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Separation - I only have one channel, this is a mono set up. The objective is to provide a source of sound that will liven up the whole ground floor of my house. I have found stereo to be a liability for this goal - you are never in the right place and more often than I'd like I find the stereo mix to be poor or artificial and to vary between recordings. I have found a single-speaker kitchen radio to be an almost ideal solution, but it lacks scale. The Big'un speaker fixes that !
Detail is very good - but I know my current amp is a little 'fat' and rolled off so until I try some different amps I am still not sure how much I'm hearing my amp and how much the speaker.
Dynamics - effortless is how I would describe the AN15.
Comparison with the MARTELLO version 1, those are small desktop speakers for near-field use and the AN15 is not good for near-field but is superior in all other respects. The MARTELLO-2 speakers are still under-construction.
AND.... it's time to start putting a mono-block together for this speaker. I'll start a thread over in the tubes forum if anybody is interested ?
Detail is very good - but I know my current amp is a little 'fat' and rolled off so until I try some different amps I am still not sure how much I'm hearing my amp and how much the speaker.
Dynamics - effortless is how I would describe the AN15.
Comparison with the MARTELLO version 1, those are small desktop speakers for near-field use and the AN15 is not good for near-field but is superior in all other respects. The MARTELLO-2 speakers are still under-construction.
AND.... it's time to start putting a mono-block together for this speaker. I'll start a thread over in the tubes forum if anybody is interested ?
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interesting. i have a stereo setup after dropping the surround a few years back. thought i was the only "dinosaur". but you are even more of one. no offense intended.
sometimes architecture helps with the imaging in stereo.
Bigun,
I've been contemplating the same thing for quite a while - An older tuner with a mono button, single channel of amplification and a single speaker.
One idea I've had is to make the enclosure triangular and mount it on the wall against the ceiling - get it right out of the way.
Small wattage battery fed amp with a solar panel to charge it - minimal running costs.
A single channel of valve power sound fun though, if you start a thread, count on me being a regular reader.
I've been contemplating the same thing for quite a while - An older tuner with a mono button, single channel of amplification and a single speaker.
One idea I've had is to make the enclosure triangular and mount it on the wall against the ceiling - get it right out of the way.
Small wattage battery fed amp with a solar panel to charge it - minimal running costs.
A single channel of valve power sound fun though, if you start a thread, count on me being a regular reader.
a mono system has always intrigued me. We hear in stereo (2 ears) , but the sounds we hear are, in most cases, from a single point (sometimes large, sometimes small) and so sounds are (predominantly) mono. Then our ears & brain does the rest.
twin speakers to create the illusion of stereo only sound good in a few spots as you say Bigun. Mono sounds the same everywhere.
There was a great right up somewhere about a guy who bought 1 Klipsch La Scala and listened in mono off the back of a mono modified Shanling MC-30 I think. The gist was the sound was just as big, detailed and spacious, but your ears weren't trying to unjumble fake stereo where it doesn't exist (esp. as it is represented differently on every recording)
Not the one above, but none the less a good read Mono, Stereo, Digital
twin speakers to create the illusion of stereo only sound good in a few spots as you say Bigun. Mono sounds the same everywhere.
There was a great right up somewhere about a guy who bought 1 Klipsch La Scala and listened in mono off the back of a mono modified Shanling MC-30 I think. The gist was the sound was just as big, detailed and spacious, but your ears weren't trying to unjumble fake stereo where it doesn't exist (esp. as it is represented differently on every recording)
Not the one above, but none the less a good read Mono, Stereo, Digital
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I hope to do some playing around with this speaker again between now and the end of the year and I will report back here on what happens.
In the meantime, I am going to start a thread on the tubes forum for a nice little valve amplifier
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some more listening impressions. Still have the back-off for now.
have been swapping back and forth between the Big'un and the MARTELLO-2 which use EL-70s in an ML-TL.
The AN15 has a fuller sound, the mid-range is richer, more presence. Or maybe I could say that the Martello-2 has in comparison a slightly recessed mid-range. In the mids, I like the AN15 better.
The bass of the Martello-2 falls off at low volume. At higher volume it's good, maybe a little too full but I think the amp is a factor here, having low damping (SET amp) the FR may not be flat. The AN15 has more bass, and it starts at lower volumes but the amp simply runs out of steam if you try to crank it.
The treble of the Martello-2 may win out over the AN15 in this comparison, being smoother to my ears. The AN15 is not fatiguing, but the treble is not as clean, the frequency response is not flat enough to be perfect.
I need to install the back on the AN15 before I can finish up on these impressions.
have been swapping back and forth between the Big'un and the MARTELLO-2 which use EL-70s in an ML-TL.
The AN15 has a fuller sound, the mid-range is richer, more presence. Or maybe I could say that the Martello-2 has in comparison a slightly recessed mid-range. In the mids, I like the AN15 better.
The bass of the Martello-2 falls off at low volume. At higher volume it's good, maybe a little too full but I think the amp is a factor here, having low damping (SET amp) the FR may not be flat. The AN15 has more bass, and it starts at lower volumes but the amp simply runs out of steam if you try to crank it.
The treble of the Martello-2 may win out over the AN15 in this comparison, being smoother to my ears. The AN15 is not fatiguing, but the treble is not as clean, the frequency response is not flat enough to be perfect.
I need to install the back on the AN15 before I can finish up on these impressions.
Thats MSS - Massive Speaker Syndrome - an affliction I've suffered with for some time. I think Sippy was recently diagnosed as a sufferer. I believe its quite incurable. Check out Pano and Cal!!!
It can be like adding a (super)tweeter and getting all that air. When bass is tangible at low levels recordings open up - quite dramatically in some cases.
Question? Is your new toob design going to hack it with this monster? Might you need a bit more oomph?
Thats also room dependent. You might not be used to a whopper of a speaker in the space and putting the back on will change the sound, yet again! Also the mono signal can play tricks on you. Flat aint perfect - i like curves (in the right places
) Having the back on will make positive impression I'm sure. Even with all that bracing having another solid side, braced to the cabinet 'should' tighten things up from top to bottom
tnx for keeping us updated
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You might be right, I might just have to build yet more tube amplifiers
Uh oh - Treble-Tubitis as well as Massive Speaker Syndrome?!?!?!
Who new Canada could be so bad for your health/wealth?
Getting used to no cross over has been interesting aurally...... and the transient speed, though I've found that it takes time for ones brain to adjust to the way things are reproduced.
One thing I'm convinced about is using music to run them in rather than test tones and in the case of the LTA, given a damn good thrashing in an / the enclosure does wonders.
I don't miss the tweeter 90+% of the time.
I'm going to 'up grade' to 5mm threaded inserts and bolts to hold my backs in place and lots of em.....
Are you going to try the 'curtained' damped boffle arrangement before closing up?
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I have T-buts installed and bolts at the ready - to allow the back to come on and off for different experiments. The bolts are around the edge but also I have 2 or 3 of them in the middle, securing the back firmly against the inner bracing. Should be pretty solid.
Yes, I want to try the Boffle. But I'm a bit distracted with the amplifier project.
Also have a bit of travel coming up. I'm off to the West coast US, then to Germany and on the way back I'll actually over in the UK for a weekend visiting my sister and parents. And picking up my Sowter output transformer
Yes, I want to try the Boffle. But I'm a bit distracted with the amplifier project.
Also have a bit of travel coming up. I'm off to the West coast US, then to Germany and on the way back I'll actually over in the UK for a weekend visiting my sister and parents. And picking up my Sowter output transformer
This has been a helpful thread. I have been wanting to acquire a pair of AN15s and do something with them, but have struggled to know the best enclosure to utilize for such a large driver.
This thread, along with advice from Planet10, has directed me toward the boffle enclosure.
Bigun - are you satisfied with the bass output with the open back, and can you comment on the listening comparison (not merely the measurements) between open back and the closed vented enclosure. Thanks.
This thread, along with advice from Planet10, has directed me toward the boffle enclosure.
Bigun - are you satisfied with the bass output with the open back, and can you comment on the listening comparison (not merely the measurements) between open back and the closed vented enclosure. Thanks.
Hey Norman,
What do you mean by huge? Any dimensions in mind?
What would be the advantage of the OB vs. the boffle (which, if I understand properly is to get rid of, or greatly diminish, the back radiation that can cancel out the front radiation and thus attenuating the bass response.) Supposedly, there have been some decent results achieved by this method, albeit the data is scarce.
The idea of the boffle was to couple the OB idea with an "enclosed" box creating a passive filter much like a suppressor operates on the muzzle of a gun.
The boffle is an old idea, but there is very little data on it. I'm curious how it might compare with an OB with the frequency response.
Thanks for your input.
What do you mean by huge? Any dimensions in mind?
What would be the advantage of the OB vs. the boffle (which, if I understand properly is to get rid of, or greatly diminish, the back radiation that can cancel out the front radiation and thus attenuating the bass response.) Supposedly, there have been some decent results achieved by this method, albeit the data is scarce.
The idea of the boffle was to couple the OB idea with an "enclosed" box creating a passive filter much like a suppressor operates on the muzzle of a gun.
The boffle is an old idea, but there is very little data on it. I'm curious how it might compare with an OB with the frequency response.
Thanks for your input.
np.
just an idea I like to "push".
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/216802-melon-heads-state-dumb-open-baffle-design.html
It's a long read at around 500 posts, but very informative.
just an idea I like to "push".
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/216802-melon-heads-state-dumb-open-baffle-design.html
It's a long read at around 500 posts, but very informative.
Gary Pimm has done the most recent work on this that i know of.
You can think of it as a folded OB to get the size down, and then damped to give it more of a cardioid pattern, reducing some of the problems with OB.
Any real box for these drivers is just SO BIG.
If you had a spare room next to your listening room you could mount the drivers in the wall and use the spare as the enclosure.
dave
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