Speakers

[speakerman1]

Just in general. Some people like horns,some ribbons, some electrostatic , and some just the old fashion box speaker. Then you have different styles. West Coast , East Coast, Brits. I have my own I like. I like a very fast tweeter and in general a very defined speaker.

In saying that. I pick my components most of the time by that measure also. I like finesse. Maybe years ago I liked the Rock and Roll speakers. Today I like to hear the nuances of the music. Don't get me wrong on occasion I do jam.

So I am not ridiculing anyone in their likes. I always wanted a pair of VOTs. Now they are to big. LOL

A lot goes into building a speaker. The designer mostly will put a part of his likings in the build. It isn't well I'll build a box and throw this in there. There is a lot of thought in x-over points and speakers. I don't have time any more. Have fun guys.

Larry

 

[Fast Forward]

Speakers are a personnel thing and the search for the Holy Grail Speaker never ends,,

 

[stuwee]

Speakers are a personnel thing and the search for the Holy Grail Speaker never ends,,

Yes, and we're one of the more diverse groups here when it comes to speaks. I think ya'll know my leanings. I'm the first to admit my choice has lot's of trade offs, but I accept them for what they are and the extreme pleasure and goose bump factor that gets me every day for the last 6 years, makes me shake my head ans say DAYUM!! , I've never owned anything in my life that does that to me. So they're stayin' till I hear something better!!

 

[speakerman1]

Components has a lot to do with it also. They can change the sound of a speaker very fast. I am trying to get hold of Shanling about an idea. Maye it will work. LOL

Larry

 

[stuwee]

Components has a lot to do with it also. They can change the sound of a speaker very fast. I am trying to get hold of Shanling about an idea. Maye it will work. LOL

Larry

Ok, that does it, you better learn how to deal with phone calls MM, if I can't get Tom to sign up, then he can talk to you over the phone, I showed him your Carys and your preamp you're building and he's had the Shanling CdP in his home.

I've always been from the 'speaker/amp' is the most important part viewpoint as opposed to the best source/speaker' camp. Obviously, all are important...but since I have demanding speakers that don't suffer cheap, poor designed amps lightly, I think there's a special sound of a nicely matched amp with a speaker. You can't really measure it on a scope, but you can hear it.

 

[Fast Forward]

I think a nice system with Crap speakers will not sound near as good as an average system with great speakers,,,,years ago the rule of thumb was if had a grand to spend on a system you spent Half of it on speakers

 

[laatsch55]

Still a good rule of thumb there FF.

 

[stuwee]

Still a good rule of thumb there FF.

Speaker/Amp...Speaker/Amp...Speaker/Amp...unless you're playin' wimpy horns, that barely make an amp twitch a needle, then by all means listen on till you have nirvana, just know that more is yet to come


NO BOX, NO CROSSOVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , sorry I love it real, not made up.

I had a Altec buddy over to prove my point today, he was astounded at the level of ...

 

[laatsch55]

green tomatoes with a tongue sticking out, yep, i'd be astounded by ANY LEVEL of that!!!

 

[stuwee]

green tomatoes with a tongue sticking out, yep, i'd be astounded by ANY LEVEL of that!!!

Wot??

 

[Fast Forward]

i have way more dough in my system than I have in my speakers,,,but that just means I have way to much dough in my system,,,,I,m always on the hunt for the Grail but for now the Marantz and the Advents do the job quite nicely

 

[orange]

Still a good rule of thumb there FF.

Speaker/Amp...Speaker/Amp...Speaker/Amp...unless you're playin' wimpy horns, that barely make an amp twitch a needle, then by all means listen on till you have nirvana, just know that more is yet to come


NO BOX, NO CROSSOVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , sorry I love it real, not made up.

I had a Altec buddy over to prove my point today, he was astounded at the level of ...

Your green tomatoes look fried to me. Is your insurance better than ours as well?

 

[Pure_Brew]

My ear always seems to lean toward soft dome/cone. I've tried and listened to so many different types of speakers. I also tried designing a morel based speaker but it was a fruitless affair, good learning experience though. The Snell CIV's I listen to now are an old aluminum dome, but tubes seem to be a nice complement to these. A bit big for my room, but I never long for a more dynamic speaker.

On the other side, if I had to give up dynamics, I would be More inclined to go back to a pair of maggies based on their virtues and price/performance.

 

[speakerman1]

My ear always seems to lean toward soft dome/cone. I've tried and listened to so many different types of speakers. I also tried designing a morel based speaker but it was a fruitless affair, good learning experience though. The Snell CIV's I listen to now are an old aluminum dome, but tubes seem to be a nice complement to these. A bit big for my room, but I never long for a more dynamic speaker.

On the other side, if I had to give up dynamics, I would be More inclined to go back to a pair of maggies based on their virtues and price/performance.

Why fruitless?
Larry

 

[ksrigg]

I think speakers are the MOST important part of any system, and I have all types, form small bookshlef to the huge A-7's. Let's see....I have Maggies, Paradigms, Altecs, Lambda Acoustics, and DIY projects using Seas, Dynaudio, ScanSpeak, Peerless, Hiquofon,and Danny Richies speakers...They all sound great...in their own way...but one thing for sure, they are the MOST imprortant link. I have my TV in the Den hooked to a Sherwood Newcastle receiver and some Martin Logans...in the bedroom I have a Panasonic receiver hooked to a set of Eton DIY's....and my main system is a Sherwood Newcastle pre/pro running Bryston and Hafler (until the PL White aks get ther....today?) driving either the Altecs or some Line Arrays....but I must say...great speaker will sound GREAT with any amp...but the BEST amp will not sound good with less than excellent speakera...I think at least half or more of any audio budget should be in the speakers...and a good sub is an absolute must...(I've built 10 or more) but don't have one in my system right now. Ain't that BAD... My friend gives me hell all the time as a result...

There are some GREAT Speaker Plans out there, and I feel this is the best way to go.. ZAPH AUDIO has probably some of the best speaker plans out there, and I have built a few of them..a lot of them are built using inexpensive speakers and sound outstanding...

If you're wanting to see what is going on out there, I'd be happy to help you find a design to fit your needs. Speakers are the stuff....and way easy to build. Cabs are available pre-finished from Parts Express and Madisound.

 

[laatsch55]

This is where we disagree, with my K-Horns, a sub would be redundant and maybe even detrimental to the overall separation.

 

[laatsch55]

And the cleanest, clearest, knife edge clarity and defrinition would have to be the set of Ohm Model F's Ibought new in 1978. they soaked up some power and would wreak havoc with the Spec at times. Wish i could heaR a set of the bigger Model A's with the 1.3kw pushing them, THAT would be a revelation.

 

[Pure_Brew]

My ear always seems to lean toward soft dome/cone. I've tried and listened to so many different types of speakers. I also tried designing a morel based speaker but it was a fruitless affair, good learning experience though. The Snell CIV's I listen to now are an old aluminum dome, but tubes seem to be a nice complement to these. A bit big for my room, but I never long for a more dynamic speaker.

On the other side, if I had to give up dynamics, I would be More inclined to go back to a pair of maggies based on their virtues and price/performance.

Why fruitless?
Larry

Fruitless because I never finished them. I used Vance's book, CALSOD and speaker workshop. My first x-over design sounded like ass. I realized after that I
Needed a quality mic and a better space for testing. Other life issues put me on a side track for over 10 years now. I still have the mdt33's and mw164' in a test enclosure. Capping off the tweeter, a couple resistors and some tone controls have provided at least a glimpse of what the could be capable of under more desirable conditions.

I've thought about getting restarted over the past year, with help from a neighbor and madisound, but I've been busy with work and 3 kids. Plus its been nice to just listen to music rather then fret over differences. My inner geek still wants to try more though.

oops i messed up quoting on my phone

MDT 33s are a good tweeter. If you want give me your specs and I'll build a very simple x-over for you. Never mind I'll get the specs . I'll bet I can surprise you. I use Parts express. I would go with a 2nd order. No resistors or anything. Just point to point soldering.

Larry

I found some xovers, swedish maybe. The tweeter is like 92.5 db and the mid is around 86 fyi.

 

[Pure_Brew]

My favorite listen, one of them, was audio physic & bat electronics. A real I'm there experience without a hard sweet spot. Good dynamics and breathtakingly natural. Big room too.

Never heard a horn speaker I liked though, khorns or even the $18000 avantguards I heard.

 

[speakerman1]

Man I just looked the specs of the Morels. You could x-over at 4000 or a little more and have some very nice 2 ways. I would try a 1/2 xover on the tweeter. I would do a 2nd order on the woofer. Biamp them. Open air core inductors. Nice polys caps and some nice wire. No CBs no L-Pads. You have so much room to play with it isn't funny.

I think you would be very surprised at the sound you could get out of them. I hear them in my head. I do know what I want in a speaker when I build or mod. You build the boxes. I'll build your speakers. You just pay for parts. That is the most satisfying feeling of knowing what they sounded like before I got hold of them. No charge. Can't doit now. But I will do them for you.

Larry