DIY Waveguide loudspeaker kit

[mike galusha]

I thought that was the case but one always hopes for improvements.

 

[gedlee]

The new technique is certainly an option for the Abbey and its always good to have more options when making design tradeoffs, especially in crossovers.

 

[MEH]

The Abbey12 didn't have this same problem so I am not sure that it would have the same effect.

Which problem is that?

 

[SheldonD]

Dr Geddes:

I see you have changed the high frequency driver to 8 ohms from 16 ohms on your site. Is this part of the new crossover change?

I thought that some time ago you stated that using B&C 15tbx matched with Abbey wave guide would be almost
as good as using the Abbey+ waveguide. I searched but did not find
it. Reason for asking is there is a small difference in price from 12TBX to 15TBX.

What is the optimum height of the wave guide center for seated listening? At ear level? I am wondering about the feasibility of extending bottom of cabinet in lieu of stands. The volume would need adjustment by less depth front to back.

Thank you

SheldonD

 

[gedlee]

Which problem is that?

In the older design there was a resonance at 1 kHz which I could not seem to get rid of. This is because both the woofer and the tweeter had resonances there and, well you can see that shifting crossover points did not fix the problem.

The new curves have this peak removed.

 

[MEH]

Ok, that's what I thought you were referring to, but I just wanted to be certain. Thanks.

 

[gedlee]

Dr Geddes:

I see you have changed the high frequency driver to 8 ohms from 16 ohms on your site. Is this part of the new crossover change?

I thought that some time ago you stated that using B&C 15tbx matched with Abbey wave guide would be almost
as good as using the Abbey+ waveguide. I searched but did not find
it. Reason for asking is there is a small difference in price from 12TBX to 15TBX.

What is the optimum height of the wave guide center for seated listening? At ear level? I am wondering about the feasibility of extending bottom of cabinet in lieu of stands. The volume would need adjustment by less depth front to back.

Thank you

SheldonD

The new crossover uses an 8 ohm driver.

I think that you misunderstood. An Abbey+ (a 12TBX100 and the 15" waveguide) should be nearly as good as the full Summa in a much smaller and cheaper design. The 15TBX100, is, however, a better woofer as the data clearly shows, so this "almost as good as" is a guess at this point which may not pan out. The full Summa is a known and highly developed system and to get "as good as it is" may not be possible without being what it is.

The center of the speaker should be at ear level. Extending the box down is no problem, even making it bigger is no problem (its a simple closed box and the "Q" of the roll-off is irrelavent if you use multiple subs), other than bigger is more panel resonances and you'll have to be careful with the bigger panels.

You can get the drivers from me you know. I'll bet that I can beat any price that your seeing.

 

[tomcat9]

Crossover

Hi Geddes,
I am still deciding between the Nathan, or Abbey. At this point, I'm thinking it is worth the extra money for the Abbey. I have a question about the crossover. Is this an existing design, or are you working up a new crossover?


Thanks.

 

[gedlee]

I will start with the ESP12 crossover and work from there. But since the systems are no identical, I expect some changes.

As far as the Abbey versus the Nathan, bigger size and greater cost are always an advantage. You get what you pay for.

 

[Brett]

Earl,

My waveguides have arrived and they are NOT THE ONES I WANTED AND PAID FOR. If I had wanted the fibreglass ones I would have asked for them.

I paid for and waited nearly two months for the polyurethane ones and now you tell me you do not accept responsibility for this? You have no integrity Earl. Full refund or send me what I paid for not the rubbish I have sitting in my hall. I will NOT be quiet about this. You have screwed up. Fix it up now.

 

[Brett]

See what $US 200 per unit buys you

Now for the photos. Sorry some of them are blurry, but after paying a deposit months ago, waiting then paying for the product and finding it isn't what you order can make one a tad angry.

As it appears you packed them yourself for shipping, you cannot blame this later as a mistake on someone else. You clearly knew what you were sending and this is clearly not a $US200 per unit item. Even if I were to accept these and try to use them, there is so much work required to make them serviceable to the high standard I have set for the rest of the system, I may as well have made them myself.

These are undoubtedly the worst made audio items I have ever received.

Does this look like cast polyurethane to you?

And how's this for a nice smooth edge to make it a snap to place it on a flat baffle?

of the legendary OS throat?

Or an acrylic mounting flange that doesn't even have the same diameter hole as the MDF flange on the main part of the waveguide

The rest of the pics I took this morning are here.
http://s517.photobucket.com/albums/u338/earlstuffsup/?start=0

 

[tinitus]

Brett, I know how you must feel about it
It may be ok with some work, which should have been done before delivery
just the same I am happy that I decided to make my own
its certainly not the quality you would expect fore that kind of money, shipping, custom and all, which ads up to quite a sum

 

[Brett]

It may be ok with some work to be done, but I am happy that I decided to make my own

its certainly not the quality you would expect fore that kind of money, shipping, custom and all, which ads up to quite a sum

There is way too much work required for me to use these.
The 'quality' is shoody and well below what I expected. I rejected these fibreglass units when I was irst offered them and then elected to wait.

So far it has cost me $US1100 (~$A1200) + $A162 in GST and Customs fees.

I have asked for a refund or replacement with the correct cast polyurethane units I ordered, but Earl has said no.

 

[Brett]

It appears my experience is not a lone incident.
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showpost.php4?p=414762&postcount=37

 

[westend]

The pictures speak volumes. Those are not even up to the quality of prototypes. I'm not understanding this at all. How could anybody ship those out and not consider that there would be a huge backlash from his customer? The only way those would be sent is to show someone what kind of mistakes were happening in production. That has been ruled out as Brett says he has had a conversation with Geddes about the situation.
I'm just totally bewildered by this.

 

[Brett]

The pictures speak volumes. Those are not even up to the quality of prototypes. I'm not understanding this at all. How could anybody ship those out and not consider that there would be a huge backlash from his customer?

Especially as the customer is an engineer and not a virgin in designing or building audio componentry.

 

[macka]

The pictures speak volumes. Those are not even up to the quality of prototypes. I'm not understanding this at all. How could anybody ship those out and not consider that there would be a huge backlash from his customer? :

I don't believe he did .

The previous images made public appear to be of a dfferent manufacturing process.

While I dont count myself as a customer at this point I was certainly looking forward to trialing some of these wave - guides.

About 2 years ago Earl wrote me about suppling the entire 15 inch wave guide and baffle as one component as that was the only way he could do it to control quality and the end result.The end cost was in the $2000+mark by the time it was shipped.

My perception at the time was something quite remarkable in the upper stratosphere.


Clearly an open and frank response from Earl is forthcoming.

This will be the 2nd major diy supply blunder this year unless the problem is rectified quickly.

Perhaps I will hand out free frisbies or boomerangs on this ocassion!

Ian

 

[Robh3606]

"Especially as the customer is an engineer and not a virgin in designing or building audio componentry."

Hello Brett

Well as a engineer you know what would be required to get them to go and probably have the skills to do it. As a lay person I think you would be even more bewildered.

I am sorry to see this and I hope you can get it settled promptly to your satisfaction.

Rob

 

[Brett]

"Well as a engineer you know what would be required to get them to go and probably have the skills to do it. As a lay person I think you would be even more bewildered.

But why should I? The product was not what I ordered, the product delivered is utter garbage and I paid a premium price for it. I am not interested in "fixing" it.

I am sorry to see this and I hope you can get it settled promptly to your satisfaction.

Rob

Yes, it will be interesting to see what eventuates. My inbox is full today with emails re this subject.

 

[amiklos]

FWIW, my nathan 10 kit is quite nice. There is definitely quite a bit of finish work involved in terms of sanding and whatnot (I was expecting this based on conversations with Earl), but my waveguides look quite good. They are the newer version rather than the fiberglass so it's definitely not an apples to apples comparison.

Don't mean to discredit Brett's concerns in any way as they are certainly valid, just want to give another anecdotal example off toward the other side of the spectrum. My communications with Earl regarding various questions have been quite good which seems to be the opposite of the case here. I sincerely hope this gets straightened out for you, Brett.

Sorry I don't have any closeups at the moment, but you can see my baffles in the background of this picture.