First of all, making a commitment involves dedicating yourself to a person, to something or to a cause. A commitment obligates you to do something. And leadership is a decision and obligation that you have towards others.
Are you prepared to lead the way to whatever you believe is right? We've all worked with leaders who show up every day with such determination, and others who are just there. Real leaders accept responsibility as the heads of their teams, and they're always working to do things better.
And once you've made that deliberate decision to be a leader, you must accept that the expectations are higher for you than for everyone else in your organization. You have a duty to your team, your customers, and your community.
To make a vision stick, you have to be committed to a set of core values that will bring the vision to life.
You need to understand that the values that you uphold as a leader will determine the behaviors, the culture and the success of your organization.
And when you do all that, your customers, your team and your people can see the difference.
As leaders and entrepreneurs, you must remember that you are not here merely to make a living or achieve your own success. You are here in order to enable the world to live more abundantly, with greater vision, with a greater spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world with your presence.
And that is what we see in Tun’s leadership. “Tun walk the talk.”
A wise quote from Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President, “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."
Didn’t we all witness this on 9th May 2018? This day will be a day in the history of our country and the world for generations to come, and it is all because of one remarkable man and a great leader, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Azizan Osman
Founder, Richworks International
Entrepreneur & SME Business Training & Coaching Consultant Firm
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The writer is a renowned world class Business & Marketing Growth Strategist & Accredited International Master Coach for Entrepreneurs & Small & Medium Businesses
Any opinions, findings, and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author for the purpose of education on leadership.
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