I emptied a soap box and made a pair of cardboard backplates, K-tube is pushed through a tight hole - then taped to the faceplate of the tweet.
Tubes can be rotated though I've not tried the 'pointing down' orientation as yet.
No mic as yet (other than one I use for internet chatting in game), I'm going to go active some time this year so will need one, till then, my ears are good enough.
Only once or twice in the time I've spent listening today did the sounds sound like they were coming from a tube.
Maybe this will change if they are shortened
Tubes can be rotated though I've not tried the 'pointing down' orientation as yet.
No mic as yet (other than one I use for internet chatting in game), I'm going to go active some time this year so will need one, till then, my ears are good enough.
Only once or twice in the time I've spent listening today did the sounds sound like they were coming from a tube.
Maybe this will change if they are shortened
the unslotted stub can cause a dip - - having a diameter larger than a compression driver's exit can cause rough response (still sounds ok - no worse than typical full range speakers) - I don't know how well an average dome would match a tube's impedance. 5" long would be plenty with a full length slot - rolled paper might be the quickest way to test.
Well, I've got enough of the vinyl to make a hundred or so and a pair of scissors to cut the present ones down.
Before I do that, I will try with the tube angled down with slot facing up......more string and a few pin size nails for this methinks.
After I get done with the approaching build for my 4" Uni-Q's, I'm going to look into a pair of coaxial drivers, probably Eminence, for a 'big' 3 way (they will be active). I'll be buying the coax and compression drivers first, the latter will get tried with K-Tubes as well, with the EmKens..... maybe some horns (Wayne P's H290's (want to try his 6 and 8pi corner horns at some point))....... maybe active too.
I will take photos as I go and post - as they are now, they def look Kool.... and sound surprisingly good!
FWIW, I've had good luck using a baffle thickness 2:1 CR filter with any point source other than a soft dome, so might be worth trying with a k-tube.
GM
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Joined 2009
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Pretty much all the Karlson speakers I've seen photos of look very similar. I have to say, I find them quite ugly, some of them look like weird flowers or something worse. So I'd be interested to know if there are some different ways to build these things that retains their benefits but allows for different aesthetics ? - sorry if this is OT but there aren't too many Karlson threads to ask in !
I can see your point Bigun - some times I look at freddi's pictures and whince, other I think 'Hmmm, nice' - seems to depend on my mood but my GF has a Very strong opinion on what they remind her off...... tis too 'rude' to tell on a public forum though
The few peeps who have seen my 'K-tubes' have said 'I dunno what they are or what they do, but their hellish cool'
It's called grill cloth. You wouldn't know the difference if covered to look like other grilled box speakers. Although I have to say that a light or white color K-aperture on a white interior seems to look better.
The ones built by Francisco Perex look very nice and non-disturbing - and even include internal built in amp!: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/239338-mini-karlsonator-0-53x-dual-tc9fds-55.html#post3878194
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
Tis my artistic side
K-Tubes now angled down with slots facing each other - nails, string, cable ties and blue-tack all getting involved now
Plus they attenuate some of the front cavity's resonances that I for one found distracting back in my youth. The owner wound up using a fairly dense weave to smooth his out.
GM
here's a 12" "Karlsonator" being built for me
and someone's K-helper woofers
bigger picture (other pictures show multiple dowel rod bracing
https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1393753_460754830709467_1806803309_n.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
and someone's K-helper woofers
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
bigger picture (other pictures show multiple dowel rod bracing
https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1393753_460754830709467_1806803309_n.jpg
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Hmmm, the pic of the two tubes next to each other, if roughly 13cm, have slightly longer 'slots' than mine.
I taped and bits of stringed them in place over the dome - horizontal and facing inwards.
I listened to a bit of 'Clair Jones - The Girl With The Golden Harp'.
I'll say this - I can now hear Where Mrs Jones fingers touch the strings and hear the orientation of the instrument!
I do run some EQ and I left it alone.... bare tweeter can be a bit 'spitty' round the x-over to the 12lta, this seems to be lessened with the tubes in place
Maybe its because they are in effect a laminate
I'll see how they go when I can wind the loud knob up the scale and play with orientation for a few days.
Skippy it has been my experience that the K-tube only needs to be 1/4 of the Fs of the driver so for a normal dome tweeter that means about 1.5 inches long. I also make the slot extend to almost the end of the tube. I position my tubes so they are parallel to the floor are centred at my seated ear level and point directly at my head. I use only double cutaway tubes now which look like a bishops hat. See the attached picture. I position the slots in the double cutaway so they are vertical.
By the way if your falcon took a rat then it is a hawk not a falcon. falcons only take prey in the air never off the ground.
Just watched a Peregrine Falcon bag a something on the cliff face opposite my flat, cant see what it is with the aid of my farnoculars - must be a rat. They nest in the next cove round and I can spend hours watching them dynamic soaring when theres a big blow off the Atlantic.
Attachments
Hi freddi,
Karlson has a very good reputation in bass dynamics, by its very effective loading on the driver. However I'd like to know how they perform when playing quietly, especially on those bigger ones.
The reason for asking this is I found powerful speakers can run under the lower threshold of dynamic linearity in household environment.
My Eminence 18" woofers are happy when playing loud, but the 'laziness' when playing quietly is quite obvious. (Maybe this is just like a powerful sport/race car is often not good in stop and go urban driving.)
The driver in a Karlson is under such a load that makes it move less than other types of cabinet. It'd be wonderfully effortless in playing loud. OTOH, would it be moving too little to reveal the messages in music? What's your experience?
Karlson has a very good reputation in bass dynamics, by its very effective loading on the driver. However I'd like to know how they perform when playing quietly, especially on those bigger ones.
The reason for asking this is I found powerful speakers can run under the lower threshold of dynamic linearity in household environment.
My Eminence 18" woofers are happy when playing loud, but the 'laziness' when playing quietly is quite obvious. (Maybe this is just like a powerful sport/race car is often not good in stop and go urban driving.)
The driver in a Karlson is under such a load that makes it move less than other types of cabinet. It'd be wonderfully effortless in playing loud. OTOH, would it be moving too little to reveal the messages in music? What's your experience?
hi CLS - I think it would reveal "more" - as you know, 18" in general tend to sound warmer than 15. 18s have been in some of my favorite K-setups. I -just wrote a letter to K-expert Carl Neuser to see if he listened to a K18 testbox based on the Cetec-Gauss 5181. With a Karlson, the initial gap and slot area can make a big subjective difference which will not show on a mic - at least at one perspective.
a 41.5"x by 22.5" x 16" K18 sounded quite good on opera, rock, whatever with two different Eminence 18s - one with 103g mms, the other with 130g. It's K-tube was usually run inside the coupler like Karlson's "X15"
I had an old 15" coupler which I re-cut for an 18" - it was one of my favorites at modest levels and sounded amazing on a zarb trio cd.
K15, if an 18" will fit should run something like a Sigma well. Perhaps just a bit more here and there on K15 would be great.
when the front shelf of a K the size of K15 is deleted, there's more HF content at the top of the coupler to be reflected and leak out the aperture - but if dimensions and vent placement aren't favorable, a large hole in the response can appear around 250Hz. K15's front shelf nulls most of that effect. I'm not sure if the dip really is all that audible but it looks bad on a graph.
8 cubic foot K18 ~32" tall x 21.5" wide by 20" deep
41.5" tall K18 with curved reflector - K-tube in and on top
Karlson manufactured a K18 but I've never seen any info on it besides this pamphlet
- so this cabinet without the compartment would be around 39.5" high by 24 or so " wide
by around 20" deep - that's not too far off from the Gauss 5181 K18 size
Cetec-Gauss 5181
5181 build with JBL 18
a 41.5"x by 22.5" x 16" K18 sounded quite good on opera, rock, whatever with two different Eminence 18s - one with 103g mms, the other with 130g. It's K-tube was usually run inside the coupler like Karlson's "X15"
I had an old 15" coupler which I re-cut for an 18" - it was one of my favorites at modest levels and sounded amazing on a zarb trio cd.
K15, if an 18" will fit should run something like a Sigma well. Perhaps just a bit more here and there on K15 would be great.
when the front shelf of a K the size of K15 is deleted, there's more HF content at the top of the coupler to be reflected and leak out the aperture - but if dimensions and vent placement aren't favorable, a large hole in the response can appear around 250Hz. K15's front shelf nulls most of that effect. I'm not sure if the dip really is all that audible but it looks bad on a graph.
8 cubic foot K18 ~32" tall x 21.5" wide by 20" deep
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
41.5" tall K18 with curved reflector - K-tube in and on top
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Karlson manufactured a K18 but I've never seen any info on it besides this pamphlet
- so this cabinet without the compartment would be around 39.5" high by 24 or so " wide
by around 20" deep - that's not too far off from the Gauss 5181 K18 size
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Cetec-Gauss 5181
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
5181 build with JBL 18
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Hello X,
I recently read the paper by Martin C. Poppe, comparing a pipe with a Karlson aperture with a horn. Compared favourably. I would like to do some simulations of karlson pipe-only designs (with and without a backchamber). I found your work and just installed akabak. I can tell it's very nice software with a high level flexibility and control, but also a learning curve.
Looking at the script you posted, I am not sure how to read it and above all edit it into a pipe-only version.
Do I understand correctly that this shows just one of the ports necessary and more should be added by the end-user?
Do you have tips for adapting your script for a pipe-only version?
Thanks. Really like the creativity and ingenuity displayed by you here.