Design Philosophy
Hill Speaker Systems
Since the early 1970s, Hill design philosophy has been the ‘Faithful Reproduction of the Original sound’. Throughout the '80s and '90s Hill Speaker Sytems established their reputation with many international touring artists, in theatres, arenas and stadiums around the world - from Wembley Stadium to Madison Square Gardens to Nuremberg.
From this heritage (M2 Gary Numan, M3 Saxon, M4 Live Aid, AC/DC, Monsters of Rock M6 AHA, Status Quo, "Rock till you drop", Frankie goes to hollywood, B52s) Malcolm Hill has re-imagined the Hill M-series for the 21st century.
The result of this development program is a series of compact, self-powered speaker enclosures that reproduce the spoken word with excellence, whilst maintaining exceptional performance for live music - The Hill M-series
Design Principles
The superior performance required by the Hill M-series has been achieved through extensive development of high-power studio-proven technology.
A unique coaxial ring radiator drive unit has been employed throughout the Hill M-series, exceeding the limits of conventional PA drivers.
A linear amplification system, drawn from the Hill Chameleon, is directly coupled to the drive units. This maintains total control of diaphragm displacement whilst eliminating the losses associated with external speaker cabling.
The result of this approach is the Hill M-series, flawlessly effective with any source:
- Human Voice : Unequalled articulation
- Live Band : Unsurpassed dynamic range
- Film Soundtrack : Full spectral response
- Piano, Acoustic and Classical : Total accuracy and natural precision
The unique coaxial ring radiator drive unit, used throughout the Hill M-series
Technical Focus
Frequency response
The ability of a system to respond to all frequencies equally; This parameter is not as critical as generally believed; it is primarily a venue acoustics issue.
Hill Systems: 30Hz - 18kHz
Power response
The ability of a system to deliver full SPL at any frequency; This parameter is invariably overlooked, but is crucial to effective live sound, particularly when vocals are a priority in 'the mix'.
Hill Systems: 30Hz - 15kHz
Transient response
The ability of a system to reproduce transient signals in relation to their steady state equivalent. E.g. the punch of a kick-drum, the snap of a snare drum; the leading edge of a vocal; the attack of a piano.
Hill Systems: 10% - 90% dV/dT
Phase integrity
The ability of a component to be in phase, both within itself and in partnership with other components in the system.
Hill Systems: 100%
Real-world Application
Soundwaves naturally tend to propagate spherically, and can, in a simplified demonstration, be compared to the wave propagation when dropping a stone into a pond.
M-Series are designed to work with this phenomenum, whether as single units, or as efficiently coupled multiples. Using Direct Radiating, Coaxial, drive units, a virtual Point Source, Coherent Wavefront is developed immediately at the front of the Array. This provides consistent sound balance from the front of the venue to the back and eliminates leading edge compression.
Hill M-Series can be configured as Arc Cluster, Matrix Array or Line Array to suit the venue sound design; phase integrity is guaranteed with the use of identical drivers, throughout the range.
Seamless midrange
Conventional systems are multiway, with one or more crossover points at frequencies where the human ear is most sensitive to anomalies (100Hz -3kHz). Hill M-Series are 3 way, with a 5 octave, seamless midrange bandwidth.
This seamless midrange, together with full midrange SPL Power Response, equips M-Series to deliver stunning vocals throughout the venue.
Amplification
Conventional PA systems use amplifiers primarily designed for power and reliability, rather than sonic excellence. In addition, systems using remote amplifiers suffer significant loss of power and drive-unit control through the speaker cable. M-Series go further, using high-headroom studio monitor amplifiers, installed inside the speaker, eliminating all power, control and damping losses.