Clarity & Power
One of the principal design elements of the UE LIVE was that it had to be loud. It had to feel powerful and all encompassing; but it also had to be detailed and clear and easily push out past 20kHz.
That was a problem. Our proprietary TrueTone Drivers gave the overtones and harmonics from 16kHz – 22kHz but they did so at the expense of overall output. So we had to go back to the drawing board and completely re-engineer our original TrueTone Drivers. We had to find clarity and power.
That was the birth of TrueTone Plus. These new balanced armatures had the same extended frequency response but with more headroom.
As soon as we realized that we could get power and accuracy from the high frequencies, we thought about other combinations that we could try.
Could we get warmth and tightness from the low-end?
Balanced armatures are amazing at reproducing tight low-end tones but they historically lack in some of the roundness and fullness that traditional diaphragm speakers create. So we combined them both, adding a 6 mm neodymium dynamic speaker with 2 balanced armatures dedicated for the low frequencies.
The result was powerful and fun. The low was punchy and controlled at the same time. And the top-end was accurate, fast and loud.
We took the remaining space and dedicated 4 balanced armatures to flushing out the mids. Rather than double anything up, we sliced the mid frequencies into 4 sections and had a single armature focus on each frequency path.
That’s why the UE LIVES have such a wide spectrum of sound and why they serve each instrument so well.
Of course, they are handcrafted in our lab in Irvine, California by a team of technicians who passionately care about design & sound. They come with the exclusive sweat-proof & road-ready IPX cable and connection system. They offer -26dB of passive noise isolation which lets you listen to your mix at a significantly reduced volume level. And most importantly, they’re backed by Ultimate Ears’ legendary customer service and tour support.
