HI-TONE DR-F Speaker Press Release

[OldSchoolDave]

Another labor of love from your friends at VHR:

The HI-TONE Amplification DR-F™: 12-inch Electric Guitar Speaker

All speakers have a finite life span. Because of the materials and physics involved, even the best speakers will eventually fail after years of use.

Anyone looking for an affordable and truly great sounding replacement for their classic Hiwatt-branded Fane loudspeakers knows how limited the options are. Of those available, few stand out, and those that are in the ballpark are only available with the purchase of complete cabinets, and rarely available for resale.

It was the goal of the fanatics at HI-TONE Amplification to change this….

Introducing the DR-F™

Working closely with engineers at Eminence Speakers (located in Eminence, Kentucky, USA), we are proud to present the HI-TONE DR-F™. All the articulation and chime you expect from a 30 year old HIWATT Fane available at a price that will make you smile. The DR-F™ comes to you already broken in, via a minimum of 48 hours on an exercise rack designed by HIWATT guru Mark Huss. No waiting months for the cones to soften and the tone to sweeten. The DR-F™ delivers from the very first note.

The DR-F™ is modeled after the pressed steel frame Fanes found inside what is considered by many HIWATT aficionados to be the best sounding SE4123 they have ever heard. This particular cabinet has been across Europe and North America many times, performing for hundreds of thousands of music fans. At each of the first four Vintage HIWATT Conventions, this cab was the crowd favorite. Selecting the speakers in this cab as the ones to model was an easy choice.

Available individually, in pairs, quads and HI-TONE Amplification Hylight style 4x12 and 2x12 cabs, June 2010.

(DR-F™ and HI-TONE™ are trademarks of HI-TONE Amplification, LLC)

(Other product names used herein are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with HI-TONE Amplification. These trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose products and sounds were studied during HI-TONE’s speaker model development. )

[louis]

You guys must be very proud !.........This is great and awesome news!!



!!!! Congradulations !!!!


Louis

[OldSchoolDave]

Thanks, Louis! We're pretty excited about the new release.

Here's a pic of one of the protos:




EDIT: This pic better represents what the production models will look like.

Dave

[thefatcyclist]

Way to go..
Wattage??? ohms??
Now if you need somebody in the UK (like a young scots person ) to have a demo set,for all the guys over here I'll send you my address.
Sounclips??
J

[thefatcyclist]

ok so I have looked on the website now. 75watts 16 ohms. Its the price that I cannot believe. Very well done indeed.
J

[louis]

I`m a little curious on how all that process was done ^

When you bring a holy grail sounding cab to a speaker compagny and say
that you want the same sound ,is that a long process !
Do you have listening meetings on the first prototype and then if you dont like
the sound ,do they go back on the drawing board and call you back to say
Hey!....we`ve nailed it !.......come back for a second time in the listening boot.

If the sound is in the cone ,how well did it go ,do they make a new cone recipe .
Is that why Professor Huss has that fantastic smile on his face .


Louis .............just curious

[OldSchoolDave]

Its the price that I cannot believe.

If you'd rather pay double or triple that price, you're welcome to . Keeping the speaker within reach of most players was a priority.

Dave

[Dr.HI-TONE]

I will summarize the process in as much detail as I can.....

After several emails with "our" engineer, I (with apprehension!) removed a driver from my favorite cab and sent it to them.
They carefully reverse engineer it, then built prototypes with the closest materials available.

I broke in the prototypes ( this borders on abusing them!), then loaded them in as similar a cab as possible to our model cab.

I played through them every day for a couple of weeks. Once I was sure that we were very close, Mark and Dave came out to HIWATT Valley for their evaluations.

It was all smiles!

We compared them side by side to various SE4122 and SE4123's from 1972-1978, and a Reeves VP loaded 4x12 that has been featured at the last 3 Conventions.

It was an eye opening experience.

Once we knew we had a winner, we went to Eminence for a tour and meetings. It was a great experience! They are great people that really know their business.


There is no need to risk damaging my old Fanes, as these are excellent representatives. We are both excited and proud of our DR-F!

[OldSchoolDave]

I`m a little curious on how all that process was done

Many factors influence the tone and responsiveness of a speaker. And, when emulating a vintage Hiwatt Fane, responsiveness and articulation are very important.

Samples were sent to Eminence, who visually inspected and electronically scoped them. Then, they used their expertise to hand-build the prototypes. Protos were tested, feedback provided and the process continued.

When we toured the Eminence factory, we saw dozens, if not hundreds of different cones, made by several subcontractors. Again, we left it to the experts to pick the one they felt best achieved the goal.

I have to mention that, to a person, we were blown away by the friendliness and positive attitude of everyone we met at the Eminence factory. From the folks leading our tour (who HAD to be nice ) to the workers winding voicecoils. We left there feeling very good about our decision.

Dave

[louis]

I have to mention that, to a person, we were blown away by the friendliness and positive attitude of everyone we met at the Eminence factory. From the folks leading our tour (who HAD to be nice ) to the workers winding voicecoils. We left there feeling very good about our decision.

Dave

Well I guess that all that positive attitude ,respect , love and devotion will be
reflected through the sound of those DR-F speakers for the benefit off all of us!!

Wish you the best of luck for all your efforts!

Louis

[JC103]

Congrats! Can't wait to hear them!!

[GigawattCustom121]

You know... I was feeling GAS free lately guys!!!

haha... j/k, that's awesome. Can't wait to try these at some point.

[guitar_tod77]

fantastic! fantastic! fantastic! fantastic! fantastic

cant wait to see pics of the cabs with the new Hi-Tone badges

[mhuss]

I have to mention that, to a person, we were blown away by the friendliness and positive attitude of everyone we met at the Eminence factory. From the folks leading our tour (who HAD to be nice ) to the workers winding voicecoils. We left there feeling very good about our decision.

Let me 'third' that observation, I can't imagine they could have treated us nicer if we were Fender or something.

Anthony at Eminence really knows his guitar speakers.

--mark

[thefatcyclist]

Now for the DR-C. eh...please.