Selene

TECHNICAL FOUNDATION

Selene applies the same engineering philosophy as Terra to a compact form factor. Aluminum extrusion cabinets, coaxial point-source drivers, individual calibration – the approach doesn’t change with size. What changes is the architecture: Selene uses external amplification and DSP (the EXCore module) rather than integrated rear-panel electronics, allowing for modular system configurations and future expansion.

This generation introduces living calibration – individual driver level corrections that improve over time as our measurement capabilities and algorithms advance. Your Selene gets better as we get better.

Cabinet Engineering

Selene uses the same aluminum extrusion approach as Terra, scaled for its compact form factor. Each cabinet is a 7mm flat-wall extrusion with 19mm corner ribbing and integral cross-bracing. Both the front and rear baffles are 12mm solid aluminum, compressed onto the main shell with series gaskets, creating a sandwich assembly that’s clamped together for maximum rigidity.

The entire assembly extrudes front to back, allowing us to compress everything together with substantial force. The result is a cabinet that’s acoustically inert despite its compact size – no resonances, no flexing, nothing that colors what you’re hearing.

Professional monitoring doesn’t require large cabinets. It requires cabinets engineered to disappear acoustically, regardless of physical dimensions.

Driver Technology & Passive Crossover

Selene uses a 16cm variant of our third-generation coaxial midrange/tweeter architecture. It shares the same motor structure as Terra’s 18cm coax, but the 16cm version is purpose-designed for Selene’s application – slightly longer throw, slightly smaller diaphragm, optimized to work as a standalone surround monitor. Custom TPCD diaphragms, FEA-optimized motor structure, automated fiber placement pushing tweeter breakup above 40kHz, with DSP limiting high-frequency extension to 30kHz for optimal performance. The thin-lip underhung surround and point-source acoustic center deliver the same phase coherence that defines Ex Machina’s monitoring philosophy.

The architectural challenge was powering multiple drivers from a modular external amplifier. Rather than give each driver element its own amplifier channel, we used a passive crossover inside each coaxial to split the midrange and tweeter at 3kHz – something we typically avoid.

So we over-engineered it. Custom 14AWG square-wire inductors with exact impedance matching at the 3kHz crossover point to eliminate the need for zobel networks. End-to-end DCR under 0.3 ohms. Identical filter bank values on both sides, counter-wound to achieve roughly 100dB of magnetic field cancellation. Four 3% tolerance Panasonic polypropylene caps per filter bank in parallel for exceptionally low ESL/ESR. Custom 3D-printed gyroid isolator mounts that prevent ringing and absorb shock.

This passive LR2 crossover is analog – analog necessarily introduces phase shift, so it cannot be zero-phase. But the 16cm driver is small enough that beaming doesn’t start until 4kHz on the midrange, and at LR2 we can phase invert the tweeter to achieve perfect phase tracking. The result is a passive crossover so consistent that the DSP can treat the coaxial effectively as a full-range driver. Unlike typical passive crossovers that tank your damping factor, the extremely low DCR maintains control and precision.

Each Selene coaxial is measured individually and linearized at the driver level before crossover application, just like Terra.

EXCore Architecture

Selene’s amplification and DSP live in the EXCore module – a compact 2RU half-rack enclosure that houses Hypex NcoreX amplification (NCx252MP and NCx-102EXT modules), Peregrine DSP architecture with ADSP-21569 SHARC+ processor and ESP32 co-processor, and AKM conversion (AK4493SEQ DAC, AK5572EN ADC).

The modular architecture allows for flexible system configurations. The EXCore included with Selene powers the coaxial monitors and has capacity for future expansion – specifically, adding Poseidon subwoofers without requiring additional amplification or DSP.

Living Calibration: Third generation of our proprietary IRC and DSP architecture now allows us to control individual driver level behavior, with discrete, perfectly phase summed corrections for each transducer independently. This means even more perfect phase tracking, with zero interpolation necessary from sine sweep measurements – because each driver is measured individually, phase tracking is perfect, not just measurement perfect.

Each Selene system is individually measured and calibrated. The two-driver system is linearized to achieve ±1.5dB frequency response and ±15° phase deviation (30Hz-30kHz). The ESP32 co-processor provides periodic remote updates to DSP corrections as our measurement capabilities, data set, and algorithms improve. Your speakers continue to improve as we improve.

WiFi Control Features:

• Over-the-air firmware and calibration updates
• Multi-system sync (for ATMOS configurations)
• Channel mute, sub mute, channel solo
• Scene/configuration presets
• Delay compensation
• Equalization
• Input sensitivity control
• Boundary control
• Low latency mode