New Page 1

General description
Overkill's unique self-damping compound (S.D.C.) is the secret ingredient which allows the Prey and Encore to produce life-like dynamics and speed. This freedom from overhang and ghost echoes (distortion) also results in the most natural vocal presentation and tonal accuracy achieved to date.

This breakthrough in material science came after 18 months of intensive R&D. We developed a multi-layer composite material, which is built up by hand using 6 different types of materials. The two main functions of the driver housing are to deal with the sonic backwave launched by the driver into the enclosure and to minimize external diffraction and distortion by eliminating enclosure shapes that would interfere with the sonic wave launch and wave development.

Dealing with the sonic backwave is very difficult. The most common approach is to build an MDF box and stuff it full of sound-absorbing material such as dacron, lambs wool, fiberglass or foam. Basic Physics tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore the backwave is every bit as powerful as the sound wave you hear coming into the room from the front of the driver.

The two major drawbacks of using an MDF box stuffed full of sound-absorbent materials are:

When you absorb the backwave, you also absorb a lot of dynamics and rob the sound of fine detail and spacial information.
MDF is a non-laminated material and exhibits a series of strong resonances in the 250 - 750Hz region which adversely affect the sound of the Manger driver.

Our unique S.D.C. does not attempt to absorb the backwave in the conventional way. Instead, it converts this sound energy into heat by using viscoelastic properties and laminated compounds. The sound waves energize the molecules of the S.D.C. and this molecular friction creates heat which is dissipated evenly throughout the outer layers of the S.D.C.

This process is further assisted by the non-symmetrical internal shape and wall thickness which continuously varies from 29mm - 36mm. The beautiful external teardrop shape is the perfect combination of geometry and optimum internal air volume with zero external diffraction issues.

The custom Sorbothane mounting pad provides ideal support and isolation on the top plate of the stand or on the Encore's bass cabinet. This unique interface allows tilt and swivel as well as front-to-back alignment to enable perfect time and phase coherence for all sizes and types of listening rooms.

The Prey, Encore, Ovation and Finale all sport world-beating time domain accuracy of 1.9ms. This is nearly 3 times faster than the best of the traditional "full range driver plus super tweeter" high efficiency designs. The Manger's amazing settling time -- not the less critical rise time -- is a blinding 13us. This is 10 to 14 times faster than the very best dome tweeters. In addition, all of Overkill's loudspeakers harness this blazing speed from 200Hz on up, not merely in the typical 2,000Hz+ tweeter range.