I am very happy with the way they sound, everybody who comes over are amazed.
They image very well. Vocals sound like they are coming from the tv between them though it is turned off, while the other instuments sound to the sides of the vocals. I did have a problem with the sound stage being shifted to the right, though i fixed that by hanging up my coat on the wall between the right speaker and the couch.
The tone is great and the dynamics are exellent. It likes some kinds of music better than others, it thrives on female vocals and guy vocals if they are low, but not high guy vocals like the White Stripes or Ozzy at high volume. I largely fixed that problem by putting them further into the corners and toeing them in quite a bit, and think I can fix that problem totally by putting on a super baffle but my wife and I like how they look so much as they are and it is such a minor problem that we can let it go for a while and hope complete break in will fix it, or I may be able to toe them in a bit more. I also put in a small amount of polyester fill into the compression chamber which helped. Classical music takes on a whole new life for me, it was never really worth listening to on a boom box or cheap store bought speakers but with these my appreciation is growing quite a bit. I used to only have desire to listen to it at the symphony itself, but no longer.
Using my stereophile test tone CD they go down to 70hz before there is any audible drop of in volume, and 60hz is only a little quieter. It has good quality low end where you can tell when they shift notes on a bass guitar or cello, and the low end blends well with the whole spectrum. It has no trouble with treble, I have not listened to the high notes on my test cd but symbols sound really good and realistic, and the flutes on my test CD sound very good also.
Propping up the front using a scrap piece of plywood raised the soundstage much more to my liking. They are not spiked to the floor and I am going to do that next and see if it makes a difference. All the joints are sealed with clear caulk so there should be no air leakage any where, and it is all accurate. I used $40 sheets of plywood so not the extra good stuff but I am happy with it and it is $60 less then if I used the really good stuff. My living room is very narrow and long with average ceiling height. I am using CAT-5 wire, a gain-clone amp that my friend made, and a very cheap ($30) dvd player for a source though that same friend and I are going to make something to upgrade my source.
My next project is going to be a iBIBk using the same drivers (fe126), at least for a test though he may purchase fe127 drivers if they would be be better in that box, so I will have enclosures to compare and contrast in a week or two.
Sorry about the length, I got a bit carried away and can not say all that I would like in a few lines.
They image very well. Vocals sound like they are coming from the tv between them though it is turned off, while the other instuments sound to the sides of the vocals. I did have a problem with the sound stage being shifted to the right, though i fixed that by hanging up my coat on the wall between the right speaker and the couch.
The tone is great and the dynamics are exellent. It likes some kinds of music better than others, it thrives on female vocals and guy vocals if they are low, but not high guy vocals like the White Stripes or Ozzy at high volume. I largely fixed that problem by putting them further into the corners and toeing them in quite a bit, and think I can fix that problem totally by putting on a super baffle but my wife and I like how they look so much as they are and it is such a minor problem that we can let it go for a while and hope complete break in will fix it, or I may be able to toe them in a bit more. I also put in a small amount of polyester fill into the compression chamber which helped. Classical music takes on a whole new life for me, it was never really worth listening to on a boom box or cheap store bought speakers but with these my appreciation is growing quite a bit. I used to only have desire to listen to it at the symphony itself, but no longer.
Using my stereophile test tone CD they go down to 70hz before there is any audible drop of in volume, and 60hz is only a little quieter. It has good quality low end where you can tell when they shift notes on a bass guitar or cello, and the low end blends well with the whole spectrum. It has no trouble with treble, I have not listened to the high notes on my test cd but symbols sound really good and realistic, and the flutes on my test CD sound very good also.
Propping up the front using a scrap piece of plywood raised the soundstage much more to my liking. They are not spiked to the floor and I am going to do that next and see if it makes a difference. All the joints are sealed with clear caulk so there should be no air leakage any where, and it is all accurate. I used $40 sheets of plywood so not the extra good stuff but I am happy with it and it is $60 less then if I used the really good stuff. My living room is very narrow and long with average ceiling height. I am using CAT-5 wire, a gain-clone amp that my friend made, and a very cheap ($30) dvd player for a source though that same friend and I are going to make something to upgrade my source.
My next project is going to be a iBIBk using the same drivers (fe126), at least for a test though he may purchase fe127 drivers if they would be be better in that box, so I will have enclosures to compare and contrast in a week or two.
Sorry about the length, I got a bit carried away and can not say all that I would like in a few lines.
Believe me, the more feedback we recieve, positive or negative, the better we like it as it helps us decide on future revisions.
I'm delighted that you like them -makes my day when I hear people are enjoying the sound. Are your 126s stock? If so, you might want to try damping the basket and magnet with ductseal (or sell the drivers on and buy a pair of Dave's modified units, which really do elevate the sound another notch).
Best wishes
Scott
I'm delighted that you like them -makes my day when I hear people are enjoying the sound. Are your 126s stock? If so, you might want to try damping the basket and magnet with ductseal (or sell the drivers on and buy a pair of Dave's modified units, which really do elevate the sound another notch).
Best wishes
Scott
I am building the iBIBk for my friend and one of us will be buying Dave's modified drivers. He will likely buy my drivers which will allow me to buy Dave's which I am excited about.
I am really happy with them and am very gratefull that you guys posted and designed such good enclosures that a new builder like me was able to build. They took a long time to build, but would be way quicker and look a little better next time.
I am really happy with them and am very gratefull that you guys posted and designed such good enclosures that a new builder like me was able to build. They took a long time to build, but would be way quicker and look a little better next time.
Scott/ Dave,
My Bruce V1.1 are up running and in good mood. My very first impression is the speakers are running in the neutral pace. Mid and high are the most attractive with transparent and lots of details. Mid is warm and not too forward. Sound of guitar and violin is so real that I almost can touch it. You guys really did the magic on this one.The bass goes very low but fast, except the mid bass is a bit too thin. I thought I could improve it by adding a baffle in front , Couldn't I?
All in all, these are the best pair of speakers I have built so far.
Thanks guys
My Bruce V1.1 are up running and in good mood. My very first impression is the speakers are running in the neutral pace. Mid and high are the most attractive with transparent and lots of details. Mid is warm and not too forward. Sound of guitar and violin is so real that I almost can touch it. You guys really did the magic on this one.The bass goes very low but fast, except the mid bass is a bit too thin. I thought I could improve it by adding a baffle in front , Couldn't I?
All in all, these are the best pair of speakers I have built so far.
Thanks guys
Attachments
A baffle should help a bit generally. I'd also suggest using a high resistance wire to lift Qe a bit as the 208Esigmas Q is a little low for these cabinets. With that, you should find the midbass flatten out somewhat. Ditto a little damping in the throats, though that last is a balancing act -too much and they'll sound a bit choked. Glad they're doing OK so far!
Dave,
Will send you some bigger pics later.
Scott,
I've using cat 5 single wire exactly as dave's spec. you could find that on the and along the cabinet. I didn't try the stuffing on the throat yet for the reason I don't know what material is best and where the best location will be. The very narrow part, or near the flare mouth? Please advise.
Thanks
Will send you some bigger pics later.
Scott,
I've using cat 5 single wire exactly as dave's spec. you could find that on the and along the cabinet. I didn't try the stuffing on the throat yet for the reason I don't know what material is best and where the best location will be. The very narrow part, or near the flare mouth? Please advise.
Thanks
More a case of creating a more resistive vent. Within reason, choking the throat (for want of a better phrase) of these BVRs with damping, or physically reducing their CSA, seems to help flatten that mid - upper bass dip out. For cabinets tailored to specific drivers I try to do it physically -the generic boxes I kept with larger throat CSAs so they can be juggled to taste with damping.
I'm sure it does, but it also will 'thin out' a mid-bass he says is already a bit 'thin', so it seems reasonable to me that the damping should be near/at the mouths, especially the floor loaded one that's acting as a large reflector where the lows are acoustically strong and the rest of the BW is trailing off with increasing frequency, making it easy to further attenuate it without any noticeable loss of LF output.
I know this is the way to go with compression horns and ya'll seem to have far outstripped my 'BV' BLH experiments overall, but I'm wondering why it would be any different, or am I completely missing something?
I know this is the way to go with compression horns and ya'll seem to have far outstripped my 'BV' BLH experiments overall, but I'm wondering why it would be any different, or am I completely missing something?
I doubt you'd miss anything Greg. Having looked at a couple of sims, you're right (as usual) -some damping around the vents does appear to have a more substantial effect than around the throats. I'm not sure why the latter seems to flatten out the response in some cases -possibly a type of Onken loading going on? Either way, you're right -the around the mouths seems the optimal place to, er, place, damping. It's certainly the easiest as well, which is a bonus!
I saw these designs a while back now :-/ I've been wanting to build some DIY speakers for a LONG time now, and want to get my a-into-g and start building, but don't want a normal box BR, but something a little different.
I love the horn style of the 'spawn', but am unsure how it will perform in my room...
Size is 3.8meters wide by 9 meters long
currently have some cheapo tower speakers, that actually pump out quite good volume and good enough for watching movies, but are a pretty sad in the musical department.
the screen is a DIY 2.35:1 2.8 meter curved screen to fit into my diy anamorphic lense on my 16:9 projector, and there is about 1/2 meter either side of the screen to fit the horns in.
I am looking at the Harvey spawn, with the fe126e ( which I will be ordering early next week from http://store.majormusic.com.au/s.nl/it.A/id.713/.f for total of $140 delivered for 2 ($70au ea).
now based on the harvey design from frugalhorn http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeakers/FH/download/harvey10-plans-030107.pdf
There is currently more than 50 odd pages of posts about the spawn here and I've only managed to read 20 or so of them so far...
Q1. Will these be sufficient for general music listening pleasure in this size room?
Q2. is there any simple changes, or not simple that has a large benifit in quality of the sound utelizing the base harvey plans without going overboard in expenditure or time?
Q3. Most ppl seem to specify you should use plywood, but would it be quality in soundwize any better than say 19mm MDF?
Q4. If I take these plans to a cabinet maker, is there sufficent information for him to cut everything out exactly, so all I would need to do is glue them together, and then cut and make the speaker recess?
picks of media room:
front of room:
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back of room:
if your interested in more pics on the anamorphic screen/lense or my cheap speaker stands I have a built process on avsforums - stevodude theatre
I love the horn style of the 'spawn', but am unsure how it will perform in my room...
Size is 3.8meters wide by 9 meters long
currently have some cheapo tower speakers, that actually pump out quite good volume and good enough for watching movies, but are a pretty sad in the musical department.
the screen is a DIY 2.35:1 2.8 meter curved screen to fit into my diy anamorphic lense on my 16:9 projector, and there is about 1/2 meter either side of the screen to fit the horns in.
I am looking at the Harvey spawn, with the fe126e ( which I will be ordering early next week from http://store.majormusic.com.au/s.nl/it.A/id.713/.f for total of $140 delivered for 2 ($70au ea).
now based on the harvey design from frugalhorn http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeakers/FH/download/harvey10-plans-030107.pdf
There is currently more than 50 odd pages of posts about the spawn here and I've only managed to read 20 or so of them so far...
Q1. Will these be sufficient for general music listening pleasure in this size room?
Q2. is there any simple changes, or not simple that has a large benifit in quality of the sound utelizing the base harvey plans without going overboard in expenditure or time?
Q3. Most ppl seem to specify you should use plywood, but would it be quality in soundwize any better than say 19mm MDF?
Q4. If I take these plans to a cabinet maker, is there sufficent information for him to cut everything out exactly, so all I would need to do is glue them together, and then cut and make the speaker recess?
picks of media room:
front of room:
back of room:
if your interested in more pics on the anamorphic screen/lense or my cheap speaker stands I have a built process on avsforums - stevodude theatre
stevodude said:
I would expect so... i'm happy with FE126 or FE127 in my room, which is larger than yours (~11x7m with valted ceilings averging something like 3.5m). A woofer to help out with HT is suggested.
I think Scott figured out an appropriate sized supraBaffle.
Void free plywood will sound better than MDF. But at least the 1st 2 builds -- including Scott's -- were MDF. Using BB or equivalent would be a superior tweak to anything you can do ref Q2 I do understand that decent plywood can be outrageously priced in Oz). If you have to use MDF look for the densist stuff tou can find. Around here that would be Medite (really classed as HDF), A 12mm sheet is as heavy as a typical 18mm MDF, You could also do some remdial work on the MDF. Probably easiet is to pre-finish the peices inside and out with a number of coats of some plastic finish (i'm thinking floor grade polyurethane (don't use anything water based). I'm thinking thinned so it soaks deeper into the MDF. You might have to worry about swelling.
You might also want to add some exo-bracing.
It might be helpful to have a cut-list and maybe a cut plan.
dave
Exuse my dummie-ness, but what is BB oe equivalent?
and exo-bracing? - internal? external?
maybe I will stick with some 'Void free plywood ', 19mm I assume?...
anychance if you know where a link to the 'Scott supraBaffle' ?
Sorry for dragging the thread down to a lower level than what I have been reading, but this will hopefully be a work in progress, that I don't want to have to 'rebuild' to get a better sound, unless I decide to get some better drivers, then I'd build a whole new horn...
A couple of woofer's are in the works
and exo-bracing? - internal? external?
maybe I will stick with some 'Void free plywood ', 19mm I assume?...
anychance if you know where a link to the 'Scott supraBaffle' ?
Sorry for dragging the thread down to a lower level than what I have been reading, but this will hopefully be a work in progress, that I don't want to have to 'rebuild' to get a better sound, unless I decide to get some better drivers, then I'd build a whole new horn...
A couple of woofer's are in the works
stevodude said:
Baltic Birch -- a specfic (and commonly used) kind of void-free plywood.
external bracing... 50-75 mm strips glued edge on to the big panels -- back would be what needs it the most.
18 or 19mm
It is either buried in my email or it is still stitting on Scott's puter (or we just discussed it and it hasn't been done yet.
dave
has anyone done a cut plan?
I heard somewhere that you can basically cut this out using 5x5 sheets? or in australia will be in metric, 2400x1200mm or 2400x1800mm sheets. (yet to find a supplier - but will have to probably try a boat builder supplier for some marine ply here in Mackay, North Queensland).
Oh also by the looks of the 3d drawings they were done in google sketchup? any chance of the drawing file I can do a cut plan from that.
I heard somewhere that you can basically cut this out using 5x5 sheets? or in australia will be in metric, 2400x1200mm or 2400x1800mm sheets. (yet to find a supplier - but will have to probably try a boat builder supplier for some marine ply here in Mackay, North Queensland).
Oh also by the looks of the 3d drawings they were done in google sketchup? any chance of the drawing file I can do a cut plan from that.