Acoustic Image Technology

Applying "musical thinking outside the box", AI has taken a different approach to the technology of musical instrument amplification in order to improve the performance and portability of combo amps for the working musician.

So, what's so unique about Acoustic Image Amps? At first glance, three things:

• a down firing low frequency driver in every combo
• custom designed switching power amplifiers and switching power supplies instead of the traditional linear designs--or mass marketed Class D modules, and
• unique enclosure shapes and materials to improve portability and sonic performance.

But, more importantly, each of these physical ingredients provides a dramatic improvement in the sonic performance of the amps.

The down firing woofer (supplemented by a front firing midrange or woofer) makes a small driver sound bigger and allows a smaller enclosure for a given driver size. Omni directional output produces a more natural and more transparent sound…and means you are more easily heard on the bandstand.

The switching (Class D) amplifier design is smaller and more efficient than traditional linear amps. It has less weight because there are no heat sinks or cooling fans and it has a unique "warm" sound (unlike traditional solid state amps) because its output stage is radically different from traditional amps. The switching power supply eliminates bulky power transformers with a resulting dramatic decrease in weight. Just as importantly, AI products are over-designed to stand up to meet our strenuous testing (which routinely shuts down mass produced products) and to the rigors of the road. Our custom designed amplifiers also deliver high levels of power, maximizing headroom so that your sound is clean, clear and transparent from the quietest passing note to the highest transient.

With Acoustic Image's unique enclosure shapes, form follows function. A cylinder is simply inherently stiffer that other shapes.. And no resonances in the enclosure walls means less coloration in the sound. Also, the stiffer enclosure allows the walls to be thinner and lighter in weight. Add to that the use of acoustically inert polymer materials, and the cabinet becomes ultra light.

None of this is done to "be different". Acoustic Image does what they do because it produces better sounding, more portable products. Period. As musicians around the world say, Acoustic Image products virtually disappear on stage, leaving the true sound of the instrument being amplified.

A note from the founder of Acoustic Image:

As a musician dissatisfied with products available on the market, I designed and built the first Acoustic Image amplifier for my own use more than a decade ago.

Since then, we have refined our designs, developed new technologies, and quietly expanded our product line to meet the needs of all acoustic and electric musicians... bassists, guitarists, violinists and other stringed instrumentalists, keyboardists, brass/woodwind players, and vocalists.

But our philosophy, focus, and basic concepts remain unaltered.

Acoustic Image products are designed and built to meet the specific needs of professionals for natural-sounding, powerful, practical sound reinforcement with high fidelity and unsurpassed transparency.

To put it another way, our commitment to you is to make products that offer better sound, based on better technology — and to stand behind each one of them.

The only way we know to meet this commitment is to custom design our products ...to build every amp and combo in the U.S.A., carefully and one-at-a-time…to thoroughly and strenuously test each one before it leaves our hands... to offer the industry's best warranty...and to carefully select the retailers who represent us--so you can be confident of being well treated, wherever you purchase Acoustic Image products.

Sincerely,

Dr. Rick Jones,
President, Acoustic Image