Speaker Porn

[Laowei]

1 hour ago, iFi Audio said:

Yup, there's something oddly magnetic about those vintage Altecs. Paper down below, quality compression driver up top, crazy sensitivity... Yeah, it'll do  

Fugly, these are doing it for me in my small living room.

Altec 890C Bolero with a modern CD horn and B&C compression driver on top, replacing the weenie stock tweeter horn. Crossover based on the Econowave projects online, which was originally based on the Altec 19 crossover. 

The bass is handled by the stock 10” woofer and passive radiator pair. The 406 10” woofer is really unique, with the same voice coil and massive ALNICO motor as the 12” Altec 414. Paper cone with a “curvilinear” profile, gives around a 96dB sensitivity and is cleanly crossed over at 2kHz. With a raw woofer measured Fs of 27Hz, the woofer/radiator easily extends to below low E, 41Hz in room.

Sounds BIG like the Altec M19 with a similar old movie theater Technicolor sound, but with an extended and cleaner HF. Plenty of SPL for movies and music. 

But really fugly, definately not Porn-worthy. 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by Laowei

[bjarnetv]

trying out the RAAL tweeters in the new rig.

No big surprise but they are a bit to polite when crossed over at 2800hz, compared to the Horn tweeters. (and 10db less efficient than the mids)

It plays better higher up in frequency, but i guess it's better to go with a horn tweeter and separate supertweeter crossed over at 10K to retain the aggressive growl of the horns.

Fun experiment though

Edited January 26, 2018 by bjarnetv

[iFi Audio]

On 26.01.2018 at 9:55 PM, bjarnetv said:

trying out the RAAL tweeters in the new rig.

No big surprise but they are a bit to polite when crossed over at 2800hz, compared to the Horn tweeters. (and 10db less efficient than the mids)

It plays better higher up in frequency, but i guess it's better to go with a horn tweeter and separate supertweeter crossed over at 10K to retain the aggressive growl of the horns.

Fun experiment though

RAAL ribbons are very good. Very subtle, smooth and easygoing, with great decay, not shouty at all.

 

On 25.01.2018 at 10:20 PM, Laowei said:

Fugly, these are doing it for me in my small living room.

Altec 890C Bolero with a modern CD horn and B&C compression driver on top, replacing the weenie stock tweeter horn. Crossover based on the Econowave projects online, which was originally based on the Altec 19 crossover. 

The bass is handled by the stock 10” woofer and passive radiator pair. The 406 10” woofer is really unique, with the same voice coil and massive ALNICO motor as the 12” Altec 414. Paper cone with a “curvilinear” profile, gives around a 96dB sensitivity and is cleanly crossed over at 2kHz. With a raw woofer measured Fs of 27Hz, the woofer/radiator easily extends to below low E, 41Hz in room.

Sounds BIG like the Altec M19 with a similar old movie theater Technicolor sound, but with an extended and cleaner HF. Plenty of SPL for movies and music. 

But really fugly, definately not Porn-worthy. 

 

Fugly or not, it has to sound impressively nonetheless.

[Grahame]

Meanwhile ...

Impressive DIY ESL ...

In Situ

Via: https://jazzman-esl-page.blogspot.com/

Interesting build description / log 

e.g.

 

 

 

 

[bjarnetv]

Thats pretty cool, and i like that he is trying to fix the typical bad ESL dispersion using electrical segmentation. i wonder how it ended up measuring off axis?

Not so sure if i like the V shaped bass bin behind the panel though - why mess with the figure 8 radiation pattern when you dont have to?

just place the bass next to the speaker and it will be in the dipole null, and not make any problems.

 

Having rebuilt my old esl63 a couple of times, i know from experience how much of a pain it is to tension the mylar juuuust right, only to have it tear last second, so props to this guy for seeing it through, and making everything from scratch.

[iFi Audio]

Yup and that isobaric alike bass. This has to sound good.

[Whitigir]

Damn! Make me want to attempt, but I probably gonna burn something before it work lol!

[Knuckledragger]

[Dusty Chalk]

[ironbut]

Love the wall art (TDK?) Knucks.

Classic set up (275 hiding on the bottom?).

I bet it sounds like music.

[bjarnetv]

A selection of three 1" tweeters.

it turns out you actually can determine sound quality by weight 

 

 

(TAD 2001, Radian 475 Beryllium, 18sound ND1020)

 

[RudeWolf]

Generally yeah. But you need to keep in mind magnet material - ferrite will always be bigger and heavier.

[bjarnetv]

And alnico even biggerer and heavyerer!
 

Comparing the TAD and Radian is quite interesting though.

Both are 1" drivers with beryllium diaphragms, but the TAD is built like a tank and sounds way more 3D and lifelike compared to the Radian.

I guess its mostly down to tight tolerances and better phase plug design.

the radian is built like a mcdonalds toy, and just a slight variation in backplate tightening will affect the performance A LOT.

 

 

[Dusty Chalk]

It’s probably also a function of all the different resonances/distortions: Axial modes, radial modes, etc.

[mikeymad]

back to OMA

 

 

[Knuckledragger]

That Pass makes this amp porn.

[bjarnetv]

Man, those Arthelute speakers are expensive!

at least they use TAD 2001's so they probably sound alright  

wonder how they compare to the TAD 2402?

i listened to a pair once, and even though they sounded good, they sure could benefit from some good subs and supertweeters.

[ironbut]

Interesting stuff from Powersoft. Maybe a little trickle down will be coming?

Powersoft specializes in commercial applications http://www.powersoft-audio.com/en/?utm_source=html_mail&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=11.05_AES_claudio

 

 

[Knuckledragger]

 

[Craig Sawyers]

For some reason that reminded me of Pink Floyd's 1969 stage equipment on the cover of Ummagumma Live. Pretty primitive given the monster rigs at modern concerts. And a little van to fit it all in. The amps and speakers were designed by Charlie Watkins (WEM), who toured with the band and mixed for them. Watkins also did the multi-kW sound systems for the Stones, Hendrix, the Isle of White festival - one of the titans of sound reinforcement. My son has a WEM Dominator bass guitar cabinet that I picked up for nothing, and sorted out when Watkins was still alive and sent me parts to refurbish it (he was a really nice guy you could just phone up). Died in 2014 at the age of 91.

[Knuckledragger]

Audio Note AN-E Kit-03 speakers, Audio note meishu silver phono signature (Western electric 300b), Audio note 3.1x balanced DAC, Wyred for sound modded Sonos.

Quote

This system is supremely inaccurate. Details? Eh. Imaging? Haha not really. But what it does do is give you the richest, fullest, living and breathing sound I have ever heard in a system. I actually put this system away for many months after getting some new toys (JBL M2 monitors), and after awhile my gf mentioned to me, "you know, we used to dance to the music more with the audio note system". That was all I needed to dust off the gear and put it back into commission. I know the term is overused but there really is nothing like this system in terms of engagement and emotional conveyance. Audio note gets alot of hate in some audio circles, but IMO they really do something special.

 

This man obviously does not have a cat.

[ktm]

Audio note speakers are different. I've listened to them a lot and owned the Snell E models they were based upon years ago.

Sometimes I wish I'd just kept them.

[Knuckledragger]

[Craig Sawyers]

The double ribbon tweeters at the top of those speakers seem to be way off-axis at the listening position. Just sayin'

[Dusty Chalk]

That's not necessarily wrong, some people toe in speakers to be deliberately off-axis to tame the trebles and to interact with the room differently.

I don't, but some people do.