I think the Kii is much more of a practical solution. The B&O is like buying a Hummer so you can fight in the dessert, when in fact you are just taking the kids to soccer practice. Way too many features for a speaker that is going to sit in one place. Now, if it were motorized, and followed me around the house then it makes more sense. 
Best,
Erik
Best,
Erik
Either that or an Irobot vacuum cleaner type gadget
Just how crazy is our tech getting? How about a Bluetooth enabled cordless toothbrush - no way I could make that up
Oral-B Black 7000 with Bluetooth Technology Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush | Oral-B CA
Just how crazy is our tech getting? How about a Bluetooth enabled cordless toothbrush - no way I could make that up
Oral-B Black 7000 with Bluetooth Technology Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush | Oral-B CA
I appreciate what is being said here, but I want to point out some shifting terms.
To "clone" a system that uses a specific unobtanium driver is not possible without that driver: to make an perfect copy, you need the units that are indistinguishable from the originals.
To "beat" (rather than clone or replicate) the sound is a different thing.
If you think that LF distortion is the key, it should be possible to match or "beat" the low distortion of the unobtainable 1500Al-1 simply by going bigger:
Use a near-equivalent driver, high passed + a large sub, so that the replicating system's 15" driver has an order of magnitude less excursion than the 1500Al-1 does, for the same output.
Sonus Faber Stradivari.
Also, I really DO like the sounds of them. I wish someday to have the space to make my own and then listen to my own wide-baffle designs!
I chose to mimic a wide-baffle design, though only a 2-way myself.
Certainly not as large as the Strads, but still 'big'.
Later,
Wolf
I haven't the skills or know how (not even close!), but I'd like to be able to diy the Sanders Sound Systems Model 10e along with his Magtech amp as my choice for high end. I like and agree with his philosophies on reflective sound in a room. Also his product is very innovative and he has solved many issues with this technology. I guess if I won the lottery I'd probably purchase this system to give a go.
Sanders Sound Systems - MODEL 10 Electrostatic Speaker
Sanders Sound Systems - The Absolute Sound - 2016 Golden Ear Award - Model 10e Speaker System August 2016
Sanders Sound Systems - Speakers
Sanders Sound Systems - Amplifiers
Sanders Sound Systems - Frequently Asked ?'s
Sanders Sound Systems - MODEL 10 Electrostatic Speaker
Sanders Sound Systems - The Absolute Sound - 2016 Golden Ear Award - Model 10e Speaker System August 2016
Sanders Sound Systems - Speakers
Sanders Sound Systems - Amplifiers
Sanders Sound Systems - Frequently Asked ?'s
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Wolf,
Nice DIY take on the Strad.
Thank you! The angled/faceted cabinets were not the easiest to build.
Later,
Wolf
Curves are "fun" - even if the idea is not entirely one's own
Nicely done Chris, IIRC your pair is a take on the SB Elipsa in FAST?
I can imagine that... well, we crazy folk don't do these things because they are easy.
Zia - I think Dave's original inspiration was actually from - Poor Man's Strad - Jantzen-audio.com - but I decided against the kerfed MDF construction, and went for vacuum bag curved plywood panels on skeletal framework.
Of course a closer effort to emulate the Elipsa would have been a TMWW 3-way.
Of course a closer effort to emulate the Elipsa would have been a TMWW 3-way.
I was positing splitting only the LF channel, since the LF / midbass bleed was what you focused on here:
I know one commercial example that illustrates this perfectly: Osborn speakers.
Untitled Document
He originally offered a bass unit for the Epitome, to split the LF across 2 drivers. Instead of one driver running up to 125Hz, there are two, with the additional driver coming in at 60Hz.
So many people upgraded to using the additional bass unit, that he started packaging them together in a tower. People are willing to pay the ~80% higher price for the Epitome Tower rather than the standard Epitome. This seems like a good indicator that going 1.5 way on the bass (in an otherwise identical system) is a reliable method to make an already nice speaker even nicer.
The only way I see this happening is
1) Taking scale to extremes.
e.g. if you owned an Epitome, if you had a choice between
stuffing the port(s) and using a 'cheap' DIY floor-to-ceiling bass array <60Hz (spending $2000 on parts, including eight basic 12" drivers)
OR
Spending a bit more to trade up to Epitome Towers (gaining one additional 10" driver)
...I think the DIY option would 'beat' the second, despite using budget drivers.
2) If the big guy you 'beat' has massive markups for advertising / hype / cosmetics / whatever.
I think it's easier to improve on something that exists than to think of something better.
All this talk about high end speakers, nothing about how to use it in a room.
One thing we can do better as DIY is to make the speakers and room work together. I bet Magico or JBL or whatever favourite you may have in mind did not know where and how you'd like to place your speakers. You might have a clue, so use that!
All this talk about high end speakers, nothing about how to use it in a room.
One thing we can do better as DIY is to make the speakers and room work together. I bet Magico or JBL or whatever favourite you may have in mind did not know where and how you'd like to place your speakers. You might have a clue, so use that!
Heed Ronald's admonition that failing to consider the degree of synergy - or lack thereof - between a speaker system and the room can lead to unsatisfactory results. This may mean extensive acoustical treatment and/or Room Correction software now so readily affordable, or rationalizing ( i.e. "downsizing" ) the size and power of the system.
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