In this episode, I'm going to be discussing two unique technological advances in my Key3 BXT loudspeakers.

But first, a little intro.

I bought these loudspeakers for use in our mix room.

Studio B.

I bought these loudspeakers for use in our mix room.

Studio B.

Thanks, Mary.

Let's try that again.

I bought these loudspeakers for use in our mix room.

Studio B.

Okay, we don't need that again.

All right.

I've known Key's chief designer, Bruno Putzeis, for years, and I've followed his work with Hypex and Grimm Audio.

I've learned a lot about digital audio from Bruno.

These loudspeakers represent Bruno and his team's current statement of what a great loudspeaker should sound like.

Today, I'd like to highlight the technology that makes the Key3 the most transparent-sounding active loudspeaker I've ever heard.

I have not changed my opinion about Genelec or Dynaudio.

I have great respect for Genelec loudspeakers.

I use my Dynaudios with JL Wolfers in mastering Studio A every day.

The Key3 BXT is actually two systems in one.

The top, called the Key3, can be used independently and full range.

It has four Wolfers, a mid-range and a tweeter.

BXT stands for bass extension.

When you add the bottom, there are four Wolfers in front added, plus two on each side, for a complete total in the entire system of 12 Wolfers, one mid-range and one tweeter.

In 1993, the great digital audio inventor Bob Adams of Analog Devices invented a new class of chip, the Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter, or ASRC.

In almost no time, these chips were found ubiquitously.

They went into digital audio consoles, they went into D-to-A converters, and people were really raving over how the D-to-A converters had so much lower jitter after the introduction of that circuit.

And eventually, these ASRC chips went into loudspeakers with digital inputs.

I even built an ASRC chip myself into a jitter reduction unit that I designed, marketed, and manufactured, which received a Class A rating from Stereophile magazine.

Not too shabby.

Let's talk about some of the advantages of ASRC so you can understand what makes it so special.

The first advantage of an ASRC is that the user can feed any sample rate into each input of a digital audio console, and the console doesn't care about the sample rate.

This is a revolution.

So the manufacturers of the consoles have put one of these chips on each channel input.

You can imagine how much money the manufacturers of these chips have made over the years just with digital audio consoles.

This makes the console easy to use, and it begins to function very much like an analog console.

The second advantage of ASRC is jitter rejection.

This results in a warmer, tighter sound, if it's done right.

In a digital loudspeaker like this one, ASRC prevents the speaker from glitching and producing noises as you plug in different digital sources or switch from source to source.

And ASRC lets the designer freeze the EQ and the crossover coefficients, because every time you change coefficients, the speaker could glitch as it has to regain stability with the new coefficients.

Having worked with these chips, I know their limitations.

Their internal resolution has improved over the years, but it's still not as good as the best DSP that's out there.

And when I first heard these speakers, I wrote Bruno, the designer, and I asked him, how did you get such a transparent sound?

I asked him, are you using an ASRC chip?

And he replied, no, I've designed a software ASRC.

Bruno, you just blew my mind.

It took him months to code this ASRC.

The results have proved sonically and measurably superior to any ASRC chip on the market.

And to my knowledge, this is the only digital loudspeaker with a software ASRC.

Well, that about covers ASRC.

Let's move on.

The next really cool technological development in the current feedback amplifier.

To my knowledge, the KEY3 is the only active loudspeaker that uses current feedback.

Current feedback alleviates the distortion mechanisms present in a moving coil loudspeaker.

According to Bruno, current driving a mid-range, like this one, typically knocks 15 dB off of distortion, which is nearly an order of magnitude of improvement.

Learning about these technological innovations has impressed me almost as much as the sound of the loudspeaker itself.

I can hear more details in the music and with better purity of tone than any other active loudspeaker that I've heard.

In the next few weeks on KEYtalk, I'll be looking at other technological developments that make the KEY the best choice for my mixing room.

Until next time, I'm Bob Katz, and this has been KEYtalk.

Hold on, let me give it another time.

Hi everyone, I'm Bob Katz.

Hi everyone, I'm Bob Katz.

And let me comb your hair just briefly.

I have not received any payment for this video series, but I have received some consideration from KEY for giving these talks.

These talks are my idea.

I approached KEY because I was so