ILPO MARTIKAINEN ON DIGITAL AUDIO
Just before the millennium shift, Ilpo Martikainen reflected upon speaker development. And his eyes were set on the digital revolution. He wrote at that time, quote:
"
The digitalization of the signal path is soon to extend to speakers as well. This is not to say that attempts would not exist - there are examples of digital crossovers from 80s - but the audible benefits have to be heard, which simply means that this may not have been the most important aspect of improvement. The currently available DSP-based designs do not yet seem to offer any acoustical performance benefits compared to good analog designs. The homework for the acoustical domain should be done first before attempting to correct obvious flaws with clever digital algorithms. Naturally the time will come when the benefits are audible, and this opens doors for the other possibilities, which can be done, but again, this will inevitably increase the cost".
Source:
https://www.genelec.com/sites/defau...ne_Articles/1999_martikainen_studio_sound.pdf
Ilpo was one of few speaker designers and makers in the 1970s who made correct, active speakers. Today, Genelec may be first of all known as a pioneer in "digital" speakers, utilizing DSP for internal signal path as well as for room compensation. So what happened, when Genelec went from being a pioneer in active, analog speakers to being a pioneer in active, digital speakers (they started R&D work on their Smart Active Management systems in 2000 and introduced DSP loudspeaker management in 2006, they introduced a world-first IP Ravenna based loudspeaker in 2016, etc.)?
The Finns learned the hard way after 2000 what it means to be leapfrogged on the technical side. Nokia went from being a star to becoming a fallen angel. Nokia's fall from grace was a hard lesson learned for the Finns, and the Nokia story was of great interest to everyone interested in technology and business development. Would it be safe to continue betting on an analog future? Will we have buttons and roads in the future?
Today, I believe it's less controversial that Genelec's bet on digital after 2000 was the right choice. Still, the change of stance is never an easy one. It's not part of the human mind to easily change one's mind on a subject we have had a strong opinion on. Every day, I meet people and I ask them: Why don't you do the right thing, what we have said we will do? And every time they answer that they will lose face, they cannot admit to the world that they were wrong on this issue. So they prefer to continue doing the wrong thing.
If you look at the state of audio in 2018, almost 20 years after Ilpo admitted that "the time will come when the benefits (of digital) are audible", the big majority of high-end speaker manufacturers continue to produce analog speakers (smart speakers are, of course, all digital). Some high-end firms have started making active speakers, at last, but many are still making analog, passive speakers. Are speakers manufacturers afraid of losing face, so they continue doing the wrong thing even though they know inside that they are wrong?
The last words in the Ilpo quote above are probably more important than many people realize; "this will inevitably increase the cost", Ilpo wrote when commenting on opening the doors for "digital" speakers. What did he mean by this, considering the fact that digital chips and boards are cheap? I guess he meant that going from analog to digital means a change and broadening of skill. To change the skills set in a company is a long and costly journey; so most people prefer to defer on skill acquisition. So we have another reason why high-end audio still is mostly passive and analog; going digital means admitting you change stance on a heated issue, and in addition it means you will need to invest a lot (!) in skills acquisition. Many don't have the mental or financial capacity to change course.
A highly intelligent Englishman once said: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?" And I guess this is really what science is about. If the data tell you a story you don't want to hear, you should be very interested in hearing out that story.