you mean like this ?
Here was my approach a few years back. Mid horns are almost 40 inches wide.
Used down to 500Hz in this system:
Bigger is better with mid horns.The Beyma TPL is good but sounds a bit plastic and boring. But horns can be sharp to listen to.
Here was my approach a few years back. Mid horns are almost 40 inches wide.
Used down to 500Hz in this system:
Attachments
I have the TPL-150 but I prefer horns. It sounds too neutral, and it does not do cymbals very good. At the same time I like how it can cover a pretty large range, from 2000Hz and up. It will not however blend very well with the midrange horn. I tried aluminum ribbon drivers, and they are great for supertweeters, but also sound neutral, without the live feeling I get from horns. So here I disagree with Speediesteve on using a ribbon with horns. It is what Bo at Transmission Audio told me (laughingly) and I should have listened. You may like it, it is a matter of taste. I would keep the TPL-150 and build a regular speaker with it. There are plenty of good 8" drivers that would pair up nicely with the TPL-150. I use it with the Saba Greencone, a vintage green speaker from Germany. Great WAF. Early in the project: https://vimeo.com/105421780
Time for an update.
We moved house to a cottage in the country and I have a loft room now.
Longer but the sloping eves gave me some challenges.
Not a problem in the upper frequencies or even the mid bass but the sub 90hz Freq response is like a mountain range.
Large suckout and then peaks not far away. You get the picture..
After much trial and error I found the tapped horns sounded and measured best lying down with the mouths farthest away from me, pointing upwards.
With some minor correction I was able to get the bass response and slam when required to put the smile back on my face.
The effortless speed and delicacy is there.
A couple of quite critical hifi pals who have visited actually prefer this set up..
What I have also done is pour power and high damping factors into the two base channels, with bigger amps
This improved response and speed no end. Making the overall sound more cohesive and balanced.
A heavy Cerwin Vega on the tapped horns (fans wired to run in series to slow them to a whisper).
A Crown with variable speed fan, that basically never runs.. on the mid bass.
Other things I've done are a full set of Burson op-amps in the Najda DSP.
A dedicated linear PSU for the WaveIO board.
Ooh and 400Hz tractrix horns on the upper mid Vitavox S2's.
We moved house to a cottage in the country and I have a loft room now.
Longer but the sloping eves gave me some challenges.
Not a problem in the upper frequencies or even the mid bass but the sub 90hz Freq response is like a mountain range.
Large suckout and then peaks not far away. You get the picture..
After much trial and error I found the tapped horns sounded and measured best lying down with the mouths farthest away from me, pointing upwards.
With some minor correction I was able to get the bass response and slam when required to put the smile back on my face.
The effortless speed and delicacy is there.
A couple of quite critical hifi pals who have visited actually prefer this set up..
What I have also done is pour power and high damping factors into the two base channels, with bigger amps
This improved response and speed no end. Making the overall sound more cohesive and balanced.
A heavy Cerwin Vega on the tapped horns (fans wired to run in series to slow them to a whisper).
A Crown with variable speed fan, that basically never runs.. on the mid bass.
Other things I've done are a full set of Burson op-amps in the Najda DSP.
A dedicated linear PSU for the WaveIO board.
Ooh and 400Hz tractrix horns on the upper mid Vitavox S2's.
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I've been doing things but not kept this up to date.
Over the next few days I'll add some highlights..
I'm decided to upgrade the 12-0-12v power supply to the Najda DSP XO DAC board.
I went for an AC step down transformer, 50VA TOROIDAL TX 2X12V from RS.
It would supply the necessary + & - voltage AC to a suitable linear regulator
The regulator next to the Najda board.
The AC transformer in a remote in a steel case I fabricated to keep that well away from things.
Shielded AC +12-0-12V supplied in via a suitable 3 pin chassis socket, swapping out the current IEC 240V socket.
It's the last piece in the improved power supply project.
I've already got linear supplies everywhere else.
Needed order some steel sheet and fire up the MIG welder
The rest I had in the parts bin pretty much.
Over the next few days I'll add some highlights..
I'm decided to upgrade the 12-0-12v power supply to the Najda DSP XO DAC board.
I went for an AC step down transformer, 50VA TOROIDAL TX 2X12V from RS.
It would supply the necessary + & - voltage AC to a suitable linear regulator
The regulator next to the Najda board.
The AC transformer in a remote in a steel case I fabricated to keep that well away from things.
Shielded AC +12-0-12V supplied in via a suitable 3 pin chassis socket, swapping out the current IEC 240V socket.
It's the last piece in the improved power supply project.
I've already got linear supplies everywhere else.
Needed order some steel sheet and fire up the MIG welder
The rest I had in the parts bin pretty much.
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Dual winding / output traffo from RS plumbed was in.
The 12-0-12 AC output is via a plaited RS type A PTFE insulated wire I had in 3 suitable colours.
This is fed with plenty of free space around it to the AC to DC linear regulator input that is close to the Najda 12-0-12 DC input.
+12v, Gnd and -12v DC are supplied as required.
Powered up.. good, the magic smoke stayed where it should be!
All works.
I let things warm up and it sounded mighty fine.
This solution replaced the Mouser high quality, low ripple etc very high frequency switching mode PSU that I've had since day one of Najda.
I'm completely linear now.
The 12-0-12 AC output is via a plaited RS type A PTFE insulated wire I had in 3 suitable colours.
This is fed with plenty of free space around it to the AC to DC linear regulator input that is close to the Najda 12-0-12 DC input.
+12v, Gnd and -12v DC are supplied as required.
Powered up.. good, the magic smoke stayed where it should be!
All works.
I let things warm up and it sounded mighty fine.
This solution replaced the Mouser high quality, low ripple etc very high frequency switching mode PSU that I've had since day one of Najda.
I'm completely linear now.
I decided to try RPi streaming to see what it could bring to the party.
I bought a second hand RPi 3 with a Hifiberry Digi +.
First of all I messed about to get the Hifiberry DiGI+ DAC and RPi to work.
I was not going to use that going forward, as Rpi would be connected via I2S directly to Najda.
I was wondering if there was a setting for that in Volumio?
I'd get into all that later.
I had got a Berry and want to try it.
Once set up music flowed out from the Hifiberry via my trusty DPA enlightenment DAC and into my headphones. Hard to evaluate the sound on phones, clean, bit thin after the Chromecast Audio..
Million times better than the 3.5mm jack though
Only fly in the ointment and something I don't want through my Vitavox S2's / Raal Lazy Ribbon tweets is an annoying 'pop' every track change.
Will have to search to see if MartinT had that and has a fix for it..
Some pics.
Nothing much to see here
Or here
I bought a second hand RPi 3 with a Hifiberry Digi +.
First of all I messed about to get the Hifiberry DiGI+ DAC and RPi to work.
I was not going to use that going forward, as Rpi would be connected via I2S directly to Najda.
I was wondering if there was a setting for that in Volumio?
I'd get into all that later.
I had got a Berry and want to try it.
Once set up music flowed out from the Hifiberry via my trusty DPA enlightenment DAC and into my headphones. Hard to evaluate the sound on phones, clean, bit thin after the Chromecast Audio..
Million times better than the 3.5mm jack though
Only fly in the ointment and something I don't want through my Vitavox S2's / Raal Lazy Ribbon tweets is an annoying 'pop' every track change.
Will have to search to see if MartinT had that and has a fix for it..
Some pics.
Nothing much to see here
Or here
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Having got the RPi to work stand alone with Spotify I decided on removing the WaveIO (wired to Najda's I2S input) and putting the RPi in its place rather than going DAC on RPi and into the usual SPDif input.
Ditching JRiver / Laptop / WaveIO was a bit of a wrench - they'd served me well over the years..
All reading pointed to the RPi output needing reclocking..
A Kali reclocker was ordered from Allo Europe.
Kali the Indian Goddess of time.
She's pretty fearsome!
These close up views showed me all I needed to see.
Kali (i2s Reclocker) - EU
Both RPI and Kali would need linear 5VDC.
Ditching JRiver / Laptop / WaveIO was a bit of a wrench - they'd served me well over the years..
All reading pointed to the RPi output needing reclocking..
A Kali reclocker was ordered from Allo Europe.
Kali the Indian Goddess of time.
She's pretty fearsome!
These close up views showed me all I needed to see.
Kali (i2s Reclocker) - EU
Both RPI and Kali would need linear 5VDC.
Here's a close up of Kali and her potential light show
I had a few problems not knowing what to set the Dac to in Volumio.
There's a list as long as your arm and some.
Using the obvious ones gave a very strange music presentation.
Sort of delayed and wrong position of some instruments - most prominent on some tracks but not all, most strange.
An email to Allo support cleared it up.
R-Pi DAC is the right one.
I had a few problems not knowing what to set the Dac to in Volumio.
There's a list as long as your arm and some.
Using the obvious ones gave a very strange music presentation.
Sort of delayed and wrong position of some instruments - most prominent on some tracks but not all, most strange.
An email to Allo support cleared it up.
R-Pi DAC is the right one.
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An update on the sound..
After concerted listening I found the new linear PSUs had cleaned things up.
It was not a massive change but very worth while.
Overall I was very happy with the sound.
It definitely moved things on since using the laptop and Flacs.
Partly down to eliminating the noisy laptop I guess but also the improved power supplies everywhere, oh and then I put the wood 550Hz tractrix horns I had turned years ago, back on S2's - the upper mid channel.
They suit my current ears / I like a change every now and then too..
I didn't find I was lacking dynamics, detail etc or it was a low res version of what it might be.. quite the opposite.
Quite something to be saying about Spotify premium.
So a cheap RPi, a rather special reclocker, I2S input into Najda, linear PSUs everywhere and Spotify gives a very, very good front end.
This is the exact opposite of trying to stream Spotify via the laptop.
It was as if something was sabotaging the Spotify sound with the laptop.
All that had gone and amazing dynamics and bass depth were achieved.
Having the entire Spotify catalogue at your finger tips is rather compelling, but only if it's sounds good.
I then explored Qobuz.
£25 a month + £2.99 for Volumio premium.
We already have Spotify premium family at £15 a month.
Still even all that lot is cheaper than a few CDs every month - yeah remember buying those
After concerted listening I found the new linear PSUs had cleaned things up.
It was not a massive change but very worth while.
Overall I was very happy with the sound.
It definitely moved things on since using the laptop and Flacs.
Partly down to eliminating the noisy laptop I guess but also the improved power supplies everywhere, oh and then I put the wood 550Hz tractrix horns I had turned years ago, back on S2's - the upper mid channel.
They suit my current ears / I like a change every now and then too..
I didn't find I was lacking dynamics, detail etc or it was a low res version of what it might be.. quite the opposite.
Quite something to be saying about Spotify premium.
So a cheap RPi, a rather special reclocker, I2S input into Najda, linear PSUs everywhere and Spotify gives a very, very good front end.
This is the exact opposite of trying to stream Spotify via the laptop.
It was as if something was sabotaging the Spotify sound with the laptop.
All that had gone and amazing dynamics and bass depth were achieved.
Having the entire Spotify catalogue at your finger tips is rather compelling, but only if it's sounds good.
I then explored Qobuz.
£25 a month + £2.99 for Volumio premium.
We already have Spotify premium family at £15 a month.
Still even all that lot is cheaper than a few CDs every month - yeah remember buying those
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Having got RPi / Kali reclocker working well I turned my attention to the several redundant WaveIO sample rate indicator LEDs / holes for, in the front of my Najda panel.
8 to be precise!
I wondered if using optic fibres to carry the light show from Allo's Kali surface mounted LED status lights to the holes would work?
At about £4 for a metre of 2 or 3mm diameter optic fibre it seems a no brainer to try.
8 to be precise!
I wondered if using optic fibres to carry the light show from Allo's Kali surface mounted LED status lights to the holes would work?
At about £4 for a metre of 2 or 3mm diameter optic fibre it seems a no brainer to try.
The light carrying plastic rods I ordered arrived and I lashed up one, just Blutak'd in place.
Quite bright enough for me. I hate over bright leds, esp. blue!
3mm diameter rods fit perfectly in the holes the WaveIO LEDs were in.
Needed to figure out a good non-invasive way of holding the fibre end on the surface mounted LEDs. Might have turned little Delrin fibre socket pads that take the 3mm fibre and hold it onto the LEDs lit part with an end that opens out to fit over the surface mounted rectangular part.
I preferred not to hot glue gun or super glue them on.
Looking at Kali's LEDs
I figured a block of Delrin with 6 holes in the right place for the left led bank and another block for the right group, where the optic fibre sticks through and then securing the blocks would be simplest.
There's another odd Led off to right to round up too.
I have 8 holes so will need to be a bit selective..
All part of the fun.
Earlier that week both my lathes were out of commission.
A new 'run' Capacitor for the motor of the big one fixed that, and a new Forward-0-Reverse switch fixed the little one
Quite bright enough for me. I hate over bright leds, esp. blue!
3mm diameter rods fit perfectly in the holes the WaveIO LEDs were in.
Needed to figure out a good non-invasive way of holding the fibre end on the surface mounted LEDs. Might have turned little Delrin fibre socket pads that take the 3mm fibre and hold it onto the LEDs lit part with an end that opens out to fit over the surface mounted rectangular part.
I preferred not to hot glue gun or super glue them on.
Looking at Kali's LEDs
I figured a block of Delrin with 6 holes in the right place for the left led bank and another block for the right group, where the optic fibre sticks through and then securing the blocks would be simplest.
There's another odd Led off to right to round up too.
I have 8 holes so will need to be a bit selective..
All part of the fun.
Earlier that week both my lathes were out of commission.
A new 'run' Capacitor for the motor of the big one fixed that, and a new Forward-0-Reverse switch fixed the little one
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Took a little me time making a block to hold the Optic fibres for the bank of sample rate indicator LEDs.
Didn't have any Delrin but have lots of ebony ..
Measured up the distances between the LEDs and then used the milling attachment on my little lathe to machine out a channel so the edges clear the LEDs.
I then moved the piece about using the crossfeed and the milling attachment vertical feed to make 6 precision distanced 3mm holes.
Looks like it will work a treat.
Here it is mounted on Kali showing the LEDs shining through the holes aligning nicely, with 3 of the 6 LEDs being put through their paces..
I also wanted empty and lock from the other LEDs so I could see Kali is ready when idle and locked on along with the sample rate..
Didn't have any Delrin but have lots of ebony
..Measured up the distances between the LEDs and then used the milling attachment on my little lathe to machine out a channel so the edges clear the LEDs.
I then moved the piece about using the crossfeed and the milling attachment vertical feed to make 6 precision distanced 3mm holes.
Looks like it will work a treat.
Here it is mounted on Kali showing the LEDs shining through the holes aligning nicely, with 3 of the 6 LEDs being put through their paces..
I also wanted empty and lock from the other LEDs so I could see Kali is ready when idle and locked on along with the sample rate..
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